Running Supports This Marathoners Sobriety?
In college. I’ve been busily lifting weights since I was 14, but in college I started running as a way to reduce stress, as I recall. I was really under the gun academically and it was really freaking me out. It would be a great way to relieve some of that. I was in New England and some of my fondest college memories were running the woods in Western Massachusetts or running along the Charles [River] in Cambridge. I really remember those vividly. In fact, I went to summer school in Harvard at one point, living in Cambridge, and I guess it was just that summer, but there were electrical storms every day. I remember running along the Charles and seeing these lightning storms when I was trying to run. It’s interesting, I’ve been back to Cambridge many times and taken those same runs and the duration of the runs has expanded as I’ve gotten older, strangely. I didn’t have the patience, or I don’t know what it was, but I didn’t tolerate much length. Now I do longer runs. And now if you run along the Charles, you are stepping over goose poop. The geese are everywhere. When I was there, those were endangered species, now their crap just interrupts my runs.
How long did you go when you started out?
It must have been a couple miles. Two miles. Now I routinely run five. I try to run an hour and 15 minutes. I run slow. Very slow. I’m old. My colleagues see me and they are like, “We’ll see you in here in no time. You’re going to have a broken ankle. It’s gonna happen.” So far so good, though.
Some place where you have been where you said, I wish I could have run?
For sure. Many, many. I don’t know how to emphasize this, but it’s like my body wasn’t meant for running. I was made for weight lifting. I seem to have slow-twitch, brown muscle. Whatever you want to call it. Short bursts of high intensity, heavy lifting. I am cut out for that. But long duration aerobic stuff, I ain’t cut out for it. So I have to force myself to do it. But when I do, I definitely get mental health benefits. I sleep better, my mood is better. I definitely get a little bit of a runner’s high around mile four or five. I wrote almost an entire book while I was running. I can free associate while I run, so I wrote the book Cracked almost entirely while running. Judith Regan, who was the editor and publisher of the book, sort of challenged me to come up with stories. So I went on a run and brought a tape recorder with me. You get into a different mindset when you are running. I would just tell these stories that ended up being the foundation of the book I was writing. I have more spontaneous and interesting thoughts out there, so I would dictate them and then I would transcribe them at home. But the actual story, the things I was saying, I had to run to get my mind in the right place to be that creative and spontaneously trust what was coming out of my head. I’m better at it now because I have written a bit since then, but then I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve never been in a spontaneously creative process before and the running really helped with that.
From a health standpoint, I have metabolic syndrome, I have high triglycerides, low HDL, body fat centrally located, high blood pressure. Running really helps control my weight and that problem a lot. So if I am not running three days a week, I really miss it. Sometimes I run more, but it really does help me from a health standpoint.
Where do you run? I know you travel a lot?
I do travel a lot. I have a ritual run I do in Washington, D.C. It depends where I am. At home, though, my runs are very standard. I have this one run I usually do. You know where the Rose Bowl is? That’s called the Arroyo Seco and there is a bridge that crosses the Arroyo and on the other side, that is where I run. So I am running in the same riverbed that the Rose Bowl is in. I don’t run around the Rose Bowl. I run on the trails and the brush.
Morning thing?
Whenever I can squeeze it in. Because I do radio late at night, morning, when I prefer to do my working out, has become a thing of the past. Because of the radio.
What’s your ritual run in D.C.?
I run from 22nd Street and I Street, to the Lincoln Memorial. If I am really ambitious, I will run over to the Jefferson Memorial via the Roosevelt Memorial over to the Washington Monument, then past the White House and back to 22nd and I.
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It really is. I ran it with my sons once; I went with them to D.C. on sort of a boy’s trip and we all took that very run. It’s pretty long. I always take it at night. For some reason I’m here in summer a lot and you know it’s 80 degrees, it’s 11 o’clock in Washington, but I’ve got Pacific Time in my head, so I’ll just go for a run in the middle of the night. And, dammit, there are always people crawling all over those memorials no matter what time you go. Always a bunch of people. Very moving to run along The Mall and the Reflecting Pool. I look forward to that like nothing else when I go to D.C.
Do you recommend running as a cure-all?
I think that is my favorite. I would never miss it. I fly all the way cross-country and I look forward to it. I don’t care what time I get in, I do it. I even have a crazier ritual. I run up the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, read the Second Inaugural Address, and then I go on my way. I don’t know what the matter is with me, but that’s what I do.
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I’ve run with my dogs, I’ve run with my kids, but I tend to run alone.
Is that because it’s your time?
It is my time, absolutely. And sometimes I am on the phone when I do it. Whatever I do, I have to multitask. My kids—I’m not sure it’s a good thing for a 15-year-old to be taking a five-mile run, for their joints and what not. By the same token, they don’t want to. They’d rather do shorter runs, like two or three miles.
That is my other favorite thing. I love running in Central Park. I run from Central Park South to around the reservoir. I probably enjoy it more than the Washington one because whenever I am in New York, I always do that. I just love that. It’s something about Central Park. Part of it is that when I was in college in the ‘70s, I would go to New York and you couldn’t go into Central Park. It was too dangerous. Now to go there and enjoy it, that is my favorite run of all time. I could do that everyday if I lived in the City. You know what I am talking about. The Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I like entering at Columbus Circle and heading up to the reservoir and then back again.
Whats your ritual run in D.C?
I remember I ran in Florence once, and I ran outside of the city in a place called Arcetri and found the place where Galileo was under house arrest until he died. That was kind of weird. Have I run into people? I’m sure I have. She doesn’t know this, but I was running in New York City, running from the Park Avenue to Fifth Avenue and nearly ran right into Hayden Panettiere. The cheerleader [on Heroes]. I’m never met her before, but I remember looking up, “I know who that is.”
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In terms of equipment, I can only run in Nike. As God as my witness, I’ve tried everything else. I’ve had all this fancy advice. Nike just fits. Everything else gives me some kind of problem. Nike, while it may not be perfect in terms of the support or whatever, I can’t do better than that for me. People start talking to me about it, but my eyes just glaze over. I’ve tried everything. The Nikes are great.
A little more about the Arroyo?
Never done a marathon and have no interest in that. I did once run from Amherst College to Mount Holyoke College when I was in college. It was 10 miles of hills in the Berkshires. That was not so good. I was not ready for that. It was with a group of guys. We had girls at the other end. You know in college you do things just because, it was one of those things. Seemed like a good thing to do. That’s the farthest I’ve ever gone. I have a bad back, chronic lumbar disk problem. Things hurt.
You have some health issues. Do you do any special stretching or icing?
No. I find that, because I run so slow, I sort of stretch out in my run. But back when I was writing that book, I was running every day and low and behold I got hernias on both sides that I had to get repaired. Now I have to run with trusses and stuff to make sure that doesn’t recur. My body doesn’t like the repetitive pounding. I run light and slow, so I tend to stretch out during the course of the run. I never feel tight. My problems are not muscular. My muscles handle it great. It’s really more ligaments and joints.
Do you recommend running as a cure-all?
I run with a truss. Big news there. Afraid I’m going to give myself another hernia. Strangely, I have been a very heavy weightlifter and never had any problems with that. I run for a year straight, and pow! I got a bilateral hernia.
A lot of weightlifters do speedwork. Did you ever try it?
No. It’s too much pounding. Doesn’t interest me. I basically have the philosophy that the best exercise is the one you’ll do, and I know myself pretty well and know what I will and won’t do. I played football in high school and did lots of that then, and it had purpose and goal, but without that, I can’t.
No 5-Ks?
No. I would do it for charity if I could find a way to schedule it. But for me, I would never do one.
Do you hop on the treadmill at all?
I do. I have another strange habit. I have two more strange habits. When I run on the treadmill, I read. But I have found that the only way to read while on the treadmill is to hold the book, since it moves around too much on the stand, you move around too much. I’ve gotten very good at holding a book and running, which tends to screw up my neck a little bit. I’ve done a lot of that. I’ve read tons of books on the treadmill. I’m talking Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, Flaubert. I read a lot of neurobiological science stuff, but also some literature. Literature, literature. I read all the way through Don Quixote. Everything I didn’t do in college, I did on the treadmill.
What I do now, I’ve been listening to lectures from a company that sells lectures online. I never run without that now. I tend to really like lectures by philosophers. Any weak spot in my education, I can’t get enough of now.
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Exactly. I listen, I relisten.
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Published: Jan 04, 2010 12:00 AM EST.
Actress Julie Bowen listens to the history podcasts about stuff like the Peloponnesian War.
That’s the stuff I listen to. I listened to that very series. I’ve spent thousands of dollars on that stuff. I’ve gobbled up everything to do with history and philosophy. It’s by The Teaching Company. I’m pissed off because I’ve done everything—I wish they would do graduate level stuff. I’ve begged them. Some people want to go to the next level.
Does anyone recognize you?
I keep the hat low and the sunglasses on. I look rather silly when I run. Occasionally people see me. Usually people driving by or at a stop sign or something. Honk or wave or whatever.
A little more about the Arroyo?
It’s a dry riverbed that the Rose Bowl sits in. I can run there from my house. Maybe a mile from my house. Part of the Los Angeles River system. Old riverbed that has been restored to its natural beauty. It’s just an old chaparral. It’s a horse trail, basically. It’s weird, here you are in the middle of Los Angeles, and in 10 minutes of running time you can be on a horse trail. I actually run to a stable and back. It’s wild. You are running old bridges from the early 20th century that span the Arroyo, so it’s really beautiful architecture and a natural Southern California habitat. Lots of rabbits. There are all kinds of liabilities down there. Poison oak everywhere, which is one of the reasons, I don’t take my dogs. My kids are allergic to poison oak, so the dogs coming back with the poison oak on them screws the kids up. Rattlesnakes. We have a thing with rattlesnakes. I’ve run with bobcats next to me before. I had a bobcat running just in front of me once. And coyotes. There is a lot of stuff down there. Pasadena is a funny place that way. The Arroyo is sort of still a natural habitat. So weird. I take people down there. It’s the middle of Los Angeles and there are horse trails five minutes from my house.
Do you recommend running as a cure-all?
Always. I have a touch of exercise bulimia. I need to work out. I don’t feel right. Not only is it my me time, but when I listen to lectures and do my intellectual—it’s a very important physical release for me. And I am well aware of the health benefits from the standpoint of my specific issue with the metabolic syndrome. Obviously you are fighting back father time here, too. It really helps me look and feel better. And I’ve got a huge schedule and I am able to maintain that. I tell my patients that running will help them feel younger longer. Diets just make them feel miserable. I am a huge believer in exercise. It’s the magic ingredient. I don’t want to say diet be damned, but if it is between diet and exercise, then diet be damned.
Yeah it’s so important.
It’s an important part of my day. I know the importance of it. It makes a huge difference. I don’t think about this stuff very often, but there is a spiritual piece for me when I run, too. Running in New York City, running in D.C., running with my kids—that’s my communing, that’s when I meet my higher power, in these moments. I’m doing these lectures, and I am stimulated intellectually. I am spiritually stimulated, too.
Some place where you have been where you said, “I wish I could have run?”
I’m thinking of another place I have run. I ran in Rome at 4 in the morning. I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a run and experienced that city vividly from that run. It was just incredible. So no, if I get that feeling, I go do it. It was just incredible. It was Sunday morning. You would have thought there was some sort of nuclear holocaust. Not a car, not a living being anywhere. So I ran past Sant’Angelo Castle, down the river, ran over to the court area, by the Circus Maximus, past the Colosseum, past the Roman Forum area, saw parts of the Forum that I had never seen before, then back to the City. It all fit together for me. I understood that city so much more. I connected with it in a way you can’t do in a car. No way. Map doesn’t do it. I almost can’t describe it.
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It’s funny when I started talking to you, I was like, “I’m not a runner.” But now as we talk, I realize how important it is to me for so many reasons. I do run more since I’ve gotten older and it’s borne fruit. More as I’ve gotten older.
Well it’s something that is easy to do.
I guess that is true, but I’m really good at finding gyms wherever I go, and I can get a great workout in 30 minutes, but running always seems like an ordeal to me. It takes an hour fifteen, and I have to shower afterward. But I look forward to it when I create the time to do it and it pays dividends when I find the time to do it.
What is your take on running as an addiction? Is it just like any other addiction, or would it be better classified as obsession?
It is always treacherous to make sweeping generalities about addictions, particularly behavioral addictions. People can certainly develop an addictive quality to their relationship with running, but the runner may have other significant issues. For instance, exercise bulimia is a well-defined syndrome that looks like addiction. The compulsion, however, is fueled not so much by the biology of addiction but by body-image distortions, food issues, and emotional dysregulation. This is a very difficult condition to treat since the patient often is highly defended, as eating-disorder patients tend to be, and they are supported by the culture and those around them. And certainly there can be an obsessive quality to running and exercise in general. It’s just easy to get to like how you look and feel, and in a busy life, it takes a bit of an obsession to maintain.
What are your thoughts on the “runner’s high”? Is it just physiological or is some of it mental? Do you ever feel it?
There is no doubt that there is such a thing as the runner’s high. It has been well described. I don’t think I have felt what some people have described, but I am aware that I get in to a different state often when I run. Around mile five, I often get a bit of a runner’s high. For me it tends to be a sense of calm. If I don’t get out for a run three days a week, I really miss it.
