The Old Runner

It was a privilege to run my share (12.5 laps) as the 19th leg of the World Record setting 100 x 5k relay with the Charlotte Running Club this weekend. I think the Charlotte Observer got most of it right except for the ages of the participants being from 14 to 56 years old... there was one 59-year-old out there too (that would be me). You can read the Observer story here... Runners chase Guinness World Record - CharlotteObserver.com Our combined time of 30 hours, 56 minutes, and 49 seconds beat the old record set by the Florida Striders a few months ago by over 6 hours. The almost constant rain didn't make things any easier but runners are seldom deterred by getting wet. Congratulations to all who participated as runners, organizers, and volunteers!

It's not every day that I drive 600 miles one way to run a half marathon, but this is not only a great race to run but it's also a major race in the Running Journal Grand Prix , and for the past couple of years that's been a big focus of my race season. At the age of 59 I'm most likely not going to make the next Olympics, and this provides me with some extra incentive to train harder than I might otherwise. Next year I'll be changing age groups in the middle of this Grand Prix series so I won't be competing in it then since my points would be split between two different age groups. Linda and I are truly pioneers when it comes to traveling by car. Or at least we travel like pioneers, making almost as many stops and moving about the same speed as a mule-drawn Conestoga wagon . We finally made it though, mules intact, and were treated to great racing weather. For me, that's about 60 degrees at the start and upper 60s by the finish of the race, which is a litt...

The Gate River Run is the largest 15k race in the United States. It's the national 15k championship and there's $80,000 in prize money for American runners, so it attracts some of the best runners in the country. Personally, I'm really partial to smaller races with no more than a couple thousand people. It's nice for there to be enough people to create some excitement, but I don't care for the traffic jams getting to the race expo, the logistics of how to get to and from the huge races, hundreds of people running shoulder-to-shoulder throughout the race, and of course, it's nice to have a chance to place in the top 3 in my age group, which is never going to happen in a race of this magnitude. So with my preference for small races, you may be wondering why I would drive 400 miles to run in a huge race, especially with so many good smaller local races on the same weekend. The reason is that I'm participating in the Running Journal Grand Prix , and the Gate...

Today was a big running day for the Hefner family. Not only did Linda run her first race after a layoff of a couple months due to knee pain, but our 30-year-old son Dave ran his first 5k race ever. It was the first time Dave had even been to one of our races. Yep, it took 117 races before he managed to make it out to see his parents' weekly near-death experience. One of my main reasons for becoming a runner was to inspire our kids and grandkids to become more health-conscious, and Linda and I are both elated that Dave's getting an idea of why we've become so enamored with running and racing... it's fun! This was only the 2nd year of the Get Your Rear in Gear 5k in Charlotte, and with 1,400 finishers in the race this year it looks like it's one of the fastest growing races in town. The hills weren't terrible but there were quite a few ups and downs throughout the race. I lined up near the front and talked with Steve Staley, who always gives me a hard time wheth...

So here we go again. Good thing I'm more dedicated to running than I am to blogging. The Wordpress blog imploded under the weight of my grand idea to aggregate all of the other running blogs and it is now gone, and I've spent the last couple days moving each of my race reports back to the Blogger blog that I first began with. I considered just letting the whole thing die a much deserved death with dignity, but I figure since I've come this far I may as well just keep on going and see where it all ends -- possibly with a career-ending injury or a heart attack just after crossing the finish line, or maybe there will be a more pleasant outcome such as running my 1000th race when I'm 90 years old (that's the one I'm hoping for).  It's actually been kind of fun, as I moved each race report to the new blog, to reminisce a little about each race. There have been a lot of great experiences and I've been amazed at how many people have told me they've enjoye...