Running is your best medicine, and your feet are your best shoes.
The Global Marathon Against Pandemics
Date: April 14, 2020
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
Humans are excellent long-distance runners thanks to our hunter-gatherer heritage. The COVID-19 comorbidities, i.e. the chronic diseases, including obesity, are sadly the result of the incompatibility between this heritage and our current way of life.
In other words, barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body: Mens sana in corpore sano. By the way, rationally speaking, this means for instance that running marathons to keep one’s body mass index (BMI) on the lower side of the recommended range (18.5 kg/m2 to 24.9 kg/m2), is much more useful and relevant than any race medal, record or ranking.
The health crisis we are currently going through—and which has resulted in the lockdown of billions of humans—is not unrightfully perceived by almost all actors and commentators as the outcome of the inadequacies of the healthcare supply: lack of masks, intensive care beds, respirators, drugs, vaccines, etc. And since “we are at war” against the new coronavirus and we obviously want to win it, it’s crucial, even vital, first to realize that our caregivers are fulfilling the mission of the Red Cross in war zones, taking care of the seriously wounded to save as many lives as possible.
My second observation is that we’re defenseless against this virus, which does not hesitate to attack our brave soldiers, including in their barracks and on aircraft carriers. Finally, if the enemy is so powerful, it’s because it can count on accomplices who are preparing the ground, namely the crippling chronic diseases, which by the way kill yearly tens of millions of humans, despite all the treatments we have. These chronic diseases are the Trojan horses that open the doors of our body to the invader. In other words, the more the patient suffers from these comorbidities before the attack by the novel coronavirus, the more he or she will unfortunately risk losing his or her life.
We will likely end up increasing the healthcare supply, but if we don’t successfully control the chronic diseases, against which physical activity is the only truly effective and free weapon, the next coronavirus pandemics will be more devastating, and our stocks of masks will, alas, look like a new Maginot defense line. We should therefore, for the health and freedom of all, resort to running to prevent the chronic diseases.
I’m inviting fellow runners, our loved ones and other prisoners of war (POWs) of the COVID-19 to join me and run the 2020 Freedom Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20, 2020. Each participant can do 5 km, 10 km, 15 km, 10 miles, a half marathon, a marathon or whatever distance that works for her or him. Since France is one of the countries that have imposed the toughest restrictions for the folks who want to keep running to stay healthy and prevent vulnerability to the COVID-19 and other pandemics, I’ll have to do the marathon inside my apartment. So I’m bracing for 844 out-and-backs on a 25-meter course, including a staircase of 15 steps. I chose the Boston Marathon to launch the Global Marathon Against Pandemics, because the legendary marathon has embodied the quest for liberty and healthy lifestyle for 123 years.
We’re currently defenselessly facing a devastating global war against a microscopic stealth combatant: the COVID-19 Pandemic. The enemy has spread global panic and has already made billions of prisoners of war who, like you and me, are locked down in our homes. It’s the first time in human history that all individuals of our species have lost their fundamental freedom of movement inside their countries or to foreign countries. And those who break the restrictions may be hit by the enemy or punished by the police, or in some cases even end up in a small cell.
We’re defenseless against the tiny enemy, because our costly weaponry is designed for wars of humans against humans. All of us—rich and poor, young or elderly—are therefore sitting ducks for the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is killing even POWs, without facing any risk of war crime prosecutions. And in this global conflict, our health systems are carrying out, with limited resources in most countries, the mission of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in classic war zones, taking care of the seriously wounded and trying to do their best to save as many lives as possible.
It’s about time to understand that we’ve turned out to be so vulnerable to the COVID-19 Pandemic, because the enemy has managed for years to insert and strengthen gradually Trojan horses in our body, namely the crippling chronic diseases (overweight, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, kidney failure, etc.). For instance, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the adult population keeps increasing for all countries since 1975, according to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2016, the prevalence was already 59.5% in France, 63.7% in the United Kingdom, 69.7% in the United States versus only 20.9% in Ethiopia or 26.6% in Guinea. And the more the patient suffers from these comorbidities before the attack of the new coronavirus, the less likely she or he will survive.
It’s therefore crucial that we fight and eliminate these Trojan horses through physical activity and healthy lifestyle to prevent them from facilitating the assaults of future coronaviruses. Moreover, while healthcare may be costly or inaccessible for the underprivileged, efficient prevention through long-distance running—preferably barefoot—is completely accessible and free for everyone, regardless of social status, melanin density or country of residence. It’s all about individual responsibility and motivation, and not about resources. Hence, it’s about time to act responsibly for our health and to stop shifting constantly the blame to governments, corporates, poverty or precariousness.
Our immune systems are ultimately our real defense in the current war against COVID-19 Pandemic. They produce the antibodies that fight the enemy. If the antibodies win the battle, the patient survives, with or without after-effects. If they lose, the person will pass away, regardless of age or what the Red Cross or the Red Crescent can do. That’s the hard truth about this pandemic. We need therefore to boost our immune systems by staying fit and healthy through physical activity (and by avoiding excessive or unhealthy consumption). And—I insist—long-distance running is the ideal, effective, enjoyable and free way to achieve that goal. Moreover, the current lockdowns and closed borders are confirming that it’s not only about fighting pandemics, but also about a fundamental battle for our freedoms. That’s the reason the postponement of the 2020 Boston Marathon has proven to be such a powerful inspiration to launch the Global Marathon Against Pandemics.
The legendary Boston Marathon is held on Patriots’ Day, an annual event that commemorates in the United States, on the third Monday of April, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. But due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2020 edition has been rescheduled from April 20 to September 14. As many know, the Boston Marathon is the first recreative marathon and it had never been canceled or postponed since its first edition, in 1897. The Boston Marathon launched the long-distance running movement for people’s health and liberty.
As one of the thousands registered runners for the 2020 Boston Marathon and one of the billions of POWs of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it will be a great honor to participate on April 20, 2020, in the Boston Freedom Marathon, which will symbolically mark the start of the ambitious Global Marathon Against Pandemics. We need to keep running to stay fit, free and healthy, and to defeat the pandemics.
Sadly, currently in France you can run only before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m., only once a day and no more than for an hour, within 1 km from your home. If you meet all these requirements and you have a photo ID and you’ve correctly filled the waiver form, then you can hit the empty streets, closest to your home. I’ve heard about allegedly fast shoes, but since we’re still waiting for the magic ones that will help us to run a marathon within an hour, I’ll do the 2020 Freedom Boston Marathon on my 25-meter course, on my bare feet.
Meanwhile, those who want to buy food, alcohol or cigarettes are free to do so at any time, without any restriction. Sadly, many keep relying on consumption to achieve happiness and on drugs or vaccines to protect them against the pandemics, instead of running to stay healthy and boost their immune systems. It’s fortunately never too late to understand that despite all the drugs we have, the chronic diseases silently kill yearly tens of millions of people, and they seriously increase the vulnerability to the COVID-19 and to the seasonal flu. And the latter, for which there are vaccines, still claims the lives of hundreds of thousands.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).
By Dr. Barefoot Sidy Diallo
Humans are excellent long-distance runners thanks to our hunter-gatherer heritage. The COVID-19 comorbidities, i.e. the chronic diseases, including obesity, are sadly the result of the incompatibility between this heritage and our current way of life.
In other words, barefoot running is the smart way to achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body: Mens sana in corpore sano. By the way, rationally speaking, this means for instance that running marathons to keep one’s body mass index (BMI) on the lower side of the recommended range (18.5 kg/m2 to 24.9 kg/m2), is much more useful and relevant than any race medal, record or ranking.
The health crisis we are currently going through—and which has resulted in the lockdown of billions of humans—is not unrightfully perceived by almost all actors and commentators as the outcome of the inadequacies of the healthcare supply: lack of masks, intensive care beds, respirators, drugs, vaccines, etc. And since “we are at war” against the new coronavirus and we obviously want to win it, it’s crucial, even vital, first to realize that our caregivers are fulfilling the mission of the Red Cross in war zones, taking care of the seriously wounded to save as many lives as possible.
My second observation is that we’re defenseless against this virus, which does not hesitate to attack our brave soldiers, including in their barracks and on aircraft carriers. Finally, if the enemy is so powerful, it’s because it can count on accomplices who are preparing the ground, namely the crippling chronic diseases, which by the way kill yearly tens of millions of humans, despite all the treatments we have. These chronic diseases are the Trojan horses that open the doors of our body to the invader. In other words, the more the patient suffers from these comorbidities before the attack by the novel coronavirus, the more he or she will unfortunately risk losing his or her life.
We will likely end up increasing the healthcare supply, but if we don’t successfully control the chronic diseases, against which physical activity is the only truly effective and free weapon, the next coronavirus pandemics will be more devastating, and our stocks of masks will, alas, look like a new Maginot defense line. We should therefore, for the health and freedom of all, resort to running to prevent the chronic diseases.
I’m inviting fellow runners, our loved ones and other prisoners of war (POWs) of the COVID-19 to join me and run the 2020 Freedom Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20, 2020. Each participant can do 5 km, 10 km, 15 km, 10 miles, a half marathon, a marathon or whatever distance that works for her or him. Since France is one of the countries that have imposed the toughest restrictions for the folks who want to keep running to stay healthy and prevent vulnerability to the COVID-19 and other pandemics, I’ll have to do the marathon inside my apartment. So I’m bracing for 844 out-and-backs on a 25-meter course, including a staircase of 15 steps. I chose the Boston Marathon to launch the Global Marathon Against Pandemics, because the legendary marathon has embodied the quest for liberty and healthy lifestyle for 123 years.
We’re currently defenselessly facing a devastating global war against a microscopic stealth combatant: the COVID-19 Pandemic. The enemy has spread global panic and has already made billions of prisoners of war who, like you and me, are locked down in our homes. It’s the first time in human history that all individuals of our species have lost their fundamental freedom of movement inside their countries or to foreign countries. And those who break the restrictions may be hit by the enemy or punished by the police, or in some cases even end up in a small cell.
We’re defenseless against the tiny enemy, because our costly weaponry is designed for wars of humans against humans. All of us—rich and poor, young or elderly—are therefore sitting ducks for the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is killing even POWs, without facing any risk of war crime prosecutions. And in this global conflict, our health systems are carrying out, with limited resources in most countries, the mission of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in classic war zones, taking care of the seriously wounded and trying to do their best to save as many lives as possible.
It’s about time to understand that we’ve turned out to be so vulnerable to the COVID-19 Pandemic, because the enemy has managed for years to insert and strengthen gradually Trojan horses in our body, namely the crippling chronic diseases (overweight, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, kidney failure, etc.). For instance, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the adult population keeps increasing for all countries since 1975, according to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2016, the prevalence was already 59.5% in France, 63.7% in the United Kingdom, 69.7% in the United States versus only 20.9% in Ethiopia or 26.6% in Guinea. And the more the patient suffers from these comorbidities before the attack of the new coronavirus, the less likely she or he will survive.
It’s therefore crucial that we fight and eliminate these Trojan horses through physical activity and healthy lifestyle to prevent them from facilitating the assaults of future coronaviruses. Moreover, while healthcare may be costly or inaccessible for the underprivileged, efficient prevention through long-distance running—preferably barefoot—is completely accessible and free for everyone, regardless of social status, melanin density or country of residence. It’s all about individual responsibility and motivation, and not about resources. Hence, it’s about time to act responsibly for our health and to stop shifting constantly the blame to governments, corporates, poverty or precariousness.
Our immune systems are ultimately our real defense in the current war against COVID-19 Pandemic. They produce the antibodies that fight the enemy. If the antibodies win the battle, the patient survives, with or without after-effects. If they lose, the person will pass away, regardless of age or what the Red Cross or the Red Crescent can do. That’s the hard truth about this pandemic. We need therefore to boost our immune systems by staying fit and healthy through physical activity (and by avoiding excessive or unhealthy consumption). And—I insist—long-distance running is the ideal, effective, enjoyable and free way to achieve that goal. Moreover, the current lockdowns and closed borders are confirming that it’s not only about fighting pandemics, but also about a fundamental battle for our freedoms. That’s the reason the postponement of the 2020 Boston Marathon has proven to be such a powerful inspiration to launch the Global Marathon Against Pandemics.
The legendary Boston Marathon is held on Patriots’ Day, an annual event that commemorates in the United States, on the third Monday of April, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. But due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 2020 edition has been rescheduled from April 20 to September 14. As many know, the Boston Marathon is the first recreative marathon and it had never been canceled or postponed since its first edition, in 1897. The Boston Marathon launched the long-distance running movement for people’s health and liberty.
As one of the thousands registered runners for the 2020 Boston Marathon and one of the billions of POWs of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it will be a great honor to participate on April 20, 2020, in the Boston Freedom Marathon, which will symbolically mark the start of the ambitious Global Marathon Against Pandemics. We need to keep running to stay fit, free and healthy, and to defeat the pandemics.
Sadly, currently in France you can run only before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m., only once a day and no more than for an hour, within 1 km from your home. If you meet all these requirements and you have a photo ID and you’ve correctly filled the waiver form, then you can hit the empty streets, closest to your home. I’ve heard about allegedly fast shoes, but since we’re still waiting for the magic ones that will help us to run a marathon within an hour, I’ll do the 2020 Freedom Boston Marathon on my 25-meter course, on my bare feet.
Meanwhile, those who want to buy food, alcohol or cigarettes are free to do so at any time, without any restriction. Sadly, many keep relying on consumption to achieve happiness and on drugs or vaccines to protect them against the pandemics, instead of running to stay healthy and boost their immune systems. It’s fortunately never too late to understand that despite all the drugs we have, the chronic diseases silently kill yearly tens of millions of people, and they seriously increase the vulnerability to the COVID-19 and to the seasonal flu. And the latter, for which there are vaccines, still claims the lives of hundreds of thousands.
My book Running Barefoot for Human Survival is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book format (French edition: Courir pieds nus pour sauver les humains).