European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A cyclist has a Cool stare for a Herd of joggers crowding the path in new York s Central Park. Jogging grabs a bores Many i runners crowd the starting line of a recent mini Marathon in Central Park faces reflecting the seriousness of their purpose. Page 12 when i feel like exercising i just lie Down until the feeling goes  Robert Maynard Hutchins by Terry Kirkpatrick associated press sed to be when the world moved at a slower Pace Ltd meant a drug trip carbohydrate loading implied piling sugar on a truck and athlete s foot was what got Between your toes and itched. These Days someone discussing Ltd is planning a trip All right but in current parlance it could be one out into the Countryside for a Long slow distance run. Carbohydrate loading is a popular rerun Energy in during diet. And athlete s foot is one of several rapidly growing franchise stores specializing in sports shoes and gear. ,. Running is clearly making an imprint on the country s language Commerce and with books and magazines on the subject proliferating its literature As Well. It is challenging those of the sedentary persuasion to either suit up or think up a Clever excuse. And if we can believe what they say running is lifting some who do it to Heights of ecstasy and driving some who Don t to Depths of disgust. The number of Active members in the National jog Ging association has tripled to 26,000 in the past 18 months. And last october a Gallup poll found that 11 per cent of american adults were out running after Solitude fresh air stronger hearts and a sort of metaphysical High convinced that Pace of sole brings peace of soul. They Are a very visible minority. Even residents of new York who see anything and everything on their sidewalks and take it All in stride Are compelled to notice 5,000 marathoners trooping in Masse through their boroughs. Veteran new yorkers tend to look to the rear of the pack to see who is giving Chase running has a pied Piper esque lure. In san Francisco each year thousands make the seven mile trek from the Bay to Ocean Beach. If appearances weren t deceiving the Lemming like throng of 16,000 this past May included gorillas centipedes Batman and Robin and Santa Glaus. Some dressed As nature dressed them. So contagious was this exodus to the sea it s said that when it passed the wino District some of its Downtrodden denizens were drawn into the dance no doubt experiencing a Shock More metabolic than Metaphysic. David Fitelson who on Early morning jogs has startled some of new York s not so finest slouched in stupor about Washington Square just finished teaching a six week course on running at the new school for social re search. Fifty people newly converted runners paid the $100 fee to hear lectures from the running world s leading apostles and join wednesday night runs on new York s crumbling and abandoned West Side Highway where the nature to be communed with included the disturbing Aroma from a rendering Plant across the Hudson River. Could this be symbolic of the decline of the Auto the stars and stripes Mobile and the Ascendance of the foot maybe not. The maker of a popular running shoe advertises it in the automotive terms of performance safety sus pension Road holding air conditioning and mileage. Fitelson a practising psychotherapist on running my experience is that it demolishes the body mind conflict. People find themselves functioning in a Unita Lity of intellect and physicality. Dedicated runners often talk this Way. A lot of people Are searching for something to do to connect them with  Fitelson s class concluded with a Public run and they got incredibly excited 1,300 people zooming through Cen trial Park. They really got off on having All those people around  running has always been around. The ancient greeks did it adding improvements such As running naked. There s no evidence linking this practice to the More daring san Francisco runners but it s proof the ancients had t invented Nylon. Nylon running shorts Don t chafe As Cotton ones do after several Miles of sweat runners say and the Market for them is tremendous. At an athlete s foot store on fifth Avenue in new York Nylon shorts Are $10 a pair you la need two. There Are 56 styles of running shoes in Stock not counting spiked track shoes and 12 More on order. A serious runner has two pairs one training one racing $75 for the Best. A warm up suit is $65, a rain suit $65, a Pedometer to measure distance $18, a Stopwatch $40, sweatband $1, sleeveless shirt $10, two pairs of socks $5, and a bag to carry it All $25. Total $324, not counting items available else where such As Bee pollen from England a calorie counter running jewelry and neckties and hats or a head band radio. Most runners Stop with the shoes. Nevertheless $236 million Worth of warm up suits were bought last year some by joggers the rest by Tennis players and other mortals the National sporting goods association says. Furthermore nine million pairs of running shoes Worth $147 million were sold. Sixty two percent were bought by males and 29 percent by females. As interesting As what the noncommittal nine percent in this poll thought of themselves Are the 206 million americans who did t buy running shoes last year. Whore they in any photograph of the finish of a Marathon As the runners Strain across the line they Are the ones standing on the sidelines. Notice which group is sweating puffing and hurting and which is smiling clapping and cheering. Perhaps with William f. Buckley jr., the latter con Sider running a miserable form of self punishment or Dull. I Don t jog Russell Baker wrote in his new York times column. If this makes people who do jog feel smug about their muscle tone so be it. Having been a logger at one stage i know too Well the dreariness an boredom with which they  this sort of heresy is everywhere. Rep. Thomas o Neill speaker of the House of representatives has run for office a lot but never up Capitol Hill As sen. William Proxmire does every morning. Whenever anyone tells o Neill of his running exploits the 260-Pound speaker re plies i paid a Guy $5 to run 10 Miles for  when asked what he thought of joggers Martin mull that staid observer of the american scene said i Hope they get Home in time to play  he does t run himself the comedian said because the ice keeps falling out of my  the spurt in running has been paced Only by writing and Reading about it. At least half a dozen magazines devoted to running Are being published and More Are on the Way in addition to numerous newsletters and tabloids. I can t keep up with All the literature says Gary Olsen director of the National jogging association. They cover the putting of one foot in front of the other from every Angle sometimes to the bafflement of non runners. A coming article in runner s world the oldest and widest read of the magazines for instance concerns the depletion phase of carbohydrate loading which can make runners Cranky and depressed and presents a theory that marathoners May be just As Well off or perhaps better by eating All the pasta they can hold and just forgetting the dreaded depletion  world publications inc., which publishes runner s world also has books 41 titles on feet health diet style and just when you thought you knew it All the Seri Ous runner s handbook. It s the genre of the hour. Publisher s weekly says it s a record four How to physical fitness books on the same subject on National Best seller lists at the same time. Running takes enough out of you says Bob Ander son publisher of runner s world that it s Good to sit Down and enjoy Reading about it and vicariously run a few More  All of which is too much for Frank Deford a senior writer at sports illustrated. I Don t care if All the people in the United states Are running he wrote awhile Back. All i ask is Don t write articles about running and ask me to read them. I have thought this out. Running is so Palling that those who do it Are either functional bores to Start with or borderline cases with a bore wish. Either Way they can justify this activity Only by telling everybody else  David Fitelson who teaches a in on running goes through his mandatory pre jogging exercises iriv York s Washington Square Park. Sunday a Dunber 24, 1978 a 4 the water Fountain s a popular place when joggers Are around. The stars and stripes Page 13