Who is the fastest?

Here is an interesting article on some homeless people who run. The same core values of our program, hard work, dedication, and discipline, are the same ones that they learn by running and help guide them towards a better life.

The first day, Mahlum led nine shelter residents in a mile-long run. Today, Back on My Feet has teams in three Philadelphia shelters, including 54 homeless members and more than 250 volunteers. The group has logged more than 5,000 miles.

Requirements for shelter residents to join are simple -- they must live in an affiliated facility and be clean and sober for 30 days. Members receive new shoes and running clothes, and teams run together three times a week between 5:30 and 6 a.m.

The runners are diverse -- doctors, janitors, students and shelter residents -- but such distinctions aren't apparent.

"All you can tell is who's the fastest," says Mahlum. "You can't tell who's homeless and who's not."

Yes, Running Can Make You High

Interesting article in the New York Times, titled "Yes, Running Can Make You High", can be found here.

THE runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence

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But now medical technology has caught up with exercise lore. Researchers in Germany, using advances in neuroscience, report in the current issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex that the folk belief is true: Running does elicit a flood of endorphins in the brain. The endorphins are associated with mood changes, and the more endorphins a runner’s body pumps out, the greater the effect.