National Running Day is a national initiative to promote a healthy and active lifestyle through running. According to the runningday.org website, today (Wednesday, June 3, 2009) is the inaugural day.

Running is considered one of the best activities for improving general health. It can help people lose and/or manage their weight, boost the immune system, prevent muscle and bone loss that comes with age and fight diseases such as osteoporosis, diabetes, and hypertension. It also helps relieve stress and boost confidence. And don’t forget the “runners high”, a feeling of exhilaration brought on by running.

Join in the fun, get out there and run. It doesn’t matter how long or how fast. Just take the initiative and do it. Take your kids with you, it’ll be an opportunity to spend time together while teaching them the importance of exercising.

RunningDay.org lists the 7 reasons you should run:

Because of changes in diet and lifestyle, Americans are increasingly at risk for diseases that can significantly diminish the quality, productivity, and length of their lives. The time to act is now.

• Nationwide, the annual medical expense for juvenile obesity is more than $127 million annually.
• Health-care expenses and productivity losses related to obesity problems cost Americans more than $100 billion annually.
• Currently, obesity-related illnesses cause some 300,000 deaths a year. Inactivity and poor diet will soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
• Overweight youth ages 10 to 15 have an 80% chance of becoming obese adults by age 25.
• Only one in four kids gets at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Kids and teens obesity rates have doubled in the past 20 years.

Exercise – and running, in particular – is one solution to combating these health issues.

• According to the American Sports Data 2007 Super study of Sports Participation, 39.5 million people in the United States ran or jogged at least once, and 11.7 million ran more than 100 days/year.
• In 2008, according to Running USA, there were 9.2 million finishers in road races (ranging in distance from the 5K to the Marathon), a 4 percent increase from the 8.8 million finishers in 2007.