Emerald Photo
Elaine and Eugene Smith, local running experts, take a jog on a misty
path On Saturday, the Smiths will conduct a seminar at the Eugene Hilton
on their patented "perscription" approach to running.
Eugene pair attempts
to 'get world in shape’
Running is therapy for the mind, say Smiths
By Sean Meyers
Of the Emerald
Joggers in Eugene are often pigeonholed
into two catagories — those who run for
athletic recognition and those who run for
physical well-being.
But for 15 years Eugene and Elaine Smith
have been putting into practice a theory long
suspected but never confirmed — that running
can also be good therapy for the mind
The Eugene couple has made a living from
what they concede could be called a "running
couch,” — swapping "undesirable" addictions
to drugs, food and gambling for the
"desirable” addiction to running
Hills instead of pills, so to speak
"The whole world needs to get in shape,”
says Eugene Smith "Plato said a healthy
mind is a healthy body. It's therapy on the run.
We’re too used to having things done for us,
we re becoming a spectator society — some
people are becoming spectators of their own
lives They need to participate.”
The couple has patented their approach,
calling it "Prescription Running” or the 3-M's
method. That stands for Mind, Matter and
Motion, which is the name of their new book
they presented to the public Wednesday
evening to drum up dollars for the University’s
track team
The concept underlying the program is
simple — a twist on the cliche “mind over
matter." It involves an integration of psyche
and body, where the psyche is the mind, the
body is the matter, and through motion —
running — the two are integrated
"We take mind and matter and we integrate it
through the activity of motion," says Mrs.
Smith "This program is the person We major
in that person ”
Not a trot around the track every few days —
usually five miles a day, each and every day.
Potential clients can go to either extreme
with the program, by merely purchasing a copy
of the book for about $12, or by jumping into
the 30-day intensive program at a cost of up to
$10,000. The higher price includes two-on-one
discussion sessions, crisis intervention house
calls and, of course, daily running sessions
with an author at each elbow offering
encouragement
Jim Edens, a three-year veteran of the Bos
ton Marathon and a graduate student here at
the University, was on hand at the reception
because of his interest in running as a life-time
hobby. “The way it's been is either you're in
school and you're involved in athletics, or
you’re out of school with a beer in your hand,
watching," said Eden. “I think that philosophy
is changing.”
Tony, an ex-marine and Vietnam veteran
who spent "six or seven years in and out of
mental hospitals,” was a patient of the Smiths
before they had fully formulated the 3-M's
approach. A Harvard drop-out diagnosed as
being an "undifferentiated schizophrenic,”
Tony heard a radio program discussing the
Smith’s program and decided to investigate.
"What the program did was heighten my
perspective of dealing with people and life
outside my own sphere," Tony says. "It built
me up physically and mentally "
The Smiths are conducting a seminar at the
Eugene Hilton Saturday that might be their last
similar appearance in the area for a year
because of an upcoming national tour The
$45 fee for the seminar, which is being spon
sored by the University Continuation Center,
includes a pot roast lunch.
"I want to extend a special invitation to the
kids at school," says Smith "You're looking at
one of the most stressful occupations — being
a student. You're under the gun all the time
Vietnam vet remembers painful time
By Barbara Hicks
Of the Emerald
Veterans Day
traditionally honors
the unknown soldier
who is buried at
Arlington National
Cemetery. But for
Cliff Kaylor and
other veterans today also will be a day to
pause and reflect about a difficult and
painful time
When Kaylor entered the University in
1971 after serving in Vietnam, he "felt
alone on campus
"I didn't feel safe there," he says. "I
wasn't willing to risk talking to people
about Vietnam and have my feelings
trampled on again.”
And Kaylor had a difficult time just
getting back into school
In 1971, a “young, blue-eyed, nazi
looking dude” in the admissions office
told Kaylor his grades were not good
enough to be re-admitted to the Univer
sity
But Kaylor, now a counselor at the
University Veteran s Center, insisted he
was "a different person" from when he'd
first been in college
"I go and fight and watch others die,
and I can’t even get into the University,”
Kaylor says
Kaylor says as a returning veteran,
someone owed him enough respect to
allow him into school on probation So he
appealed and entered summer school
Kaylor says he felt "really alienated"
during summe* ~hool because of the
anti-war sentimeu. at that time
He finished summer school with a 3 78
grade point average but never returned
He says he is "still bitter about the
University."
Kaylor, who has worked at the Vet
Center since it opened in May 1981,
describes himself before his experience
in Vietnam as "smart but non-directed."
He had been to college and had
flunked out purposely to be drafted,
figuring “any old fool can make it in the
army," he says
Kaylor says he assumed when he
joined the army that he wouldn't be sent
to Vietnam because he was intelligent
But Kaylor went
He recalls he was “scared the entire
time I always had an ominous feeling
death was watching over me "
Kaylor says Vietnam was “the first
teenage war this country has ever
fought “ The average age of a soldier
was 19'/2 compared to 26'/? during WWII,
Kaylor says
At that age you're trying to find out
what life's about," he says "When
you're 19 and on the battlefield, and you
know there's guys your age doing their
best to kill you, it's a shock "
And people back home were more
supportive of the WWII war effort
because the soldiers were "fighting an
awful oppressor," he says
“In Vietnam we were fighting against
an 80-year-old man who wrote poetry."
he says, referring to Ho Chi Minh
But the worst wasn't over when the
Vietnam soldiers returned home, Kaylor
says
Soldiers in WWII came home with their
units and had time to debrief and put
things in perspective, he says Vietnam
veterans were sent home individually,
and. within 24 hours, were out on the
street
Many veterans who came home in this
manner were left with "survivor guilt."
Kaylor says "They felt they had run out
on their friends," he says
Kaylor recalls arriving at his home in
Ohio where "nobody understood what
was going on' with him People kept
telling Kaylor to "put it behind me,"
which made him suppress his feelings,
he says
Kaylor explains that suppression is the
Photo by Bob Baker
University Veteran's Center counselor Clift Kaylor tries to help other vete confront
their war experiences "We deal with the stuff vets do to keep from going crazy, "says
Kaylor
method of self-preservation while in
Vietnam
"It seemed obvious that if I went crazy
I'd get killed." he says "I have yet to talk
to a vet who cried even one tear while
there "
In Vietnam there was a "genuine love
among the troops." so great "you would
give your life for them." he says "To
have them ripped up over and over again
was quite traumatic "
Now when someone tries to get close
to many veterans, they back oft
"because it would hurt too much to lose
them." he says
Sometimes those veterans don't
realize that this numbing is related to
their experiences in Vietnam, he adds
But while numbing worked to protect
veterans' sanity while in Vietnam, it
prevents effective communications with
loved ones at home, he says
He describes the suppression of emo
tion as "a denial, as strong as the denial
of an alcoholic "
That aloofness — as well as the other
symptoms — resentment of authority,
flashbacks, nightmares, and sometimes
violent behavior — have resulted in the
"crazy vets" image, he says
"Here (at the Vet Center) we are not
dealing with craziness," he says. "We
are dealing with stuff vets do to keep
from going crazy The emotional armor "
"There is not one vet here who was not
terrified to come," he says. "The
changes vets go through are not
pleasant"
It’s "painful stuff," but it’s not new
pain It’s old pain
"It hurts a lot less to let it out than to
carry it around all the time "