Still Alive and Still Kickin'


So here I am, still pickin' 'em up and puttin' 'em down, although it's kind of in slow motion these days. The last race I posted about was almost exactly two years ago. I didn't want to keep posting about my races as I slow down to a crawl, but it's nice to keep a tally of how many races I've run, and it's not so bad to see how much I've slowed down, so I'm back to doing a blog. I'm not going to write big race reports and will possibly just number the races and give my stats, although I'll make a few comments about things I found interesting about a race.

There have been a few interesting changes over these past two years. Most notably, I'm now doing the Jeff Galloway Run-Walk-Run method exclusively in my running. Last year, at age 71, I found that I could no longer keep up with my younger runner friends that I trained with and almost quit running. Then I remembered that I had always said I'd go back to the Galloway method in my old age if it helped. I tried it and it worked out great. No, I'm not faster. In fact, I'm quite a bit slower, but I feel better than I have for several years. 

Below I'm including the stats from the races I've done since last posting, and this will get me caught up to the current time.

2022 -- May 28th to December 31st (Races #522 to #531)

Most notably, on 09/11/22 I ran the Race 13.1 half marathon at a time of 2:00:03. It was the first time I was over 2 hours in a half marathon since 2008, so my under-2-hours streak ended at 120. After that, I only ran two more races for the year with the last one being September 24th. I've never liked cold weather anyway so I always run fewer races in the winter, but if I remember correctly I was ready to hang up the running shoes at that point.

The "LSCG Parkrun" refers to the Little Sugar Creek Greenway Parkrun, which is a free 5k in Charlotte, one of hundreds around the world that are held every Saturday. 



2023 (Races #532 to #549)

I ran 18 races in 2023, with the first one being April 22nd. That finished a streak of about 7 months without running any races at all. Our local Gaston County race series inspired me to get back with it, but as you can see by my 5k times, I was mostly a couple minutes slower than I was in 2022. 

Of note, in August I began seriously using the Galloway Run-Walk-Run method, and as you can see from the results, I started running half marathons again, running five of them in the last couple months of the year. I did manage to squeak by with a sub 2-hour race once, but all the others were over 2 hours. I once cringed at the thought of being over 2 hours in a half marathon, but now I'm perfectly fine with it. I realize that if I can keep going I'll be even slower, and more and more I feel like it's more important to just keep running than to worry about race times.

On November 30, 2023, I had surgery to repair an inguinal hernia. The surgery went fine but the recovery was a nightmare. Three days after surgery I had to go to the emergency room, where I was diagnosed as having an AKI -- acute kidney injury. I had a Foley catheter placed and had to keep it for the next six weeks, which was possibly the longest six weeks of my life. I was definitely out of commission as far as races, but I looked forward to being able to get back to the races eventually.


2024 -- Races #550 to #562

After my hernia surgery on November 30th and six weeks on the Foley catheter, I was finally able to get back on schedule with my running in February. Having a renewed interest in the half marathon, I've already run 9 halfs this year, with a goal of running 20 before the end of the year, which will be the most I've ever run in a single year. So far, my times have ranged from 2:05 to 2:15, and that's not so bad for a 72-year-old, although my age grade percentage is lower than it used to be. 




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