strength.

RUNNING

Running is a fine exercise, provided always that it be done in season
and in reason. To do it in reason you must start in by acquiring the
skill to run and the endurance to keep it up.

There is one organ which if it stopped for a minute, the owner would
be dead; that is the heart. Yet many young athletes act as if they
were not aware that they had hearts.

No exercise that requires sudden violent effort, like fast rowing, or
a hundred-yard dash in running, can be undertaken without serious
effect to the heart. The Andean Indians will run, lightly and easily,
at the rate of ten miles an hour, and keep it up for ten hours without
rest, but you cannot induce them to make a short dash at high speed;
they do not want to feel the warning thump of the heart.

In learning to run, breathe as in walking, keeping the body slightly
bent forward, and the elbows gripped close to the sides. Under no
circumstances start out by competing with any one, or by trying to run
against time. Such a course will result in final failure, and may
bring on a serious injury.

The jog trot is the thing to start in with. Try it for a week or two,
and you will be surprised at the ease with which you can do it. At
first a mile is long enough for a run. After a month you can do two
miles without as much fatigue. Finally, if the gait be not too fast,
you can keep it up for hours.