Why do you old timers keep running?

Been running 43 years & 88,000 miles...I don't run nearly as fast as I used to, nor as smooth, nor as far, but a day I can't run is a wasted day. I never thought I'd be one of those slow old guys I used to fly by, but now I am, and continuing to run matters more than any ego I might have about how I do it or how I look doing it.

1955 wrote:

I never thought I'd be one of those slow old guys I used to fly by, but now I am

Same here, and they looked a lot better than I do (at least from my fading memory).

I started running in 1962 and was 2nd in the State as a 15 year old and hurt my knee the next year playing football in the back yard but was able to keep running until about 4 years ago when my knee did not like running. I had several surgerys on the knee and hurt it several times playing basketball. I then biked and swam but it was not the same so I decided to have my knee replaced so I could run. When I told my Knee Doc that I planed to run after knee replacement he said I should not run so I asked him how long the knee would last and he said about 20 years if I ran and I told him I would be 85 years old then . He thought a second and said to go for it. Been running 6 months and I am so happy

+1

I am 75 and first ran in 1952. I raced my first marathon in 1961 and ran the last one in 1987. It took me a lot of years to learn that intervals were not for me. I have several weak spots and can only jog a block and a half and walk half a block for about 70 minutes every second day. I enjoy even that very much. I have a trainer working with me to improve my weaknesses. In addition to enjoying what I do, I am encouraged by the fact that my father died of a heart attack at 52 and my brother met the same fate at 53. Like many long term very hard training/racing marathon runners, I have had some trouble with heart fibrillation/flutter in recent years.

Orville, glad to see that you're still hanging in there. Considering your family history, you are doing very well.

My own "running" has come to the point where I only like to run 2-4 miles about five times a week. (And it's slow.) I'm 64 and like you, I still enjoy doing it, even at such a lower level. Also like you, I was very competitive at a younger age and now I've come to enjoy it for other assorted reasons. Competition is the furthest thing from my mind now! Keep it up. Steve

I do it because I can eat and drink more and stay fit. And, chicks dig it, at least the benefits of fitness.

I've no grand delusion of greatness. Any race on any day some kid could roll out of bed and toe the line and kick my ass. Fortunately they usually are too lazy to get up before 7 am

Yo MTV raps wrote:

I hate running. I used to be pretty good (state champ, div 1 scholarship, all-conference, all region) and now that I am no longer any good I rarely run. I don't even like the thought of running. If I can't compete well, if I can't be trying to run my best then I want no part of it. That's just the way I am. I have no hate for the "old timers" that run but I want zippy part of it.

Yep, I am getting fat. Yep, I drink a ton. Yep, I have crazy stress at work. I know that running would be good for me but so would drinking carrot juice and I'm not doing that.

But yet you post on letsun. I smell something suspiciously close to bullshit.

I just turned 40 and really enjoy the challenge of trying to get back in shape. I'm currently training a young fella that has a good chance of beating my high school records. It took me about 6 months, but I'm now keeping up with him and pushing him. I'm worried about my joints, though. My knees definitely are not 16 anymore. Last year at this time i wasn't running and they felt terrible. Now I'm running 50 to 60 miles per week and they feel much better. Some people tell me I shouldn't run anymore in order to be able to walk later. The past month I've been taking "Move Free" and I have noticed a big improvement in how my knees feel. What do you guys think? Do we make our joints worse by running? i know I feel the best mentally and physically when i'm running.

Ten Inch Record wrote:

Yo MTV raps wrote:

I hate running. I used to be pretty good (state champ, div 1 scholarship, all-conference, all region) and now that I am no longer any good I rarely run. I don't even like the thought of running. If I can't compete well, if I can't be trying to run my best then I want no part of it. That's just the way I am. I have no hate for the "old timers" that run but I want zippy part of it.

Yep, I am getting fat. Yep, I drink a ton. Yep, I have crazy stress at work. I know that running would be good for me but so would drinking carrot juice and I'm not doing that.

But yet you post on letsun. I smell something suspiciously close to bullshit.

Dude, I still love the sport. I have met rojo many times and I have the same addiction to the message boards that many people have.

That doesn't mean I like to run myself. In fact, I hate it. I wish I liked it because I wouldn't be pushing 190 but oh we'll.

Old timers that run and don't care they are now slow as shoot mystify me. I can't do it, seems like such a waste of time.

OrvilleAtkins wrote:

I am 75 and first ran in 1952. I raced my first marathon in 1961 and ran the last one in 1987. It took me a lot of years to learn that intervals were not for me. I have several weak spots and can only jog a block and a half and walk half a block for about 70 minutes every second day. I enjoy even that very much. I have a trainer working with me to improve my weaknesses. In addition to enjoying what I do, I am encouraged by the fact that my father died of a heart attack at 52 and my brother met the same fate at 53. Like many long term very hard training/racing marathon runners, I have had some trouble with heart fibrillation/flutter in recent years.

That is awesome. You ran a marathon at age 15! My first was in 1965 (around a dirt track on my own), and the last was 1985.

I've tried but have never been able to run with intervals every day as it just keeps wearing me out and not giving me any days for recovery. It didn't feel like I was getting any long term benefits. The same thing happened when I tried alternating walking with easier running.

Last week I tried just walking on recovery days, my two run days were better and I ended up with 45 miles for the week. Ironically, the steady walking feels similar to how my easy runs used to feel, is refreshing and relaxing, so I'm going to try this for awhile and see what happens.

At age 60, I'm too young for golf.

"seems like such a waste of time."

Depends on your family health history. Watching 7 first cousins and my younger brother succumb to cardiac related disease (avg.age of death 52.5YO), has been all the motivation I need to keep on trucking.

I have no delusion of being competitive. It's survival. Bike, ski, run, swim or join the rest of the clan.

BTW I'm 60 and still run around 40xx for 10K, when the stars align properly.

Wienheimer wrote:

At age 60, I'm too young for golf.

61 and can't hit a golf ball straight. Can more or less run in a straight line, so it has to do. :)

Kidding aside, I started in my 30s and as others have said, I love running--not fast, but love the chase, so keep doing interval workouts and running races. It also puts me with a livelier, more interesting bunch of people. And it doesn't hurt that people mistake me for someone a lot younger...

I run because I haven't found any eliptical competitions.

Mr. Spock wrote:

Here's my reason. The results are for triathletes, but runners should be the same.

http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2012/01/at-74-years-oldthese-are-your-legs-on-triathlon-these-are-your-legs-without-triathlon.html

It might buy me an extra 3-6 months.

While you can't understand how people can stand getting slow, I can't for the life of me understand how runners, who should be naturally thin, can just let themselves get fat. Good lord, I know plenty of people in the "fast to fat" group and I'm thinking, why would you let that happen to yourself? So, add that to my reason #2 - I weigh what I weighed in HS and plan to keep it that way (or at least within a few pounds)

Yo MTV raps wrote:

Ten Inch Record wrote:

But yet you post on letsun. I smell something suspiciously close to bullshit.

Dude, I still love the sport. I have met rojo many times and I have the same addiction to the message boards that many people have.

That doesn't mean I like to run myself. In fact, I hate it. I wish I liked it because I wouldn't be pushing 190 but oh we'll.

Old timers that run and don't care they are now slow as shoot mystify me. I can't do it, seems like such a waste of time.

I am 75 and ran my first marathon in 1961 at age 25. Jock Semple and others asked me if I did not think I was too young to run a marathon. Boston did not allow runners under age 21 to run their race in those days. More about Boston in the next post.

It is always good to hear from you Steve. It is great to hear that you are still running. Yesterday, as I do most Sundays, I had breakfast with the group of marathon runners that I met on the plane on the way to the 1971 Boston Marathon. In the 70s and 80s, we ran 15 miles before every Sunday breakfast, if we were not racing that day, and then took turns hosting breakfast. (Some of us had done a long run of 20 to 28 miles together the day before.) The one thing that I have learned from this group is that you never give up. Now we run/jog or walk. Currently there are 33 in the group. (One died just before Christmas). 16 are now over 80. Only one or two run marathons.

I also want to mention that I enjoyed part of the weekend reading the three excellent articles about running in those olden times and that are now on the news stands.

The cover of the Jan/Feb 2012 edition of "Marathon & Beyond" has a great portrait of John J. Kelly on it plus a fine article on his life inside. The article is written by Rich Englehart.

That magazine also has an excellent article about the evolution of women's running by Jacqueline Hansen, the first woman to break 2:40 in the Marathon. The farthest women were permitted to run when I started to run in 1952 was 220 yards. In those days, women were literally pulled off marathon courses.

The third article can be found in the March 2012 edition of Runner's World. It tells the story of what Billy Mills had to endure to win the United States' only Olympic 10,000 meter Olympic Gold Medal. It also tells us what Mills has done since that great race. As usual, the author, Kenny Moore, has written an outstanding article.