Starting running at a late age and doing well??

I started at 48 and within a few years was running marathons at 2 hours plus my age. Is that success? It is certainly fun.

Priscilla Welch was approx. 35 when she started running with no athletic background whatssoever. Won New York Marathon, went to the Olympics in LA where she finished 6th, ran 2:26 in London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Welch

I think the guy that won the world XC championships this year started running when he was 29

Before the 1995 New York Marathon Marathoner Paul Evans from Britain was asked whether being 34 years old he was too old to win NYC marathon this is what he said,

“The registration on the car is quite old, but the engine doesn’t have many miles,”

A brilliant answer from a guy who left school at sixteen went to work as a cobbler then was laid off at 27. After his cobbler career died he was reborn as as professional athlete. Five years after he started running, in 1993, he finished seventh at NYC marathon in 2 hours 13 minutes 36 seconds. in 1994, he placed fifth in the London Marathon, lowering his personal best by five seconds to 2:10.31.

Evans came second in the 1996 Great North Run, third in the 1996 London Marathon, and won the 1996 Chicago Marathon at the age of 36. His 2:08:52 in Chicago places him fourth on the UK all-time marathon list. Other achievements include a half-marathon best time of 61:18, 2 Olympic Games and a course record in the premier Swedish 30 km cross country running race Lidingöloppet in 1995.

go longer wrote:

I started at 48 and within a few years was running marathons at 2 hours plus my age. Is that success? It is certainly fun.

that´s awesome.

anyone who can run under 3 hours gets my respect, especially at your age (sorry, i think i just called you old there).

Dan Robinson. From British Olympians;

His story began in 1998 when after four years at university he decided 'to lose a bit of weight'. That literally meant getting on a treadmill for the next 6 months and the rest is history.

In 2000 having never run competitively before, he demonstrated his rare talent by running 2:37:56 in his first ever Marathon in London, a quite remarkable debut that launched him into the elite of British running.

In 2001, he went from strength to strength to improve this drastically with an amazing 2:16:51 for 9th in the Frankfurt Marathon in October 2001. He also improved his half marathon best from 66:52 in 2000 to 64:27 when he was 5th in the Great Scottish Run. That run earned him selection as a running reserve for the British Team at the World Half Marathon Championships in Bristol. In a race that was eventually won by the great Gabbrisallesi, Dan duly improved his personal best to 64:23.

In 2002 he was 15th in London, the third best British runner with a time of 2:17:51. In 2003, he ran a PB for a road 10km with 29:21 in Bourton, won a half marathon in Manchester in 64:24 and was 26th in the Berlin Marathon in 2:18:00.

In 2004, and after taking three minutes off his best with 2:13:53 for 16th in the 2004 London marathon, he was selected for the Olympics and ran very well in Athens to take 23rd place in 2:17:53 in the torrid conditions. He gave up his job as a duty manager in a health and fitness club to devote more time to his running and now works as a part-time sports teacher.

At the start of 2005, Dan was given a major boost as he was picked up by Adidas as one of their elite endurance ambassadors but his plans for an attempt on his Marathon best in London were dashed when he picked up a chest infection in March. Luckily, Dan had already been pre-selected for the World Championships in Helsinki from his 2004 performances and he repaid that faith with a storming run. His 2:14:22 finish put him in a brilliant 12th place and he was the 2nd European finisher.

At the Commonwealth Games in 2006 he claimed a fantastic bronze in the Marathon. It was his first senior medal at a major championship

go longer, what was your age when you ran your first marathon? What time did you make? (I'm 50 but I feel like 48)