Running makes people happier.
In 2006, a research study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed that even a single bout of exercise, such as 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill, could instantly lift the mood of someone suffering from a major depressive order.
Following the encouragement of her fellow AMIGOS, Sara Schamber reassembled the USI Runner’s Club in July of 2013.
The senior dietetics major ran track at McCutchen High School in Lafayette.
“Once you start running you can never stop,” said Schamber, the club’s president.
The group now has around 20 members and meets at 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the concrete circle near the RFWC.
Sophomore Brynne Doherty played soccer in high school, but wanted to focus on getting accepted into the occupational therapy assistant program at USI. So, she started running with the club as an alternative way to stay in shape after she found the club on Facebook.
“At first, it was really difficult to keep up with the runners, but as I kept going I really enjoyed it,” Doherty said.
Doherty said the other members inspired her to push through, which she normally struggles to do solo.
“I would run my five-mile or three-mile run and then by the end of the semester I was able to keep up with them and run the full six (miles),” Doherty said. “Sometimes people would turn and run with me back. And so I always had someone running with me and so that was nice.”
The group also conducts periodic meetings to discuss running times, hosts chili nights and meets for brunch on the weekends after a run.
Although the group frequents USI’s Burdette Trail, which makes for a convenient place to run after classes, they sometimes “mix-it-up” on weekends.
“We’ll run the river sometimes, and do different places off campus to get the different scenery sometimes,” Doherty said, “because it can get kind of boring running the same path all of the time.”
Schamber said she, and the rest of the runners, feel happy about their present status as an organization since they do not enter races, which is a requirement of club sports. “You are only competing against yourself,” Schamber said.
Her favorite part about running is what she learns about herself, Schamber said.
“You learn about mental toughness and ways to keep yourself going,” she said. “You learn that nothing can stop you.”
Schamber and Doherty said USI’s Runner’s Club looks forward to gaining new members.
“It might be hard at first and you might not think you’re that good of a runner, but you don’t have to be,” Doherty said. “It’s just your personal best for your own fitness goals. It really does help to become a more active and fit person and you get to meet a lot of new, nice, great people.”