A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. Local and accomplished psychiatrist Peter Whitis publishes Beyond Running: The Road as Mentor.

For runners and non-runners alike, Peter Whitis’ book Beyond Running: The Road as Mentor is a thoughtfully crafted hodgepodge of biographical anecdotes, psychological analyses, and historical events all centered around running. 

A retired child psychiatrist, Whitis was a pioneer of the aerobic revolution from the 1980s and part of significant historical events of the same era, which he includes in his book detailing the psychological impacts of running. He is also a longtime Chippewa Valley local.

“There are a lot of books about how to run. My book is about the mental side of running,” Whitis said. “It’s about why we run, the mental effects of running.”

An excerpt from the book.

The first half of the book consists of Whitis’ best articles from a column about running he wrote during his psychiatric career. The second half shifts to Whitis’ civic activism when he realized long-distance running was threatened by the Cold War era of nuclear weapons. Whitis was part of a 30-person group sent to Russia to be part of the peace program during the Cold War, and the group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their project, the Campaign to Prevent Nuclear War. He visited the Kremlin and met Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev.

A life of running has done more for Whitis than just his physical health, and he shares it all in Beyond Running.

Everyone will find something interesting about Beyond Running. Available at Dotters Books (307 S. Barstow St.) and The Local Store (205 N. Dewey St.) in Eau Claire, pick it up for a perspective of the world of running and nuclear peace activism – perhaps an unlikely duo – all rolled into one.

You can also view or purchase Beyond Running on Amazon.