What Gives With So Many Hard Scientists Being Hard-Core Endurance Runners?

I never heard of author Sarah Scoles, but for me, she nailed it.

Greg

(Physicist)

We are just good.

Cheers

16, wow, is that all of them? Roger runs endurance?

I’m a scientist…and a wanna-be hard core endurance runner, does that count?

What Gives With So Many Hard Scientists Being Hard-Core Endurance Runners?

Probably because endurance runners don’t spend a single night outside and don’t carry enough gear for an overnighter (much less a 3 week trip).  They are Done In A Day types.

Why?  Because to be a “scientist” means you have a job somewhere and don’t have the time to stay out for 3 weeks.  Question answered.

“… to be a “scientist” means you have a job somewhere and don’t have the time to stay out for 3 weeks.”

Since my first job in 1969 I have never spent less than 8 weeks a year in the woods, and often more.

So, while true for some, not true for all.

No, I don’t run endurance racing, but we do run 8 km 2 mornings out of 3. As I write this I am happily sitting still after a 7+ hr burn up and down the local hills. Why? Because sitting still is nice?
:)

Cheers

Not that there’s anything wrong with living for 3 weeks at a time (without resupply) in the woods, but most people don’t want to — they have other priorities to balance out — and therefore have not arranged their lives around it. It is a darn fun hobby but not a fundamental lifestyle.

This quote from the article (excellent, BTW) sums it up nicely:

All that writing, computer-sitting, and universe-decoding is mentally exhausting. After a day of that, it makes sense that scientists would want to exhaust their bodies and give their brains a break. Running, biking, hiking, climbing, swimming, or parkouring for hours shushes the inner voices. “When you are doing something that physically difficult your brain can’t really do anything except quiet down,” says Sarah Hörst, a planetary scientist, runner, and triathlete from Johns Hopkins University.

maybe running increases blood flow which improves brain function?

It’s about shutting down the mind.

Swimming and running do it well.   Swimming requires a large pool.