I saw some runner who was a 2:2X Marathon runner when he was in his 30s barely being able to run a mile in 8 minutes at 63. He is not running much anymore, however he isn't fat or injured, and he is still quite active.
While some runners who would never have broken 3 hours on a Marathon no matter the training being able to run sub 45minutes 10k at 60.
Is aging really hitting some people that hard ? Or what am I missing ?
How many more hard miles do you think the 2:20s guy put on his body than the guy who never broke 3:00?
I think it was in Frank Shorter's book, My Marathon, where Shorter (c. 2015ish) explains that even though people expected him and Bill Rodgers to be out breaking masters records, it just wasn't possible given how hard they worked in their primes and what that workload did to their bodies in the long term. The bumps, bruises, aches, and pains all add up. Shorter describes himself and Rodgers as guys that moved as if they were 25 years older than they were- and we're talking about two of the all-time best American pros. The same thing happens to any competitive runner who trains seriously. Father time is undefeated!
Except Rodgers continued running at a high age-group level into his 40s and 50s (and maybe early 60s?).