With copyright permission from Moscow-Pullman Daily News

John DeMoura spends his weekday mornings and afternoons staring at a computer screen, shuffling through paperwork and thinking about chemistry. That's exactly what makes his lunch hour so special. It's a chance to have nothing in my head," DeMoura says. "And I look forward to getting out of the building." For 24 years, DeMoura has cleared his head and greeted the fresh Palouse air the best way he knows how. He runs.

And over the years, the University of Idaho's chemistry department class and lab coordinator has attracted more than his share of disciples. With DeMoura leading, or in many cases following, the loosely organized group of UI professors and staff members --- dubbed Team DeMoura --- has become a noon-hour standby in Moscow. Five days a week the good-humored group of men and women herd themselves through Moscow's neighborhoods in search of a good sweat.

The group --- often more than one dozen strong --- covers between four and six miles per session. Sometimes the group stays in a large pack. Often it will split into smaller groups depending on the pace or that day's topic of conversation. "It's an ad hoc group, and I think everybody looks forward to it," DeMoura said. "It's healthy and it's a chance to socialize."

Henry Willmes, the head of UI's physics department, began running with the group six years ago and has no intention of quitting now. Willmes, 57, used to play tennis and ran only occasionally. He now runs with the group almost exclusively, enjoying the chance it gives him to talk on a more casual level with colleagues. "We get into a lot of discussions we might not otherwise," he said. "People in the physics department can talk to folks in forestry or agriculture. We exchange a lot of information and experiences."

While most of the group runs more for fitness and social interaction, there is a growing number which has taken up the sport competitively, running road races locally, regionally and even nationally. Ron Crawford, the 49-year-old director of the UI's Institute for Molecular and Agricultural Genetics Engineering, is a national level age-group ultra-marathoner. He's run more than 30 marathons, and figures to have logged about 50 miles per week for the past 15 years which is more that the average Team DeMoura runner, but still not enough to run him out of the fold. "This is a fun group and the social aspects of running with other people is important," he said. "It relieves stress. You feel better when you're getting oxygen to your brain. I rarely think about genetics when I'm running." DeMoura, likewise, rarely thinks about chemistry and Willmes rarely thinks about physics. For the most part, they've got nothing important in their heads. And they wouldn't have it any other way.

Relaxing for your brain, a story by Craig Staszkow, Staff Sports Writer for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, appeared in the October 12/13 weekend edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

With copyright permission from Moscow-Pullman Daily News