Wolfgang W. Schüler

Dr. Kostrubala and the Invention of Running Therapy

Festschrift commemorating his 90th birthday in four languages

English – Español – Français – Deutsch

International Studies on Running Therapy, Vol. 1

edited by Wolfgang W. Schüler

Wolfgang W. Schüler

Dr. Kostrubala and the Invention of Running Therapy

Festschrift commemorating his 90th birthday in four languages

English – Español – Français – Deutsch

tredition

Contents – Tabla de materias – Table des matières – Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface

Dr. Kostrubala and the Invention of Running Therapy

Prefacio

El Dr. Kostrubala y la invención de la terapia de correr

Avant-propos

Dr. Kostrubala et l'invention de la thérapie par la course à pied

Vorwort

Dr. Kostrubala und die Erfindung der Lauftherapie

Photos – Fotos – Photos – Fotos

Bibliography – Bibliografía –
Bibliographie – Bibliografie

Blurb – Texto de la portada –
Première de couverture – Umschlagtext

Books by Wolfgang W. Schüler on health-conscious running and running therapy (German, English) –

Libros de Wolfgang W. Schüler sobre la salud de correr y la terapia de correr (alemán, inglés) –

Livres de Wolfgang W. Schüler sur la course à pied axée sur la santé et sur la thérapie par la course à pied (allemand, anglais) –

Bücher von Wolfgang W. Schüler zum gesundheitsorientierten Laufen und zur Lauftherapie (deutsch, englisch)

Wolfgang W. Schüler

Dr. Kostrubala and the Invention of Running Therapy

Festschrift commemorating his 90th birthday

Preface

The occasion for this Festschrift is the 90th birthday of Dr. Thaddeus Lewis Kostrubala on September 22, 2020. This work is intended to recognize the honoree’s accomplishments in the field of “running therapy,” which he created. The American physician and psychiatrist, born in 1930 in Chicago, Illinois has achieved a great deal in his professional life overall. Again and again, he took innovative paths and built new things – even in the face of initial resistance. The results proved him right.

His greatest accomplishment can be seen in the area of movement psychotherapy. Running therapy, which he initiated and helped further develop in the 1970s/1980s, was considered visionary. From its theoretical basis and practical design to the training concept and institutionalization, Thaddeus Kostrubala saw the big picture and tackled it. He provided foundations, guidelines, and inspiration – and as the present day shows, they endured well beyond the formative years and spread across national borders, even continents.

This is particularly true for his book “The Joy of Running,” which was first published in 1976, translated into multiple languages, and reissued in 2013, and has now become the classic work on running therapy. When the English-language version fell into my hands in the mid-1990s, I didn’t immediately realize what a treasure I had found. Its significance was not apparent from the book’s title, and I had never heard the author’s name before. Having been educated in Germany in the 1990s and working as a running therapist since 1985, I was completely blown away by the content. Something like this existed – had existed decades earlier, even, in the United States?! Why was it practically unknown here?

We know that a clever book is an indication of a clever mind. What fascinated me about “The Joy of Running,” though, was not just the specialized information, but also the way in which Dr. Kostrubala talked about things in a lively, outspoken way. As I read, I was carried along as a passenger on his journey of discovery. As if talking to a good friend, he revealed his earlier existential crisis as well as various doubts about his new enterprise. The book and its author “grabbed” me and would not let go.

Where did this Dr. Kostrubala live? I wanted to meet him. But my repeated searches over the years remained fruitless. Was he even still alive? But then, in the fall of 2008, I made a discovery while I was googling: www.kostrubala.com. The website must have been set up not too much earlier. There he was! I sent him a message and received a reply right away. In our correspondence, I got to know a very open, friendly, humorous, mentally vibrant man in his late seventies with a wide range of interests. We caught each other up on the current state of developments in the field of running therapy in Germany and the United States.

We have been emailing each other for 12 years now – I call it our “Webside Story.” In 2012, I visited him at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our collegial relationship has long since grown into a friendship. And I am proud of another thing: the regular articles I published about him, starting in 2000, have contributed to his current prominence in Germany’s running therapy scene – and he has now been given the place in history that he deserves here, too.

I hope this Festschrift will give people some insight into the life of Thaddeus L. Kostrubala and his work, the field of running therapy. It is a revised and updated version of an article that I published in German for his 80th birthday. To make it available to an international audience as well, it has been translated into various languages for this book, namely English, Spanish and French. I hope it will also spark and/or further strengthen people’s interest in reading the honoree’s original writings.

Wolfgang W. Schüler

Born in 1958

Social Education Worker (Diploma), Educator (M.A.)

Works for the Department of Social Services (Amt für soziale Arbeit) in Wiesbaden

A runner since 1967, all long-distance races up to marathon length (sub- 3 hrs.)

Running therapist DLZ/GER, 1994, running therapist IART/USA, 2011, running guide for visually impaired and blind runners LbB/CH, 2014

Running therapy instructor DLZ, since 1995, Running therapy instructor IART, since 2013

Founding member of the Verband der Lauftherapeuten or Association of Running Therapists (VDL/GER, 1994) and its representative for international contacts (since 2011)

Founded an evidence-based running therapy program for children and teens with behavioral problems (1985-2014)

Author and editor of numerous books on health-conscious running and running therapy

Wiesbaden, Germany, Spring of 2020