Athletic Training

THE HALF-MILE RUN 53 The athlete should aim rather to run on the ball of the foot. When he becomes tired he will naturally fall into the habit of running flat-footed. Unless he runs this way all the time, the runner does himself no harm by oc– casionally running flat-footed, especially when he is jogging long distances to strengthen his endurance. The object of running on the ball of the foot is to get more spring into the stride and to lessen the shock to the nerves and muscles of the feet and legs. In this con– nection let me warn runners against "pound– ing" or striking the track unnecessarily hard. To do this will bring on an afHiction of sore shins extremely difficult to cure and which may bring one's running career to an end. The object of distance running is to develop a free, easy stride and not to try to run on the toes too quickly. The distance runner must be careful about the way he holds his arms. The beginner seldom realizes that he runs quite as much .with his arms as with his legs. I seldom in– struct a runner to carry his arms in any par– ticular manner if he carries them easily and naturally so that they do not tend to retard