Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-02-01
How 10 Run.
Very few boys know how TO run.

Very few boys know how TO run.
"IIo, ho!" say dozen boys. "Just bring
on the boy that can run faster that can !"
But stop moment. don't mean that
most boys can't run fast-I mean they
can't run far. don't believe there is one
boy in fifty, Of those who may read this,
who can run quarter Of mile at good
smart pace without having to blow like n
porpoise by the time he has made his dis
tance. And how many boys are there who
can run, fast or slow, full mile without
stoppingP
1t hardly speaks well of our race, does
it, that almost any animal in creation that
pretends to run at all can outrun any of
usp
Take the smallest terrier dog you can
find, that is sound and not puppy, and
try a race with him He'll beat you badly.
He'll run third faster than you can, and
ten times rs far, and this with legs not
moro than six inches long. have hound
so active that he always runs at least
seventy.fve miles when | stay day in
the woods with him. for he certainly runs
more than seven miles an hour, and if l
am gone ten hours, you SEQ he must travel
about seventy-five miles of distance. And
then, good hound will sometimes follow
Il fox for two days and nights without stop
ping, going more than three hundred and
fifty miles, and he will do it without eat.
ing or sleeping.
Then, you may have heard how some OF
the runners in South African tribes will
run for long istances-hundreds of miles
carrying dispatches, and making very
few stops.
make these comparisons to show that
our boys who cannot run q mile without
being badly winded are very poor runners.
But believe can tell the boys some-
thing that will help them to run better.
was pretty old boy when first found ii
out, but the first time l tried it l ran a mile
and n quarter at one dash, and l was not
weary or blown. And now am going 10
give you the secret:
Breathe through your nosel
had been thinking what poor runners
we are, and wondering why the animals
can run so far, and it came to me that per.
haps this might account for the difference,
that they always take air through the nose,
we usually begin to puff through our mouths
before we have gone many rods. Some
animals. such as the dog and fox do open
their mouths and pant while running, but
they do this to cool themselves. and moi
because they can not get air enough
through their noses.
found once, through sad experience
with pet dog, that dogs must die if their
nostrils become stopped. They will breathe
through the mouth only while it is forcibly
held open; if left to themselves they al
ways breathe through the nose.
So, possibly, we are intended to take al
our breath through the nose, unless neces
sity drives US to breathe through the
mouth.
There are many other reasons why We
ought to make our noses furnish all the all
to our lungs. One is, the nose is fillet
with little forest of hair, which is always
kept moist. like all the inner surface oftho
nose, and particles of dust that woulC
otherwise rush into the lungs and make
trouble, are caught md kept out by this
little hairy work. Then the passages
of the nose are longer, and smaller, and
more crooked than that of the mouth, sc
that as it passes through them the air be
comes warm. But these are only a few
reasons why the nose ought not to be
switched off and lift idle, as so many nose,
are, while their owners go putting through
their mouths.
All trainers of men for racing and row
ing, and all other athletic contests, under.
stand this. and teach their pupils accord
ingly. If the boys will try this plan, they
will soon sec what difference it will
make in their endurance. After you have
run few rods holding your mouth tightly
closed, there will come a time when it will
seem as though you could not get all
enough through the nose alone; but dom
give up; keep right on, and in few mo
ments you will overcome this. A little
practice of this method will 60 far to make
you the best runner in the neighborhood
I-Zheo. B. Wilson, in 50. Nicholas 70,
February, 1882.