It's National Running Day...and what?

Today, June 3, 2009, is National Running Day. So what does that mean to you? It means that the second you finish reading this post you should get outside and get the exercise your body is craving (yes, your body is craving exercise and it is wrong to deny it).

The goal of this joyous, and sweaty, occasion is to encourage people to give up a rather sedentary lifestyle that characterizes the lives of most Americans and promote running as a healthy, easy and accessible form of exercise.
Here are the seven reasons to run according to the National Running Day website.

Because of changes in diet and lifestyle, Americans are increasingly at risk for diseases that can significantly diminish the quality, productivity, and length of their lives. The time to act is now.

1. Nationwide, the annual medical expense for juvenile obesity is more than $127 million annually.

2. Health-care expenses and productivity losses related to obesity problems cost Americans more than $100 billion annually.

3. Currently, obesity-related illnesses cause some 300,000 deaths a year. Inactivity and poor diet will soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

4. Overweight youth ages 10 to 15 have an 80% chance of becoming obese adults by age 25.

5. Only one in four kids gets at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Kids and teens obesity rates have doubled in the past 20 years.

6. According to the American Sports Data 2007 Superstudy of Sports Participation, 39.5 million people in the United States ran or jogged at least once, and 11.7 million ran more than 100 days/year.

7. In 2008, according to Running USA, there were 9.2 million finishers in road races (ranging in distance from the 5K to the Marathon), a 4 percent increase from the 8.8 million finishers in 2007.

It's not necessary to register at the website or join any running clubs for a run today. It might even be better if you go out on your own and try out running. Even if you can't go out and run for 30 minutes straight, try breaking up the run by walking for a minute or two then running anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes, depending on your level of fitness. The point is to motivate people to start running and initiate an active and healthier lifestyle.

By the way, if anyone wants to run a 5K in August, I believe Jonathan Jacobs would be interested in throwing goo on us at the halfway point. Any takers?