I've found other higher level psychological effects of exercise, too. For example, having a group that meets for a run every week at a given time and goes out no matter what the conditions (snow, rainstorm, heat wave, tornado warning...) was incredibly inspiring and liberating. Exploring the neighborhoods of my city on different routes made me happy in ways that a treadmill never could. And hard self-defense workouts always gave me the best stress relief and a sense of perspective (especially when we took a moment to meditate, too).

Unless you have severe joint problems, in which I case I think non-impact activities like swimming and flat cycling are a better alternatives.

The problem with most running shoes is that they permit you to run terribly without (immediate) pain. They allow you to land with significant pressure on your heel or back half of your foot without really noticing. The flex in your foot and elasticity of your calf muscle help significantly in absorbing the energy of your foot striking the ground (and ideally returns some of it).

Try this test: Without shoes, bounce up and down on your toes. Now try again on your heels. Ouch! And yet this is how many people run without noticing. Of course significant knee/ankle pain comes at some point.

I'd recommend to anyone who experiences knee/ankle pain from running to try running without shoes for a very short distance, take note of your technique, and then replicate that with shoes on (or buy some very thin soled running shoes like those five-fingered variety). Your calf muscles will likely hurt like hell for the first few runs (because you weren't using them before), but they will soon adjust.

I'm not challenging that for some value of "severe" this is true, and I'm sceptical that my own experience represents anything useful at all for anyone else. But my question is: is there actual clinical evidence that this is the case, or is this actually just an old wives' tale?

There are plenty of things online that suggest the opposite[1] - but can anyone who actually knows what they are talking about chime in with the state of the art?

[1]: http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/joint-myth?page...

Open chain exercises leave the foot or hand free to move (like swimming) and because of the lack of support they can actually exacerbate injuries. Instead of putting a joint under compression they put it under tensive strain.

Closed chain exercises are the opposite, the hand or foot is rooted in place (pushups, running, squats, etc) and because of this they add stability through the compression, BUT because of the compression they can also exacerbate injuries (especially because closed chain exercises are often weighted or involve repeated impact).

In the end, like most things, there is no one size fits all. In some situations closed chain is better, other open chain is better. For the average person it doesn't matter as much as most people think. If you're injured consult an expert for exercise to do, if you don't want to do that avoid exercises that cause joint pain.

Most of the studies are injury-specific and not in 100% agreement.

Said lead researcher and epidemiologist David Felson of BU: “We know from many long-term studies that running doesn’t appear to cause much damage to the knees. When we look at people with knee arthritis, we don’t find much of a previous history of running, and when we look at runners and follow them over time, we don’t find that their risk of developing osteoarthritis is any more than expected.” Felson added that recreational running doesn't increase the risk of arthritis."

Quoted from: http://www.mizunousa.com/running/blog/article/the-planet-wav...

Bone density is definitely an issue, especially for women.

Anyway, I find now that if I do any duration of impact-based activity that I will pay for it; I feel each impact in my spine, though that is bearable for a while, but the next day my lower spine and sacral area will be stiff and sore. Whereas when I swim there is neither immediate nor consequential pain relating to the injury.

It's lucky that I'm a lazy bastard and didn't intend on running anyway :p

Uphills runs and stair-training are also significantly lower impact on the knees and hips, though both can be harder on certain muscle groups like hamstrings.

I recommend to everyone to find some winding, hilly mountain bike trails and go run on them. I could never get into running outside the context of team sports until I tried this; it's an absolute blast, especially if you have a background in sprinting.

If you've always been curious but never found you could handle running, then do yourself a favour and check out C25K and the Robert Ullrey podcasts (http://www.c25k.com/). They're a great way to ease into running by giving you progressively increasing difficulty. Best of all they're free and I don't know anyone who's stuck with it and hasn't been able to run a 5k by the end of the 9 weeks.

I've solved many a startup challenge during my longer runs, solved bugs during the meditative bliss and felt a huge boost in my self confidence. Perhaps best of all, you'll also get better in the sack, but don't take my word for it : http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=2dc6f60b-11a7-421f-9ab2-...

I do weight training too, but running is a totally different feeling, before I used to force myself to go for runs but now it takes a lot to stop me to go for a run. Its hard to explain, its like I am addicted to it, even though its still painful, but I am recovering much much faster.

I too recommend everyone to give running a try, if you can through the initial hurdle, I don't think you will ever regret it.

Just today, I also finished reading "born to run", while I understand that there are exaggerations in the story to make it more interesting for the readers, and science of "born to run" is still 'up there' and perhaps debatable depending on who you ask, its still one of the best book I have read. Highly recommended to read.

If you're talking foot/leg pain, see a podiatrist. Foot problems are very common, and you may be able to get a lot of relief with simple orthotics.

Now my pains are gluteus and calf related, but I think they are mainly because I have been pushing myself pretty hard. Gotta slow down a bit and give myself more time to recover.

I've known about my alignment issues for years - mega tight hamstrings and weak gluteals so I got my first pair of (corrective) running shoes from a local, reputable, running shop[2] after a gait analysis. I couldn't run further than 3 miles before the pain in my knee became too much.

The shop then referred me to a podiatrist and switched my corrective shoes for a neutral pair, with insoles from the podiatrist. Since then I've had no problems and have run a half-marathon and 10k.

[1] Not that I'm an especially experienced runner but I've known about my alignment issues for years and, with running in particular, really notice the difference the right correction makes.

[2] http://www.mymoti.com/

I never did marathons, but I consistently ran 4miles a day ~7:30min/mile pace for 2 years rarely missing a day.

Never got sick and definitely had no trouble sleeping, but I would get knee pain, leg pain and foot pain randomly that wouldn't go away. Mentally things seemed good, but I did notice being more tired in general and unless you run early in the morning it does take up a decent amount of time.

So, as you're probably sick to death of hearing about, I switched to flat shoes. Mizuno Wave Universe 3, specifically, which is a racing flat made for 1,000 to I'd say 5,000 meter racing.

Changed everything. Changed my running form, I should say, but "everything" fell in line right behind that. All those issues melted away and have, to this day, never recurred, and now I'm able to run as much as I want, train as hard as I want, and so forth, with no pain. It's amazing really. It's personal success stories like this which have made it such a trend. For good reason, in my case. For me, there's no going back, it's not even a question.

What shoes do you wear for marathon training?

p.s. Are those exact flats still purchasable anywhere? Can't find them online (size 11').

The racing flats I mentioned are designed for racing, definitely. But the idea is that you wear them for all road runs, fast or slow, as a means to changing your running form.

You can probably get Wave Universe on Amazon.

Have you considered that you may just be lucky in not falling ill lately? I've had several >1yr stretches without illness and have never done endurance exercise (max was a single half marathon).

After seeing a few doctors, it was eventually diagnosed as chronic compartment syndrome. I've been debating whether to go forward with the surgical cure. It's a tough decision, because the condition doesn't present itself outside of long-distance running, and the surgery is rather invasive.

I seriously miss running. For those of you who can run, I strongly recommend it. It can be an immensely enjoyable way to stay in shape.

Anything is possible in life. Something could happen to me where I can't run anymore. In which case, I will likely take up cycling.

That said, someone who is basically my running mentor right now has has been running marathons for 30 years (he's 58 years old), and, as an example, was 11th place last year in a marathon that had several hundred of runners. No sign of slowing down. The simple fact is, this is the running future I hope for. (And there are a lot of examples like him!)