Friday Finds is a regular feature in which I collate and share interesting articles and posts on running/health/fitness which I’ve read recently. Some might be inspiring, some might be scientific, some might provoke debate. All are things I’ve found in some way thought-provoking.
Well hello there! I hope you have had a great week and have an even better weekend ahead to look forward to. I’ve got a bit of a mixed bag for you this week, so let’s get started with your weekend reading material…
First, a follow-up on the recent story about London marathon pacer Elizabeth Ayres and her viral Facebook post detailing the experiences she, and the participants she was with, endured. While this is still being investigated, the stories shared in this piece about the abuse and shaming “plus size” runners encounter on a regular basis just appal me. I cannot understand why other people would think it’s ok to treat other human beings in the ways described here, especially when they are engaged in healthy activities. What right does someone else have to comment on the choices made by someone they don’t even know and which will not affect them in any way? At a time when the overall health of the nation is often in the news, surely we would be better to offer encouragement rather than knock people’s confidence. We were all taught that if we didn’t have anything nice to say, we should just keep quiet!
As I have often written, running is a great way to improve our mental health – I definitely know that it helps clear the cobwebs away and “resets” me during times of stress or pressure. Here in the UK this past week has been Mental Health Awareness week, so I want to focus the bulk of this week’s post on the mental health benefits of running, starting with a reminder of the benefits we get from running, beyond the physical:
Followed by some first-hand accounts of how running helped improve the mental health of some Runner’s World readers:
Then finishing with this more detailed piece from Grazia which demonstrates the huge difference running can make:
And finally, something a little lighter. Like many others, I’ll be getting my endorphins and boosting my mental health at parkrun this weekend. I’m really looking forward to running it again after being a volunteer for the past two weeks. Volunteering is easy and it gives us that fuzzy warm feeling of having given something back to the community. But spare a thought for Ian Guest, a parkrunner who ended up on quite a journey to get that volunteering glow after he realised he had accidentally signed up to help at the wrong event…but still went anyway! Now that’s commitment to the cause!
Happy reading,
The Running Princess
The Running Princess 
But they call parkrun a race…. Well done to him- I am sure most people would have emailed the event team and explained!
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They also use a capital “P” but I’m trying to be open minded and overlook it on this occasion 😂
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