The Old Runner

With another half marathon just a week away already scheduled, I wasn't sure whether I should run this one since 13 miles of racing can be a little hard on the tootsies, but I figure you only live once, and there's more living behind me than ahead of me so I might as well race all I can while I'm still able to. Seems logical. This race was organized by the same folks who manage the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon (13.1) in the fall and they do an admirable job with their races. Today was the inaugural event for this race and it's one I hope they'll keep going. I ran a half marathon a couple years ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway and it wasn't nearly as well organized and the route was a disaster. This one was a big improvement. One drawback of running at Charlotte Motor Speedway is the sheer size of the place. Running around a mile-and-a-half track at 8 or 9 miles an hour with 140,000 empty seats is maddening. Even worse is running down and back the entire 1-m...

This week we decided to run a nice small 5k in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon to benefit a Salisbury teacher who has cancer. On the SportOften site where I registered I counted 38 runners so I expected a tiny race, but when we arrived at the school where the race was held the parking lot was packed. Apparently there were other options for registering and instead of 40 or 50 runners it was closer to a couple hundred. I haven't run a lot of races in Salisbury but was pleasantly surprised to see that this race used the same facilities and the exact same course as the Race for the Greenway that we ran last year and really enjoyed. I've recently met a couple runners from Salisbury and I let them know we were heading to their local race and it was nice to see that were both already planning on being there. Linda, Richard, and Sonny I had met Sonny a couple months ago when he ran the first 3 miles of the Winter Flight right by my side. Today he planned on staying with me the en...

It's Monday morning and we're finally home after a long weekend that began last Thursday. I could write a book about all that happened between then and now. Fortunately for everyone, I don't have time for that since I've got to get back to work and catch up with everything I've neglected for the past few days, so I'll just hit a few highlights. The purpose of our trip to Sarasota wasn't really the race, but rather the RRCA Coach Certification program where I spent all day Friday and Saturday (RRCA stands for Road Runners Club of America). If everything goes according to plan, I should complete the certification process within the next month or two and be an RRCA certified long distance running coach. I learned a lot and am excited about the future prospects of being able to help some other people (probably mostly old runners like me) meet their running goals. As promised above, I've got to keep this short because of time constraints. It's har...

A runner is one of the few people on earth who would actually be excited to turn 60, but that's what I am (both a runner and excited), and I eagerly anticipated my 60th birthday like a kid turning 16 and getting his first car. Since I had just begun running at the age of 56, this was the first time I've advanced to a new age group. Over the past 3-1/2 years I've watched younger and faster guys turn 55 and enter the 55-59 age group as I've become one of the older people in the group, and in running as with everything else, the older you get the tougher it gets. I've been fortunate over that time in that I haven't really lost any speed and have remained competitive in the 55-59 age group. Possibly more than just changing age groups I'm relieved that I've finally reached an age where I can more honestly say that I'm an "old runner" and not get laughed out of the room by much older runners, who view people like me as youngsters. When I fi...