Newspaper Article

LI LIFE OUTDOORS / First Steps to Get Up and Running

John Hanc. John Hanc is the author of two books for beginning runners, "The Essential Runner" (Lyons Press) and "Running for Dummies" (IDG), which he wrote with the late Florence Griffith Joyner

2002

Overview

TWO WEEKS AGO, early on a morning that had \"spring is coming\" written all over it, a group of friends and I went out for a run on Fire Island. We started at Robert Moses Parking Field 5, and headed east - on boardwalk, sand and pavement - past the lighthouse, and the mostly deserted summerhouses of Kismet, Saltaire and Ocean beaches. The air was clear, the sun warm, the ocean breezes gentle and welcoming. We ran and we talked and we laughed and we explored and, at the end, back at Field 5 we all went to the boardwalk for a mandatory gazing out over the ocean, which glimmered in the morning sunshine. \"They may want to stay in shape, have a healthier lifestyle in general, or lose weight.. ... But at some point it dawns on the runner that she would do this even if it didn't help keep her slim, healthy and connected to a close-knit group of friends. She is drawn to the simple activity of putting one foot in front of the other, breathing harder than normal, and feeling the wind in her hair and her feet rhythmically hitting the ground. She has become a runner.\"

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