"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> I never liked running. It wasn't too bad to make short dashes while
> playing kids games, or baseball and football, but I never understood
> jogging and competitive running.
>
> It was bad enough to hear about people screwing up their shins and their
> knees from running, or those older joggers who drop dead of heart
> attacks while out running for fitness. This morning 28 year old Ryan
> Shay died 5 1/2 miles into a 26.2 mile qualifying race for the Beijing
> Olympics.

I read someplace that runners who push into that kind of territory are
actually stressing their bodies to the levels seen in concentration camp
victims from WWII. A life in a wheel chair or crutches is hardly testimony
to the "fitness" effects of running. The few runners I have known have all
been intensely obsessed people and often have pretty serious personal issues
that somehow the running is supposed to compensate.

Take up bike riding or swimming. Swimming I have heard is supposed to be a
perfect exercise.

Paul