Five Questions: Dr. Chris Farmer

Q: How did you get involved with the festival?

A: Bass Pro approached St. John’s asking if anyone would be interested in serving as a medical director for the event. They were put in touch with our sports medicine department, which is how I got drawn into it. I was the medical director for a half marathon when I was in my fellowship in Columbia, Mo., so I think our sports medicine director deferred to me on this one.

Q: How was the public response to the event?

A: It was better than expected. We were anticipating maybe 500 runners, and we got almost 900. There were people who came from Dallas, from Minnesota, from all over the place. It was a Boston Marathon qualifier, so people came from nearby states; the next closest qualifier was in Chicago, and that one was cut short this year due to weather. A lot of people who had to stop during the race there came down here for this one. It’s hard to judge what the community response is going to be on a first-time event like that, but I think it was better than we had been anticipating.

Q: So you anticipate the festival becoming an annual event?

A: Definitely. The track record with marathons like this is that they typically double the first few years. So within a few years, there could be thousands of participants. The event focused around the marathon with other festivities, but those other events will only grow as the event grows larger. I think they’ll make it an annual event.

Q: Why did you choose to specialize in sports medicine?

A: The line that I’ve always used is that I enjoy taking care of people who want to take care of themselves. Generally, the sports medicine population is eager to get back to whatever level of participation they were at before, so they’re more receptive to your treatments and suggestions. I got interested when I was doing athletics when I was younger; I got hurt several times, and it was pretty neat that you could go see someone, and they’d tell you to do something to get better, and it actually got better.

Q: What are the best activities for the average person to stay in shape?

A: I tell people to do what they enjoy – if it’s swimming, biking, running, or even just working in the garden, do something that gets the heart rate up. Ease into it – nobody says you have to be at that end point right away. I tell people to start off doing any of those activities they have access to, and usually walking is something anyone can do. And I make sure they know that they don’t have to be a full-fledged exercise enthusiast right away. If exercise was fun for everybody, we wouldn’t have to work to convince people to do it.

Interview by Jeremy Elwood.[[In-content Ad]]