for a successful hunt, including the return trip dragging or carrying the game. The theory is cute, clever, and neat.

There was also a theory that the reason the brain releases endorphins after a runner warms up is that endorphins—a natural morphine—mask minor injuries and discomforts hunters experienced during the hunt, which allowed them to overcome those discomforts to guarantee amore successful hunt. Another neatly-forged theory.

Nifty theories aside, we know from practical evidence—notthe least of whichis the experience of Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians—that men and women are capable of covering great distances under their own power, if they train themselves and pace themselves properly. Human beings were, after all, designed that way.

The body’s largest muscles and bones are in the legs, which allows human beings to move themselves from one place to another. And in a beautiful design concept, the more those muscles and bones are used in pursuit of the purpose for which they

were designed, the more efficient they become at performing that function.

If the human being were designed to sit around on its duff all day, there would be an expected reward: Under such faithful use, the human rump would become more beautifully shaped the more it was used. Well, scratch that theory.

Those who run what many might consider excessively can theorize that, based on emerging research, they are adding to both the quantity and quality of their lives—as long as they have a life left once the training is done.

While the inactive see the active as excessive and egocentric, and the active see the inactive as excessive and victim-centric, the world continues to turn. Evolution is too slow to catch up to make asses more beautiful the more they are used, and we are faced with reconsidering a philosophy that today is more than a halfcentury old. It was expounded by one of the most profound (and practical) philosophers of the 20th century, Jack LaLanne, who said, “I’d rather wear out than rust out.”

—Rich Benyo

Here are just some of the features you can expect in the September/October issue of Marathon & Beyond:

25 Years of Marathon Madness

Frank Shorter Interview

Course Profile: Las Vegas Marathon Vegetarian Marathoners

Using the Marathon to Train for Your First 50-Miler

July/August 1997

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