Together with many other guests, I was last weekend at Mineira Santana do Riacho, a city even smaller than its own name suggests in the domains of Serra do Cipó National Park, north of Belo Horizonte.
I went to participate in the tenth edition of Bota for Running, an event that hostess Olympikus, Brazilian sports brand that this year turns 50, organizes since before the pandemic.
All editions have been in Brazilian postcards-Jalapão, Chapada dos Veadeiros, Itacaré, Alter do Chão, Corumbá. Varied biomes, with predominance of the Atlantic Forest and the Cerrado.
It was my second participation in these “BPCs”, before I was in Morretes, Paraná, when I ran a half marathon on the asphalt. In Minas Gerais I went to the 21km Trail Run, with cabulaous descents, waterfall, fortunately not so killer and some situations where my ankles’ ligaments were more tested than cafuringa in games against the pottery.
In Minas, one of the great attractions was the presence of the doctor and columnist of the Sheet Drauzio Varella, who lectured on the eve of the race. In a freestyle presentation, he spoke, among other themes, of his temporary awakening to physical activity, how excess water caused in New York marathon runners hyponatremia – that we talk about a recent column – how race or repeatedly climbing stairs, releases molecules that reach the brain, crossing the barrier of the CSF and generating a very strong sensation well-being and “optimism”.
The event is deficient – “it is not, never, to generate ROI (return on investment, acronym in English),” as Márcio Callage, CMO of Vulcabras, said Olympikus – but generates a great return on brand “buzz”.
Olympikus has made a huge effort to be seen as a sports brand that offers quality, despite the lower price than the gringo competitors.
So far I have come to say that it is unjustified that we follow our backs to nature and other green areas, even in cities. This deficit of nature, an expression today consolidated in the scientific literature, deprives people of obvious physical and mental benefits.
And you don’t even have to run. In children with regular contact with green areas, UNICEF report showed lower blood pressure and lower stress hormones, as reported by this report from Sheet.
It is quite justifiable, therefore, that urban corridors, having known the trail, do an almost religious conversion, outright abandoning street events.
But there is a paradox. I finished the race in three hours nailed (more precisely, 3:00:52) and perhaps it is unable to describe very accurately the scenarios I went through.
There was a beautiful waterfall, where I went beaten, and at some point I remember running a kilometer or two by the edge of a stream – he was the one that was worth the foundation of the city.
It is natural that the equipment for the trail, such as Olympikus Run Tennis, are marginal in the domestic sports market. 87% of Brazilians live in cities, and cities, with rare exceptions, do not have large green areas or forests inside.
Climbing stairs or running on the worm, as Drauzio does, can help a lot in fitness, but, as the song says, maybe a piece is missing.
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