Retrorunning World Championships

Retrorunning

Article by: © Michael J. Rosen 2012

"More Than Words Can, a Backward Motion of Our Bodies Will Provoke a Fundamental Questioning of Our Commonest Attitudes and Bring About the Social Change That the Urgency and Gravity of the Problems of Our Day Require."*

Is this really why people participate in the sport of retrorunning (sometimes called backwards running)? Not simply to keep the sun out of their eyes, avoid taking a dust storm head on, or to leave misleading footprints in the snow?

"If We Don't Understand Quickly That It's Necessary to Go Backwards at All Levels, Then Soon We Will Not Be Able to Live on the Earth."*

Aside from springing what Professor Patrick Baronnet and his colleagues* explain as an "extraordinary global evolution," retrorunners also do it for the bounty of health benefits. Compared to forward running, retro running offers:

• better oxygenation (84% VO2 compared to 60% VO2. Unless you're a blood vessel, in which case you don't need to be reading this book, just trust us on this one. It has nothing to do with Alberto VO5.)
• a more intense workout of the quads (Those are the quadriceps, the muscle group stretching from hip to knee-your thigh, basically-that works to extend your knee.)
• less impact, meaning a gentler pounding on your feet, ankles, and knees
• better overall body flexibility (essentially, more willingness to go with the flow since you can't really see where you're going anyway)
• increased cardiovascular activity
• greater burning of calories-up to 33 percent more
• a greater interest in bullet points that show the benefits of retrorunning to those so lame "backwards" forward runners.

But retrorunners also do it for the glory, as showcased in races held on six continents.

"This New Way of Running Announces the Beginning of a New Civilization."*

Or at least the announcement of pretentious inspirational quotes. (But maybe running backwards is just catching up to the old platitudes from the other direction.)

While people have been "backing that thing up" for thousands of years, the sport gained some popularity in the United States in the early 20th century and some extra notoriety in the 1980s after Robert K. Stevenson published Backwards Running. In 2008, Italy hosted the first official backwards marathon, along with the 2nd World Championships.

It's not as if runners invented the idea of going backwards. Women in ballroom dancing have performed nearly the same steps as their partners, but backwards, and in high heels-and they never brag about bonus cardiovascular points. The same is true for rowers, backstrokers, skullers-and even some pole vaulters, high jumpers, divers, parachutists, flipping boarders, Michael Jackson-moonwalking imitators... So, retro running amounts to a new civilization?

"Maybe, if There Were More Mixed Sports-for Example: Figure Skating, Acrobatic Rock and Roll, Sports Dance, Mixed Gymnastics, Mixed Synchronized Swimming, or Alternative Mixed Running-There Would Be More Communication and Unity Between Men and Women and by Extension, More Friendship, More Love and More Harmony in Couples on the Earth. The Alternative Mixed Running Is the Next Step of Athletics for the Next Millennium."

- Christian Grollé, retro running promoter

If alternative mixed running-a forward-running man and a retrorunning woman, then with reversed roles-doesn't solve relationship issues, it's worth giving counseling or sex another shot; quoting less from Backwards Running in the bedroom might also help.

For more on how retrorunning is moving backwards into the future, see: www.backward-running-backward.com.

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