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Publish Date: 2026/05/15
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Blogpost written by: Xinyue Nam
Last month, Brain States Group members achieved a major milestone together. Not presenting at their first symposium, or defending their work to a committee, but competing in their first running race together. Our members represented the lab in the 2026 National Geographic Run for Earth's 5K, 10K, and half-marathon races, all while sporting our Brain States logo. A big thank you to Smriti for her beautiful original artwork, and to Liza for printing out the swag with such speed.
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This being most of our members' first time training to run, many of us were unsure where to start. But we all rose to the challenge by learning from each other. Students gave each other recommendations for training programs and kept each other accountable for their post-work running sessions. It was not an uncommon sight to see students leaving the lab together in their workout gear. By mid-March the running fervor had spread to the rest of GIMBC, inspiring students from the institute's other labs to join in as well.
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In the weeks leading up to the Nat Geo Run, Xinyue organized group runs as a space for newbie runners to practice longer distances without needing to worry about all the logistics that make running feel daunting. We ran around Taipei's Da'an Park and along New Taipei's riverside paths. We were all very excited to see our classmates achieving goals they never thought they would accomplish (see Elham, 6K isn't so bad after all!).
On race day the Brain States Group braved the 3am wakeup time and warmed up as a team, cheering on each group at the start. The 21K runners, Niall, Liza, and Xinyue, set out first. The 10K team, Alfred, Julian, Smriti, and Yamac, followed not far behind. Niall, running his first half-marathon, deserves a special shoutout for beating out the competition by an admirable margin of 93 seconds. Julian as well, topped the lab leaderboards with a great 10K time of 51min. The 5K team, cheered on by Tran, impressed us throughout the training process. Trinh, for her consistency and dedication to her running throughout the semester, and Elham for her sheer determination and athleticism despite no background in the sport. A special mention as well to Josh, who tried hard to make the early morning commute, coming all the way from Taoyuan. A major shoutout to the other GIMBC students that joined, cheered us on, and helped make this achievement that much better.
We hope that what started as a fun lab activity for our students becomes a habit that sticks. As neuroscientists we all know the unhealthy habits of the average research lifestyle – need I go into how many missed gym days and hours of late night screen-time seem to come with the job? Beyond the obvious cardiovascular benefits[1][2], leg muscle fitness is correlated with larger total grey matter volume over time[3]. As it is incumbent upon us to share the neuroprotective benefits of exercise and promote the engagement of these activities with the community, for us, that starts with GIMBC and you.
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References:
| [An exercise-inducible metabolite that suppresses feeding and obesity | Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04828-5 “Title”) |
| [Exercise benefits in cardiovascular disease: beyond attenuation of traditional risk factors | Nature Reviews Cardiology](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-018-0065-1 “Title”) |