ed a Distinguished Professorship when she was at the University of Wisconsin. I was a doctoral student in her classes in the early 70’s and I wanted to learn a little more about what that award meant to her, so I was able to personally ask her a few questions. I also discovered that Dr. Safrit was a Professor at Wisconsin when she received the Henry-Bascom Distinguished Profes- sorship. Bascom was a former President at the university and his name as well as the donor name were linked to a number of awards on campus. When Safrit received T he University of North Carolina at Greensboro announced in December that Dr. JoAnne “Jo” Safrit, who received her undergraduate degree from UNCG, has made a one million dollar gift to the university to establish a Distinguished Pro- fessorship in the Kinesiology Department. The Safrit-Ennis Distinguished Professor- ship is named for Safrit and her longtime partner of 32 years, Dr. Cathy Ennis, who was on the faculty at UNCG from 2008 to 2017 and whose research focused on curriculum in physical education in urban settings. Ennis received many academic honors and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award in STEM Education in the Spring of 2017 by the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research. Dr. Jo Safrit is also a recognized international leader and her research focused on measurement issues in kinesiology She has also received many accolades for her outstanding contributions to the field. As I read about the announced award, I discovered that Dr. Safrit herself was award- Kinesiology Today Kinesiology Today Winter Issue 2018 Volume 11, No. 1 www.americankinesiology.org Click on the KT button at the end of each article to return to the Table of Contents Safrit-Ennis Professorship announced at UNCG Table of Contents Safrit-Ennis Professorship announced at UNCG. . . . . 1 President’s Column New Leadership Forging the Future of AKA . . . . . . 4 “Families in Training” Program Encourages Families to be Active Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 No Time for the Gym? Doing the Chores May Be Just as Good! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Centers for Disease Control Under Fire . . . . . . . . . 9 National Biomechanics Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Physicians Are Not Yet On Board with Exercise . . . . . 12 NPAP Quarterly Update – Community Recreation, Fitness and Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Past President’s Column Rocky Mountain High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Editor’s One Cent Worth Exciting Transition in Leadership for AKA . . . . . . . . 20 Executive Director’s Report AKA Recognizes our 2017 Distinguished Leaders . . . 22 Marathoners - Looking for Your Next Challenge? . . . . 24 By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D., KT Editor Continue on Page 2 JoAnne “Jo” Safrit Cathy Ennis
Transcript
ed a Distinguished Professorship when she was at the University of Wisconsin. I was a doctoral student in her classes in the early 70’s and I wanted to learn a little more about what that award meant to her, so I was able to personally ask her a few questions.
I also discovered that Dr. Safrit was a Professor at Wisconsin when she received the Henry-Bascom Distinguished Profes-sorship. Bascom was a former President at the university and his name as well as the donor name were linked to a number of awards on campus. When Safrit received
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro announced in December
that Dr. JoAnne “Jo” Safrit, who received her undergraduate degree from UNCG, has made a one million dollar gift to the university to establish a Distinguished Pro-fessorship in the Kinesiology Department. The Safrit-Ennis Distinguished Professor-ship is named for Safrit and her longtime partner of 32 years, Dr. Cathy Ennis, who was on the faculty at UNCG from 2008 to 2017 and whose research focused on curriculum in physical education in urban settings. Ennis received many academic honors and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award in STEM Education in the Spring of 2017 by the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research. Dr. Jo Safrit is also a recognized international leader and her research focused on measurement issues in kinesiology She has also received many accolades for her outstanding contributions to the field.
As I read about the announced award, I discovered that Dr. Safrit herself was award-
on how we think of exercise throughout the lifespan. Equally important is her will-ingness to help so many other faculty and students find their own paths to scholarship, exhibit-ing HHS’s “culture of care.”
Her research examines the impact of exercise, disease, and injury on the endo-crine system. She is principal investigator on a large NIH grant titled “Pathways from childhood regulation to cardiovascular risk in adolescence”.
Dr. Wideman hails from Canada and completed her undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Waterloo. She graduated and went on to do research work in biology at the University of Toronto. While she was somewhat satisfied, she wanted to further pursue her interests in clinical applications and attended Ball State University for her Master’s degree. Still wanting to pursue her interests in the endocrine system she decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Virginia and did so, staying on three additional years as a full-time researcher to continue her endocrine-related work. From there she
the award, she was totally taken aback. At the time she knew nothing about the award and was quite surprised to be named for the five-year award that was extended until she retired.
Virginia Horne was a former graduate student at Wisconsin and married Patrick Henry. The couple had a condo in Vail and they donated it to the university to help establish an award. Virginia was a physical educator. Although she was not a researcher herself, she was interested in advancing knowledge. She authored a book called “Stunts and Tumbling for Girls: A Text for High Schools and Colleges” in 1943. In the book she described the value of physical activity for girls and included discussion of range of motion, appreciation of the body, and how activity can help develop qualities of creativity, self-confidence, and persever-ance. A new award has been created by
her husband in her honor. Each year the College of Education awards a Virginia Horne Henry Distinguished Graduate Fel-lowship. A major criterion for selection is ‘the potential research contribution of the candidate to the area of women’s physi-cal education, movement, activity and the female body in culture”. Her legacy lives on. Safrit said she had the opportunity to meet with Virginia who took an active inter-est in the research Safrit was conducting.
Safrit indicated that before Cathy passed away, they had discussed how they could enhance the professors in the Kinesiology department at UNCG and had a clause in her will to do so. However, she decided to initiate the award now so she could see the award help someone in their career.
Safrit indicated that she did not want a huge ceremony to thank her for her gift but at the request of the Chancellor Frank Gilliam, she agreed. He said it would be good for others to view how they might contribute. As we can well see, Jo Safrit continues to be a role model!
To pick the first recipient of the award, the senior faculty in the Kinesiology depart-ment at UNCG generated a list of names. Dean Celia Hooper took into consideration the names and selected Dr. Laurie Wide-man as the first recipient of this presti-gious award. Dean Hooper remarked that Wideman’s scholarship has been impactful Continue on Page 3
parents need to help their children learn how to make individual choices of their own behaviors.
Finally, I wanted to know what she thought the Professorship could do for her. She indicated that she would receive a stipend, additional dollars for research (in areas where she may not be currently funded) and that it would allow her to mentor young faculty and help them get pilot data to build their research agendas. She will hold the title for five years.
Wideman said the latter focus of men-toring young faculty relies heavily on her interactions with Safrit and Ennis. She noted that “these are powerful women who were always helping young faculty” and she is humbled to have the opportunity to support their missions.
took a faculty position at UNCG in 2000 and has remained there ever since. She indicated it is a wonderful place to work and she has excellent colleagues.
I asked Dr. Wideman to share a few words about what research she has done that she felt had the most impact since that was a criterion of receiving the award. While she has more than one line of research, her current primary emphasis in on cardio-metabolic risk in adolescents. She revealed that she is currently continuing work on a longitudinal study that has been ongoing at UNCG for the last 17 years in consort with faculty in human development, psychology, and nutrition to examine how self-regulato-ry behaviors in children can help predict adolescent health behavior choices. I was surprised to learn that the study started out with an original sample of over 400 children
and annually does follow up measures with nearly 300 of these same children. Some children have moved out of the area but they are still able to collect some data from them. I remarked that it was interesting for an exercise physiologist to be interested in self-regulatory behavior which is typi-cally studied by people with a psychology background. While her interests are still in biochemical markers, her interdisciplinary approach brings the importance of self-regulation to the forefront. I asked her to give me the one minute elevator speech on what her group has found and she said “Children with better self-regulatory skills make better health choices—eat better, sleep better and gain adequate exercise. Of course my follow-up to that was, “What can parents do to help ensure that their children learn to self-regulate?” She says
the Presidency of AKA for the next year. I’ve been a member of the AKA Board of Directors since 2011, and I’ve seen the organization grow and flourish under the
great leadership of so many others. I want to start by extending my sincere thank you to Tom Templin and Mary Rudisill, our last two Presidents that I’ve had the pleasure of working with on literally a weekly basis over the past two years. They have taught me so much about how to lead a complex organization such as AKA. I also want to extend my sincere thank you to Amelia Lee, our outgoing Executive Director. We had a wonderful celebration at the 2018 AKA Leadership Workshop for Amelia, and her positive impact on AKA will be felt for years to come. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not thank Penny McCullagh and Kim Scott, who have also served as invaluable members of the AKA Leader-ship Team that meets on a weekly basis.
I am very excited about this upcoming year! As an organization, we welcome Gil Reeve as our new Executive Director. Gil has already suggested a number of great ideas that the Executive Committee has adopted, and I look forward to working with Gil on a shared goal of advancing AKA and our field. We share an unwavering passion for the importance of AKA in leadership development, and together with the Board of Directors, Executive Committee, and our engaged member institutions, we both look to continue the wonderful momentum established in recent years.
As I outlined during the 2018 AKA Leader-ship Workshop awards banquet, I have four primary goals going into this year. First, I aim to establish a strong line of communication with Gil, Kim, the Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors in a way that encourages input and creative thinking, while at the same time provides much needed structure to a rapidly expanding organization. Second, I aim to oversee the development and execution of a top-notch 2019 AKA Leadership Workshop focused on – “Hiring, Evaluating, and Retaining Faculty and Staff in Kinesiology.” In con-
sultation with the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, I have solicited Nancy Williams (AKA President-Elect) and Michael Delp (former AKA Board of Directors) to join me as co-chairs for the Workshop. Third, working collaboratively with John Bartholomew (AKA Board of Directors) and the Executive Committee, I will be focused on ensuring the recently approved AKA Leadership Institute gets off to a great start. Finally, my fourth goal is to ensure we have productive discussions in 2018 about the long-term financial sustainability of AKA.
Over the next couple editions of KT, I will dive a little deeper into some of these priorities. In particular, I look forward to sharing more information on the AKA Lead-ership Institute. I will also share tentative topics for the 2019 workshop for those of you who were unable to attend the 2019 workshop and hear about if firsthand. In the meantime, the AKA Leadership Workshop is detailed at the following website, and I encourage you to take a look:
“Families in Training” Program Encourages Families to be Active Together
When Mary Conklin, a physical educa-tion teacher at Resica Elementary
School in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was looking for a new idea to help her stu-dents perform better on the FitnessGram assessment skills, she wanted something that would not only involve her students, but their families as well. She wanted to teach the parents and the students the proper techniques for the fitness tests in hopes that they would practice at home and improve their scores. Conklin orga-nized a family-oriented event she called Families in Training (or F.I.T.) Night. The event had a dozen or so stations to help the kids practice their push-ups, pull-ups, long jumps and so on. She soon realized she was going to need some help to pull this off, so Conklin reached out to her col-league Dr. Kelly Boyd, associate professor of health education at East Stroudsburg University to ask for volunteers from the ESU Health and Physical Education Club. The university students excitedly jumped on board and more than 20 students came to help out with that first event. “They loved it,” said Boyd, faculty advisor for the club at ESU. “For the first time, they under-stood the lessons of collaboration with
administration, parents and caregivers. They saw what it was like to have all this come together.”
The F.I.T. night was a huge success and everyone was excited to keep it going. Boyd suggested applying for a grant with the Highmark Foundation, which funds building sustainable and lasting changes in schools addressing healthy eating and physical activities. Conklin developed a program proposal and was awarded an almost $6,000 grant to continue the pro-gram. Boyd commends Conklin, a physi-cal education teacher for 29 years, for recognizing a need in her community for a program like this and building it from the ground up. “Mary’s desire is to make her school better but also the community
surrounding it,” Boyd said. Since then, along with the help of the ESU
students, Conklin has organized monthly events with new activities and themes offered each time. Themes include a Learn to Run night, a Turkey Trot fun run, Yoga night, Zumba night and a Family Fun night. Every night includes nutritious snacks and a hydration station, but Conklin is planning a Nutrition Fair for early spring. Before the end of the school year, they will host another F.I.T night focused on FitnessGram testing and see if there has been improvement.
“I do feel the program is helping to change health behaviors one student, one parent
by Amy Rose, Staff Writer
Continue on Page 6Mary Conklin, Resica Elementary School
and one family at a time”, said Conklin. She has had many stories of families start-ing healthy habits together. “A number of parents have told me that their child’s snacking habits have improved and their kids are asking for ‘FIT Night’ snacks.” A family that attended the “Learn to Run for Family Fun” and “ Turkey Trot” events ran in a local 5K race for the first time with their third grader. Another mother asked about the instructor for the yoga night, because she was interested in joining a class.
East Stroudsburg is located in the Pocon-os area of Pennsylvania. So according to
Conklin, another goal of the event was to collaborate with community partners to provide wellness and fitness activities and introduce families to the wealth of activities in the local community. Local businesses have donated gift certificates to activities in the area as door prizes. This gives families an opportunity to try new activities that they may not have considered before, things such as yoga, skiing and zip lining.
The students from East Stroudsburg University have continued to help with every event and with the planning and implemen-tation phases as well. Conklin has worked
with student teachers from the University for many years and was confident that they would benefit the program. “Mary is a great cooperating teacher,” said Boyd. “She gives them a lot of input and responsibility in the program and she continues to learn right alongside them.” It gives the students practical experience that is hard to come by in the classroom, while also promoting activities they enjoy to the students and community. Boyd says the students are encouraged by the program and many hope to emulate it in some fashion when they begin their own careers in physical education at other schools.
Turkey Trot Volunteers ESU students volunteer at the Family F.I.T. night.
Good news for busy folks: Walking to work or doing the chores may be just
as beneficial as going for a run or mak-ing time to get to the gym. According to a wide-ranging study involving more than 130,000 survey participants in 17 countries, it seems that any physical activity – whether it’s hitting the treadmill or vacuuming the house – can offer significant reductions in mortality and the risk of heart disease.
Ultimately, the researchers say that could offer great insight and offer solutions to reducing cardiovascular disease-related deaths throughout the world, particularly in low-income countries. The data pub-lished in the December 2017 issue of The Lancet journal suggests that people who stay active throughout the course of their daily routines see similar health benefits to those who incorporate physical activity into their free time.
“When we think of being active or exer-cising, most of us picture some purposeful activity in which we have set aside time to be active,” said Dr. Scott Lear, a professor at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, in an interview with Kinesiology Today. “This might entail going to the gym,
No Time for the Gym? Doing the Chores May Be Just as Good!
going for a run, or a bike ride. All of these are great activities.”
But the data showed that being so delib-erate about your workout might not be nec-essary. Lear’s team found that 150 or more minutes per week of physical activity – any activity – reduced mortality in the study participants by 28 percent as compared to their non- or low-active counterparts during a six- to nine-year follow-up period. Those who met the 150-minute per week World Health Organization recommendations also developed heart disease at a rate 20 percent lower than those not meeting the physical activity recommendations. The survey participants ranged in age from 35 to 70 years old and had no history of heart disease prior to completing the survey.
The benefits were more pronounced for the most active people in the study who got more than 750 minutes of physical activity per week. They experienced a 36 percent lower risk of death from any cause, and it again did not matter what the activity was. Fewer than 3 percent of the survey participants achieved that highest level of physical activity exclusively through free-time activities, whereas about 38 percent
achieved that level through non-recreational activities.
“If a person wanted to get the maximum benefits from activity, he or she will likely struggle to do so by just doing it on their recreational time and needs to be active throughout the day,” Lear said. It did not
matter what the activity was – just as long as it kept a person moving.
“What our research showed was that non-recreational activities – such as activ-ity at work, around the house and active commuting are just as beneficial.” Lear said. “So, while going to the gym is great, a person doesn’t need to go to the gym to participate in physical activity that will reduce his or her risk for heart disease and premature death.”
To take that concept a step further, Lear and his colleagues reached out to residents of low- and middle-income countries to gather data on how this may affect people without access to gyms or other opportuni-ties for leisure-time physical activity. Lear said that residents of high-income countries tend to be inactive throughout the day and exercise a few times per week. The trend is the opposite in low-come countries, where people get most of their activity in daily life with little opportunity for recreational activity. It turned out that the benefits were consistent throughout all socioeconomic stratifications, regardless of the type of activity.
That is important because low- and middle-income countries seem to be most affected by the global cardiovascular dis-ease epidemic. While deaths from heart
disease have decreased in high-income countries, global cardiovascular disease mortality increased by 41 percent from 1990 to 2013, according to statistics the researchers cite in the Lancet article. And 70 percent of all cardiovascular disease-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
If someone is at risk for heart disease in the U.S., their doctor might tell them to eat more fruits and vegetables. That advice is more difficult to follow in countries where healthier foods are more expensive or harder to access. But walking for 30 minutes a day is free – and depending on your daily routine, you might not even have to go out of your way to incorporate it into your schedule.
“For low- and middle-income countries where having heart disease can cause a severe financial burden, physical activ-ity represents a low-cost approach that can be done throughout the world with potential large impact,” Dr. Salim Yusuf said in a news release issued by McMas-ter University. Yusuf is the director of the Population Health Research Institute and the principal investigator of the overall PURE study,”If everyone was active for at least 150 minutes per week, over seven years a total of 8 percent of deaths could be prevented,” he added.
In a nutshell, the lesson is to stay active one way or another.
“I tell people the best activity for them is the one they will do and can do regu-larly,” Lear said. Lear knows from previous research that people should aim for anything that keeps their heart rate elevated. For some, that may be running. For others, it may be cutting the grass. Either is just as good, as long as it gets a person moving.
“Our body does not care what we call activity – exercise, recreational, occupa-tional, etc.,” Lear said. “It just cares that we get activity.”
Lear, S. A., et al. (2017). The effect of physical activity on mortality and cardiovascular disease in 130 000 people from 17 high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: the PURE study. The Lancet, 390, 2643-2654. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31634-3 Being active saves lives whether a gym workout, walk-ing to work, or washing the floor. (2017, September 22). Retrieved November 27, 2017, from https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/main/news/news_2017/being_active_saves_lives.html
Well the Centers for Disease Control certainly caught my attention in the
last few weeks since they have been told by the government not to use certain words in their reports. Such omission is quite disturbing since the American Kinesiology Association focuses on the importance of many of these terms and is in the pro-cess of releasing a white-paper on the “Inclusive Spaces and Locker Rooms for Transgender Athletes” by George Cunningham of Texas A & M University. Given the attention to the CDC, I thought I would take a look at their website and see what new information I could find about physical activity.
In examining the website I found an interesting section called BAM- Body and Mind
It is not clear to me how long this has existed but it has some excellent infor-mation about physical activity, nutrition, stress, safety as well as diseases. This site is designed for 9 to 12 year old students, as well as for teachers and parents. The site has games, and quizzes and gives ideas for teachers on how to incorporate the ideas into the classroom.
Continue on Page 10
By Penny McCullagh, Ph.D. KT Editor
One of the pages provides an activity plan with a calendar you can download to track your physical activity progress. The ideas about how to follow a plan are science-based on ideas from the sport psychology literature and suggest that you should have a goal, track your progress, and perhaps do different activities so you do not burn out.
There is another section called the “I heard” hurdles race. Here is a list of True/False questions related to physical activity that students can answer:
• I heard that people with asthma shouldn’t do physical activity
• I heard that some types of physical activity are better for my bones than others
• I heard that being physically active can cheer me up
• I heard that PE class is too short to have any healthy benefits
• I heard that physical activity is only worthwhile if I’m really good at it, or if I do it for a long time.
After students answer the question as T or F, the site lets you know whether or
not you were correct and then gives a brief explanation of what the CDC has probably determined is evidenced- based research for that topic. Many individuals in our field in exercise physiology, bone biomechanics, sport and exercise psychology, pedagogy, or motor learning study these topics.
The CDC also oversees a journal called Preventing Chronic Disease. The journal is available free of charge. A recent 2016 article by Yi and associates investigated racial/ethnic differences with regard to social cohesion and meeting physical activity guidelines. The authors concluded that “Neighborhood social cohesion was associ-ated with meeting physical activity guidelines in a nationally representative sample; this association may be most meaningful for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic popula-tions. Additional studies are needed to identify neighborhood factors that help non-Hispanic black and Asian Americans to meet physical activity guidelines.” The journal states that “the opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ……. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the authors’ affili-ated institution”. However, it is evident that
topics surrounding diversity are clearly welcomed by the CDC and the American Kinesiology Association.
Yi SS, Trinh-Shevrin C, Yen IH, Kwon SC. Racial/Ethnic Dif-ferences in Associations Between Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines, United States, 2013–2014. Prev Chronic Dis 2016;13:160261. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.160261
IMPRESSIONS OF THE AKA WORKSHOP FROM FIRST TIME ATTENDEES
At the recent workshop I asked a few first time attendees their thoughts on the workshop. Here are a few of the responses. PMc
Camille Thomas, Chair, Department of Kinesiology and Outdoor Recreation, Southern Utah University
Camille is serving in her third year as department chair. “I wish I would have known about this organization before. I am learning so much about how to get my department to work together. I want to be here!”
Karen Meaney, Chair, Department of Health and Human Performance, Texas State University
Karen is serving in her first year as department chair. “I love the opportunity to interact with so many other Chairs who can provide support and advice. I am learning hands on strategies and am really excited about the new Leadership Institute that will be offered by AKA”.
Harald Barkhoff, Chair, Department of Kinesiology and Exercise Science, University of Hawaii –Hilo
Harald has served as Chair for four years. “The AKA focus on diversity is what first caught my attention. The emphasis on devel-oping leaders is important for me and a focus at my university. The new Leadership Institute offered by AKA is very attractive. There is a lot of energy at this workshop.”
Erica Taylor, Chair, Department of Public and Allied Health Sciences, Delaware State University
“The AKA Leadership Workshop was an excellent resource for me as a department chair, as there were sessions related to faculty development, leadership and management, best practices for the classroom, and curriculum development. Additionally, there were great opportunities to network and I look forward to getting more involved in AKA.”
chanics Day will be held on April 11, 2018, although many labs are planning their NBD activities on dates near the official date. Over 20,000 high school
students are expected to participate in NBD 2018 in hundreds of academic and commercial labs around the world. Sponsor-ships have also greatly increased this past year to many commercial biomechanics companies and organizations including Nike, Novel, and Noraxon, the American
National Biomechanics Day
and Brazilian Societies of Biomechanics, and of course The American Kinesiology Association.
NBD promotes the idea that Biomechan-ics can become the breakthrough science of the 21st century. Biomechanics makes substantial contributions to human society in many ways yet it remains relatively unknown to the lay public. It is, however, showing signs of increased visibility and general awareness. Young people are aware of motion capture, an essential biomechanical tool, as the basis for creating video games. Biomechanical analyses are seen now and then on television commercials and various websites and professional sports teams are beginning to hire biomechanics
to improve their athletes’ performances. We are on the brink and National Biome-chanics Day can push our science into the general consciousness of society. Contact Paul DeVita, Ph.D. at [email protected] for further information.
See the NBD Facebook page HERE and Twitter site HERE
The question of whether exercise is good for the mind as well as the body is some-
thing researchers have been asking for at least 30 years or more. While evidence seems to be building – at least in smaller studies, and some larger ones outside of the U.S. – that exercise can provide a defense against or ease symptoms of depression and other mental health-related issues, it has not been included in treatment plans or recommended activities for patients.
It has not been until relatively recently that physicians have begun accepting exercise as a prescription for depression and anxiety. And even then, the number of those “enlightened” medical professionals is relatively small and almost nonexistent in the U.S., says Panteleimon Ekkekakis, a professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University.
A number of very recently published studies have offered that evidence.
In a survey of nearly 34,000 healthy adults, researchers from the University of New South Wales-Sydney and the Norwe-gian Institute of Public Health found that leisure-time exercise was associated with a reduced onset of depression, but not
Physicians Are Not Yet On Board with Exercise
anxiety. The researchers concluded that 12 percent of future cases of depression could have been prevented if all the par-ticipants engaged in at least one hour of physical activity per week. Those results of the HUNT Cohort Study were published in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. “Relatively modest changes in population levels of exercise may have important public mental health benefits and prevent a substantial number of new cases of depression,” the researchers wrote.
In another study, researchers at Michi-gan State University and the University of Michigan found that, in a survey of 295 people receiving treatment at a mental health clinic, more than 80 percent said physical activity improved their mood and anxiety. Many of the participants said they wanted ongoing advice about physical activity from their mental health provider. Although 85 percent of those patients reported that they wanted to exercise more often, many were not motivated to exercise or said their mood affected their ability to engage in physical activity. The study was published in the November 2017 issue of General Hospital Psychiatry.
“Most patients reported exercise improved mood but had a hard time initiating and maintaining regular exercise,” said Carol Janney, lead author of the study and an
assistant professor of epidemiology at Michigan State University. “Mental health providers need to be connected with sup-ports that help their patients add exercise – either having these supports within their clinics or good partnerships with commu-nity exercise facilities.”Marcia Valenstein, a senior author of the study and professor emeritus in psychiatry at the University of Michigan, agreed. “These individuals want their mental health care providers to assist them in exercising more regularly, but their mental health care has not typi-cally addressed exercise in a systematic manner,” Valenstein said.
While the evidence is still emerging – particularly in the U.S. where it is limited to mainly smaller and mid-size studies – Janney said there is a wealth of existing information to promote the idea that exercise can be an important part of a treatment regimen for depression and anxiety.
“If someone has mild to moderate depres-sion, it may make sense to try exercise first, while monitoring your depressive and anxiety symptoms,” Janney said. “A moder-ate exercise program has few down sides and benefit your entire mind/body. Also, for moderate to severe depression and/or anxiety, it makes sense to add exercise to their ongoing treatments.”
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic also agree
that “depression and anxiety symptoms often improve with exercise.” But it is not common practice for physicians to include exercise in a treatment plan. There has been an “astounding backlash” from members of the medical community who have claimed in various forms that exercise and physical activity are ineffective for the treatment of depression, Ekkekakis said.
Mainly in Europe, national healthcare sys-tems have begun including physical activity in treatment guidelines for depression. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service in 2010 directed clinicians to essentially first prescribe physical activity, computer-based therapy or self-help books when they encounter patients complaining of mild to moderate symptoms of depression.
Including those recommendations in the national guidelines sparked intense debate, as members of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy communities felt their interests were at risk, Ekkekakis said. The change to national guidelines in the U.K. was a “closely watched experiment” which, if successful, may have caused a domino effect throughout the rest of Europe and maybe the world.
But, Ekkekakis said, there is no record of general practitioners actually implementing the guidelines and recommending physical activity to their patients. He suggests their
reasons are not evidence-based, but rather economical, as the treatment environment for mental health issues as it stands now is big business for pharmaceutical companies and psychotherapy professionals.
“The idea that you would potentially radi-cally reshape that market by introducing a third officially-recommended mode of treatment – I think it is natural to expect that it would upset certain interests,” Ekkekakis said.
The debate has not even reached the U.S. yet, and he does not expect it to arrive any time soon. He said the evidence has been either overlooked or ignored by physicians who develop clinical treatment guidelines for depression and anxiety.
“We want to play this game to pretend that it’s about the evidence, but it’s about the money,” Ekkekakis said. “The differ-ence is physical activity doesn’t have a lobby behind it.”
Ekkekakis does offer some optimism – he thinks it could be a game-changer if 10 to 20 investigators were to get together and propose a large, multi-site random-ized controlled trial comparing exercise to a placebo as a treatment for depression. That could convince guideline development panels to get on board.
“I think that kind of proposal potentially could be approved,” he said. “If that hap-
pens, if there’s a consortium off exercise scientists that come together to conduct that kind of trial, that could change everything.”
Harvey, S. B., Øverland, S., Hatch, S. L., Wessely, S., Mykletun, A., & Hotopf, M. (2018). Exercise and the Prevention of Depres-sion: Results of the HUNT Cohort Study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(1), 28-36. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.16111223 Janney, C. A., Brzoznowski, K. F., Richardson, C. R., Dopp, R. R., Segar, M. L., Ganoczy, D., . . . Valenstein, M. (2017). Moving Towards Wellness: Physical activity practices, perspectives, and preferences of users of outpatient mental health service. General Hospital Psychiatry, 49, 63-66. doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2017.07.004 Should exercise be what the doctor orders for depres-sion? (2017, November 8) Retrieved January 9, 2018, from http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/should-exercise-be-what-the-doctor-orders-for-depression/ Depression and anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms. (2017, September 27). Retrieved January 9, 2018, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depres-sion/in-depth/depression-and-exercise/art-20046495 Ekkekakis, P., & Murri, M. B. (2017). Exercise as antide-pressant treatment: Time for the transition from trials to clinic? General Hospital Psychiatry, 49, A1-A5. doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2017.11.004
Girl Denied Trophy In Golf Despite the Fact She Shot 4 Shots Better Than Next PlayerEmily Nash is a pretty good golfer. She played in the boy’s Division 3 Central Massachusetts tournament. She has been the best player on the team since eighth grade. She played from the boy’s tees and had a better score than everyone, but she cannot be named the individual champ. According to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, (MIAA) rules, “Girls playing on a fall boys’ team cannot be entered in the Boys Fall Individual Tour-nament. They can only play in the Boys Team Tournament. If qualified, they can play in the spring Girls Sectional and State Championships.”
updates, I plan to use a series of KT issues to take a closer dive into each of the nine societal sectors high-lighted in the National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP). I will share
some of the key strategies and tactics suggested by each sector.
The Community Recreation, Fitness and Parks sector of the NPAP targets a key area that is available to most Americans at low or no cost. It is estimated that there are over 100,000 outdoor public parks and recreation facilities, and over 60,000 indoor facilities. There are some encour-aging statistics related to this sector. For example, it is estimated that ~20-30% of U.S. adults engage in physical activity in parks, walk or jog outside on a trail, utilize a treadmill, or utilize an indoor gym. Further-more, another study found that 7 out of 10 American adults used local parks in 2015.
Despite some positive signs, there is still much room for growth when it comes
NPAP Quarterly Update – Community Recreation, Fitness and Parks
to improving Community Recreation, Fit-ness and Parks. Here are the five basic strategies outlined in the NPAP:
1. Communities should develop new, and enhance existing, community recreation, fitness, and park pro-grams that provide and promote healthy physical activity opportunities for diverse users across the lifes-pan.
2. Communities should improve avail-ability of, and access to, safe, clean, and affordable community recre-ation, fitness, and park facilities to support physical activity for all resi-dents.
3. Community recreation and park organizations, the fitness industry and private business should recruit, train, and retain a diverse group of leaders, staff, and volunteers to pro-mote, organize, lead, and advo-cate for initiatives that encourage physical activity in their communities.
4. Community recreation and park
by Jason R. Carter, AKA Board Member of the NPAP Alliance
organizations, the fitness industry and private businesses should advo-cate for increased and sustainable funding and resources to create new, or enhance existing, physi-cal activity facilities and services in areas of high need.
5. Community recreation and park organizations and the for- and not-for-profit fitness industry should improve monitoring and evalua-tion of participation in community-based physical activity programs to gauge their effectiveness in pro-moting increased levels of physical activity for all.
As I review these particular sector strate-gies, I naturally gravitate toward my own community and environment, as I’m sure most of you do as well. As I write this I am looking out my window at snow blow-ing sideways and nearly 150+ inches of accumulated snow just through November to January of this year (with more to come)! Our community has unique challenges that others don’t, yet I also acknowledge that run-
ning outside during the summer in Texas or Arizona has its limitations. In my own snowy environment, I am struck by the hard work our university and local community puts in to maintain parks and recreational activities even during the winter months. We have several beautiful cross-country ski trails, as well as designated trails for snowshoeing and walking dogs; some of these trails are even lit-up at night so folks can ski, walk,
or snowshoe in the early morning or late at night. To maintain these world-class outdoor facilities requires a little bit of all five strategies above. I encourage all of you to think about how your communities are (or are not) utilizing these five strategies, and how you can be part of that.
Please continue to join me for quarterly reviews of the NPAP societal sectors over the next several issues of KT, and attempt to incorporate applicable tactics into your individual, organizational, student service, and community outreach goals.
Full access to the NPAP can be accessed here.
Silver Medalist Not HappyIn the Fall issue of KT there was brief mention that silver medalists tend not to be happy with their performance. They just missed the gold. On the other hand bronze medalists are pretty happy because they received a medal. In the recent World Junior Hockey Championships, held in Buffalo New York in January of 2018, the emotions of a silver medalists was clearly displayed. Lias Andersson of Sweden was so frustrated with his second-place finish, that he threw his silver medal into the crowd.
Sweden lost a disappointing 3-1 to Canada and apparently some other second place finishes did not leave him happy either. Since we know children learn so much from observation and watching their “heroes”, this is disappointing behavior that many par-ents and coaches will have to explain to their children.
the American Kine-siology Association held its 11th annual leadership workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Marriott Denver Airport at Gateway Park. The theme
of the workshop was Promoting Quality Undergraduate Programs in Kinesiology. Special thanks goes to Kim Graber, Jason Carter, Lanie Dornier, and Dan Schmidt for serving on the program committee with me for this special event.
Nearly 130 people attended the workshop with 70 individuals serving in presenter roles. Eighty institutions from across the country and Canada were represented at the meet-ing. Video of the main workshop keynote, podium, and panel presentations will be available on the AKA website in the future.
Pre-workshops – January 25 afternoon and January 26 morning
Rocky Mountain High
Thirty-six participants attended the pre-workshop, developed by John Bartholomew from the University of Texas-Austin and Jason Carter from Michigan Technologi-cal University, that addressed personnel issues in Kinesiology. The purpose of the session was related to dealing with difficult faculty and staff along with a variety of performance challenges. John and Sherri Sanders, former Associate Vice President for Inclusion and Equity and the Title IX coordinator at UT Austin and now with the National Center for Women & Information Technology in Boulder, Colorado, shared their insights and tips on working with dif-ficult faculty during the opening interac-tive session. Participants discussed case studies and did role playing for different discussions to help learn from one another and network.
A second pre-workshop addressed internships in Kinesiology. Mark Urtel and Rafael Bahamonde from Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis organized the session as 22 participants examined a variety of topics and cases related to the value, development, conduct and assessment of internships. Plenary speakers Jared Russell
from Auburn University and Tim Gavin from Purdue, provided information about effec-tive strategies to develop and implement internships for the participants in atten-dance. These talks were then followed by first-time, and exciting, “ignite sessions” that addressed various issues (i.e., how to get started, logistics, and community partner building) and each day ended with round-table discussions to allow participants time for more in-depth conversations with col-leagues.
Many thanks to John, Jason, Mark and Rafael for leading these sessions.
AKA Workshop – January 26 afternoon and January 27Ryan Jenkins, owner and founder of Next Generation, presented a dynamic speech on millennial learning – that is, how do we best approach the teaching – learning process with our present generation of students and new faculty. Ryan presented a variety of examples that helped the audi-
ence learn how to lead and engage with Millennials and Generation Z students. His presentation is available here.
Other keynote presenters were: • Melissa Gross and Peter Bodary, the University of Michigan – Academic Innovation in teaching. The speakers shared their experiences with active learning pedagogies with under-graduates.
• Wotjek Chadzko-Zajko, University of Illinois, Core Curriculum in Kinesiol-ogy. Wotjek addressed the future of Kinesiology curricula – challenges and prospects for success.
• James Morrow, University of North Texas, Workshop Summary. At the conclusion of the workshop, Jim provided an excellent and humorous review of the program by contrasting undergraduate cultures of 1968 with those of today.
In addition to these exciting speakers, the program had two excellent panel discussions, a variety of outstanding podium speeches, interactive roundtable presentations, and poster presentations that addressed aca-demic innovation, curriculum, our role in preparing pre-healthcare professionals, service learning, academic misconduct, promoting “soft skills” through our curricula, inclusion and diversity, undergraduate student
involvement in research, and a variety of other topics related to undergraduate education.
Importantly, we honored vari-ous individuals at the closing banquet on Saturday evening. Three scholars received the 2017 Jerry R. Thomas AKA Dis-tinguished Leadership Awards for their significant contributions to the field of Kinesiology: Dr Terry Rizzo, Dr. Duane Knudson and Dr. David Perrin. See the Executive Director column in this issue for a brief summary of their contributions.
Amelia Lee was recognized for her contributions as our Executive Direc-tor since 2010. Amelia has stepped down from the position and we are forever grate-ful for her leadership and wonderful way of working with the AKA leadership and our membership. We wish Amelia well in her retirement. Amelia will be succeeded in this role by Gil Reeve, AKA’s second president in 2010-11 and a real icon in the field of Kinesiology and higher education. As you know, Gil is our AKA resident expert in strategic planning and has conducted numerous workshops at AKA units.
Special thanks went out to outgoing board members, Rafael Bahamonde, Paul
L to R: Rick Kreider, Texas A & M University; Scott Gordon, Kennesaw State University; Paul Carpenter, California State University-East Bay; and Sandra Shultz, University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Departing Exec. Committee members: Dana Brooks and Jayne Jenkins
Carpenter, Scott Gordon, Rick Kreider, Steve McCole, and Sandra Schultz. These folks have contributed a great deal to various committee and the board of directors.
Also, thanks to departing Executive Committee members Jayne Jenkins, our Secretary/Treasurer and Dana Brooks, senior member at large for their wonderful contributions to the Executive Committee over the past three years.
Mary Rudisill, our Past-Present was rec-ognized for her excellent leadership over the past three years. Words cannot express how much we have benefited from Mary’s leadership, knowledge, wisdom, inclusive perspective, administrative, and editorial acumen. She has made AKA a better orga-nization and I trust she will continue to do so as the leader of an AKA institution.
Overall, I believe the meet-ing was a success. While a bit intense with its action packed agenda, I trust the participants benefited from this meeting and have taken some great ideas back to their home institutions. As evidenced by the varied examples presented at the meet-ing, it is clear we have accom-plished much at our institutions, but as the presenters reminded us, there is still a great deal of progress to be made.
It is important to reinforce through our member programs and our association, that Kinesiology plays an important role at our instituions. As emphasized in a recent American Academy of Arts and Sciences report entitled the “Future of Undergraduate Education-The Future of America” (https://www.amacad.org/cfue), we have a great opportunity to help our undergraduate students (as well as graduate students) to become more competent, more con-cerned and caring, and more complete human beings. As our programs continue to grow at unprecedented levels, the tens of thousands of students who are enrolled in our units count on us to deliver quality programs that give them and others hope for the future. Our task in not easy as we continually strive to create and deliver state-
of-the-art program-ming across our varying disciplines as we juggle other research, teaching, service, and admin-istrative priorities. Nonetheless, I trust we will succeed in promoting quality undergraduate edu-cation for our students
Finally, I want to thank the AKA member-ship for allowing me to serve as your President over the past year. It has been my honor and privilege to work with so many wonder-ful colleagues. Working with our executive director, our executive committee, our board, and our fabulous editor of Kinesiology Today (and advisor to the EC and board), Penny McCullagh, has been very special indeed. I hope that I have added a little value to the association through my efforts and I look forward to my role as Past-President in the coming year. Thank you for enriching my life through AKA and all the best in your professional and personal endeavors.
Reference: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017). The future of undergraduate educa-tion: The future of America. Cambridge, MA.
Mary Rudisill, AKA Past President
2017 Jerry R. Thomas Distinguished Leader. Award winners David Perrin, Duane Knudson and Terry Rizzo.
I had the opportunity to chat with the out-going and incoming Executive Directors
while at the AKA workshop and got some of their reflections and predictions for the Association.
Amelia Lee served as Executive Direc-tor from 2010 until the workshop in 2018. Amelia retired from her faculty position at Louisiana State University and found that playing golf and bridge were not enough to fulfill her goal directed behavior. She needed something! Previously Shirl Hoffman served as the inaugural Executive Direc-tor and also Editor of Kinesiology Today. Amelia was sure she did not want to serve in both roles. Shirl continued as Editor and Amelia took over as Executive Director. At the time, Gil Reeve was Vice Provost and Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at LSU and also the President of AKA. Gil was well versed in strategic plan-ning and has been very involved over the years with AKA by offering pre-conference workshops, mentoring other faculty on how to provide leadership for strategic planning, and meeting for lunch with Amelia at their favorite restaurant on a monthly basis.
I asked Amelia what her challenges were when she took over at ED. Remember
the association was relatively new, the bylaws created, and now it was time to put things into action. She spent a lot of time working on the committee structure of the organization and in the first few years spent a lot of time helping organize the annual workshops.
“I loved working with the committees, helping the com-mittee chairs develop and execute their goals, and hav-ing an influence on selecting individuals to serve in leader-ship roles in AKA. I treasure the relationships and friendships I have developed,” Amelia said about her time as AKA Executive Director.
Gil is delighted to assume the role of Executive Director. He retired in January of 2017 from LSU and kept himself busy moving to Athens, Georgia and building a new house. Well the house is complete and he was ready for a new challenge. He didn’t say it, but I don’t think he is very good at not having a professional agenda. His immediate goals are to work with the AKA leadership to
Exciting Transition in Leadership for AKABy Penny McCullagh, Ph.D. Editor KT
editor’s one Cent Worth
• Grow the membership of the aca-demic departments
• Strengthen relationships with our affiliate organizations
• Develop partnerships with profes-sional sponsors
He indicated that it is important to help departments to understand the value of belonging to AKA and also attending the
Amelia Lee, former AKA Executive Director and Gil Reeve, new Executive Director
workshops and taking advantage of other services offered by AKA – for example, the webinars and the new leadership insti-tute. He also said having roundtables and small group discussions is critical. From his long history in administrative roles, he indicated that some faculty have a difficult role switching from being a faculty member where your primary role is focusing on your own sub-disciplinary area to now focusing on the department as a whole. AKA offers
a host of learning opportunities for new chairs but also for seasoned leaders. He also noted, using an analogy from Jim Collins book called Good to Great, that in terms of leadership in AKA it is important “to get the right people on the bus and in the right seats”. He will strive to continue to do this.
I have known Amelia and worked with her over the last 10 years in AKA and have tremendously enjoyed our interactions and
admired her dedication and contributions to our field. I will miss her! I have also worked with Gil professionally over the last 20 plus years and have always appreciated his skills, and his wisdom. I look forward to working with him in my role as Editor of Kinesiology Today. I have no doubt that AKA is in good hands.
The AKA Scholar Award Nominations Deadline is 11:59PM CT, MARCH 4, 2018. For the ninth consecutive year, the American Kinesiology Association will recognize the top kinesiology students at each AKA member department through the AKA Student Scholar Awards Program. The faculty at each AKA member department will select a single student at the undergraduate, Master’s and/or doctoral level who has distinguished themselves by demonstrating an exceptional interest in the field of kinesiology through independent or guided research, service and leadership within the profes-sion, and by exhibiting the potential for making a significant impact on the field. Additionally, each AKA member department may recognize a single graduate student who has secured a first author publication of their research through the AKA Graduate Student Writing Award. Participation in this student awards program has grown significantly over the last four years with over 100 students across the U.S. and Canada being recognized as their institutions’ AKA Student Scholar Award recipients in one or more of the aforementioned categories in 2017.
In addition to recognizing each AKA member department’s local AKA Student Scholar Award recipients, the AKA Awards Committee selects from this pool of exceptional students a single student to be recognized as the AKA National Student Scholar Award recipient in each of the undergraduate, Master’s, doctoral, and writing categories. The recipients of these national scholar awards are deemed to be the students with the most distinguished kinesiology-related academic and leadership records, or in the case of the writing award the most exceptional ability to conduct and disseminate research in kinesiology, across the AKA member departments throughout the U.S. and Canada. This national recognition program is in its fifth year, and in most recent years winners of these prestigious awards in the various categories have come from Arizona State University, Colorado State Uni-versity, East Carolina University, Louisiana State University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, University of Connecticut, University of Florida, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, and University of Texas at Austin.
AKA Recognizes our 2017 Jerry R. Thomas Distinguished Leader Award RecipientsBy Amelia Lee
exeCutive direCtor’s rePort
The AKA recognizes outstanding lead-ers in administrative units at member
institutions and the Executive Committee is pleased to announce the 2017 Jerry R. Thomas Distinguished Leadership Award winners. Up to four awards can be given each year, based on the kind of degrees granted by the institution: Doctoral, Master’s, Undergraduate, and Associate degrees.
Dr. Terry Rizzo is the recipient for the 2017 AKA Distinguished Leadership Award for Undergraduate-level institutions. Dr. Rizzo has led the Kinesi-ology Department at California State University, San Ber-
nardino since 1995. He was the Depart-ment Chair for 21 years until he became the Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies in August 2016. Dr. Rizzo’s leadership has been instrumental in managing a rapidly growing unit and creating much needed research and teach-ing laboratory spaces. Through Dr. Rizzo’s
leadership, the department dramatically increased its research productivity and enhanced its reputation. Dr. Rizzo has also been an active member of the AKA Board as well as other organizations within the field of Kinesiology.
Dr. Duane Knud-son is the recipient for the 2017 AKA Distin-guished Leadership Award for Masters-level institutions. Dr. Knudson has led the Department of Kine-siology at Texas State University from 2009
until 2017. Prior to his tenure at Texas State, he held positions of Associate Dean in the College of Communication and Educa-tion, as well as Interim Chair and Associate Chair in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University-Chico. Col-lectively Duane has served 16 years in administrative roles. Under his leadership at Texas State University, the department has been successful at securing additional
faculty, facilities, equipment, and funding. With respect to research productivity, the department tripled publications since he was appointed Chair of the department. He has increased partnerships and outreach opportunities, both domestic and interna-tional. Duane maintained his own research agenda in biomechanics and served as an exceptional role model during his leader-ship. Additionally, Duane has served as President of AKA, Board Member and Vice President for Publications for ISBS, Chair of the Biomechanics Academy of NASPE, Associate Editor for several journals, and as Chair and committee member for other valued organizations within the field of Kinesiology.
Dr. David Perrin is the recipient of the 2017 AKA Distin-guished Leadership Award for Doctoral-level institutions. He has been in Leader-ship positions since
1979, including Program Director and Director of Athletic Training at the Uni-versity of Pittsburgh, Program Director of Kinesiology and Chair of Human Services at the University of Virginia, Dean and then Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Greens-boro, and currently he is the Dean of the College of Health at the University of Utah. At Utah, Dr. Perrin’s leadership efforts
have resulted in the realignment of the College of Health, creating new programs, faculty positions, and the College’s first Research Office. He had similar positive outcomes as a leader at UNCG, Virginia, and Pittsburgh. In addition to being an outstanding leader, Dr. Perrin has been an NIH funded researcher who is renowned for his study of the anterior cruciate liga-ment (with over 130 publications in peer
reviewed journals). He is a Fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology, American College of Sports Medicine, and National Athletic Trainers’ Association, and has served many organizations in Kinesiology throughout his career.
These award winners all were recognized at the AKA Workshop in Denver on Satur-day January 27, 2018 during the Awards Banquet.
Endurance athletes never cease to sur-prise with the challenges they take on.
Well here is one to put in your pocket. The 14th Antarctic Ice Marathon will take place on December 13, 2018, just a few hundred miles from the South Pole. With an average windchill temperature of -4 Farenheit and an altitude of 2300 feet, running entirely on snow, should satisfy your need for a thrill.
For the 2017 event, athletes from 19 countries assembled in Chili and were flown to Antarctica for the race. For this race wind chill was -13 F. Frank Johansen from Denmark won the race in 3:37.46 and joined the 7 Continents Marathon Club. The first woman finisher was Kelly Allen McLay of the USA who won in 4:56:37.
If this all sounds exciting, you better have some dollars in your pocket. You will be flown from Chili to the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica the day before the race. You will be provided with lodging, food, and receive photos of the race as well as medals, t-shirts and patches. The cost is $15,000 Euros or about $18,000 US dol-lars. Oh, and no penquins will be watching – they are not found in the area where the marathon takes place.
If you look around there are lots of other wild and crazy events for marathoners. Check out the web sites below for the world’s craziest marathons.
You can also gain marathon fame staying around home. You can join a club called Marathon Maniacs and gain Bronze level recognition by running 2 marathons within 16 days or 30 marathons within 90 days. If you want to reach the top of the ladder with this group and be at the Titanium level, you would need to do 52 marathons in a year, 30 marathons in 30 different US states, Canadian provinces or countries within a year, or 20 countries in a year. Sounds like this will cost you a few dollars as well.
