The Upper Valley Running Club (UVRC) has 250+/- members. While reading the book “Running is My Therapy (RIMT),” by Scott Douglas, I thought to myself, “Is running my therapy too?” and I began to wonder if other members of the club wondered likewise. After all, the UVRC mission statement says…

“The Upper Valley Running Club is a diverse community of runners that promotes and encourages running as a healthy activity and competitive sport. We are committed to creating a safe, equitable and diverse environment for all our members.”

Ten years ago our club was founded by a small group of local runners who wanted to share their love for running and racing with the community. Since 2011, UVRC has evolved and so has what it means to be healthy. Now, health providers define health under the all inclusive umbrella of wellness, where wellness includes physical, mental and spiritual health. Before I read RIMT, I was aware that running was good for me in all these areas, but I had not really thought of it as therapy in the psychological sense. It’s fair to say I had come to consider running a therapeutic form of meditation…running along the trail immersed in nature, lost in thought, riding on a runner’s high…but therapy?

Scott Douglas has been a writer for Runners World for decades and a best-selling author of a number of books on running, including “Meb for Mortals.” He is also a topnotch runner having logged more than 110,000 miles and he holds a sub-31 minutes 10K PR. At the age of 30 he was diagnosed with dysthymia, persistent mild depression. Over time Douglas discovered that running was his most effective therapy for his depression. What can you and I learn from RIMT? Published in 2018, RIMT thoroughly covers recent research on the positive effects of running on the human brain and recounts numerous success stories about how runners improved their mental health by becoming runners, many able to substitute running for antidepressants. Other interesting topics that RIMT covers are: how Cognitive Behavior Therapy can help you manage the internal dialog you have with your brain, how running can build strong social connections, how running can help you develop meaningful long term pursuits, what causes the “runner’s high”, what is running “in the zone” or in the “flow” state?, what is the relationship between running and alcohol…and many more.

Perhaps we all can agree that wellness in all areas is a worthy goal for each of us and for UVRC as a club. I know I’m preaching to the choir here. Keep doing what you’re doing…keep running. If you want to know more about how and why running promotes mental health and wellness, I recommend that you read “Running is My Therapy.”

Running and Wellness Survey: I sent out a survey to the UVRC membership on the topic of running and wellness and received 82 responses. Results of the survey follow.

1. Does running improve your physical well-being?

Yes — absolutely …………85%

Yes — somewhat ………...13%

Maybe — hard to tell……...2%

No — not at all………….….0%

I do not run for exercise…..0%

2. Does running improve your mental well-being?

Yes — absolutely …………91%

Yes — somewhat …………..4%

Maybe — hard to tell………5%

No — not at all………….….0%

I do not run for exercise…..0%

3. Does running improve your spiritual well-being?

Yes — absolutely …………44%

Yes — somewhat …………20%

Maybe — hard to tell……..33%

No — not at all………….….4%

I do not run for exercise…..0%

4. Does running improve your overall feeling of wellness?

Yes — absolutely …………85%

Yes — somewhat …………11%

Maybe — hard to tell………2%

No — not at all………….….0%

I do not run for exercise…..1%

As a whole these results are not surprising, we all know that running is good for us. But, I find it interesting that the survey respondents chose running improves my mental well-being, “Yes — absolutely,” by the highest percentage of agreement 91%, six percentage points higher than running improves your physical well-being. Run on…