Depressions – a few moments from 30 miles in the canyon. from Joel Wolpert on Vimeo.
As one of the world’s top ultrarunners, Rob Krar achieves athletic goals that seem superhuman to most people. One of the highlights of his running career was breaking the record (the fastest known time) for a double crossing of the Grand Canyon — Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim.
In this short film, he shares a very honest and deep insight into his inner struggles. What makes his perspective so powerful is the contrast. The entire film is shot within the Gran Canyon, during one of his trail runs, and there can be no doubt about his enormous will-power and dedication to his athletic performance. But he doesn’t talk about running at all. He tells us about his depression: days and weeks spent in bed, overwhelmed by a sadness with no purpose and no way out. A state that is maddening and frustrating, because telling himself to “just get over it and get your ass out of bed” doesn’t work.
His experience is that the episodes are shorter when he doesn’t try to fight them, but accept and embrace them. I can only imagine how much harder this is than it sounds.
It is also very likely that running itself is a huge help. In general, exercise – even at much more moderate level – is one of the most powerful remedies against depression. This has been shown by a large number of studies, including meta-analyses. More specifically, physical activity has some of the same effects on the brain as antidepressants, such as: increasing the brain’s capacity to absorb serotonin; strengthening epinephrine activity, which enables nerve growth and prevents the death of cells in the hippocampus otherwise caused by depression; and reducing activity of the stress hormone cortisol.