PANAMA CITY — For the past two days, Jim Russell has been riding from Tallahassee to Panama City and back on a bike.
The Florida State University deputy police chief was completing the bike ride to and from the FSU campuses in support of mental health awareness, a topic close to home for him; he was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 2010.
On Thursday, Russell left Tallahassee at 8 a.m. to travel to Panama City, and returned to Tallahassee on Friday morning. A lot of his work with the ride was countering stigmas against mental illness, he said. Ultimately he was trying to prevent suicides.
“I felt compelled to make people realize it is treatable,” Russell said. “They can thrive in work and life. The bike ride is a physical demonstration and symbol of that.”
Despite assumptions that depression is just feeling sad, the disorder makes you feel worthless and brings very negative thoughts, Russell said. There also may be physical symptoms such as muscle pains and lethargy.
“It makes you feel like you don’t matter,” Russell said of major depression. “But people do matter and have a place in the world.”
FSU supported Russell during his ride, though he financed the trip. When Russell told coworkers he had depression, he said, they offered their support.
As for the trip into Panama City, Russell said he took additional breaks because he was dehydrated. When he arrived at the Hathaway Inn across from Gulf Coast State College, Russell ate a pizza and chugged water as he lay in bed.
Thursday “was an effort in recovery,” Russell said.
Russell said the roundtrip was a matter of keeping a steady pace and saving energy. He has been involved in distance cycling for around 11 years and rides as often as he can. Weight loss was his original motivation for cycling, Russell said, and over time he found it made him physically and mentally fit.
The ride across the Panhandle was the first type of long-distance activist trip Russell said he’d taken. He is unsure if it will be an annual event. However, Russell said maybe the trip and idea behind it can be expanded.
“Luckily there’s a lot of convenience stores along the way,” Russell said.