I began running when I was about 38. I’m now 81, but in my mind, I’m still 38 and should be able to do all the things I did at that age. However, in my body I’m older. During my 40s, 50s, and 60s I didn’t notice much of a difference in my ability to run or recover, but I did once I reached my 70s. And now, even more-so as an 81-year-old geezer.

I’m more sensitive to cold weather for one thing; I need to wear more layers during the winter. When I was younger, I often ran in temperatures close to 0 (F). In fact, my PB for low temperature is -18 (F) in Massachusetts when I was in my 40s. Now, I hesitate going out when temperatures are in the teens or below (notice I said “hesitate.” I didn’t say I don’t go out). In my younger days, I didn’t wear gloves until it sank below 15 (F), but now I wear them anytime it dips below 40. Same thing with shorts. I used to wear them until the temperature went below freezing, but now I switch to long pants as soon as the low 50s hit.

Another change I’ve noticed is that my body doesn’t handle stress as well as it used to, and I need more time to recover from a heavy run. The running literature recommends 48 hours between heavy runs; I’m finding 72 hours works better. Consistently getting enough sleep is also more important now.

I’m also running significantly slower than I did when I was younger and have to allow more time for my body to adjust to increases in distance or pace. Whereas I used to run 7 minute miles, I now run about 20 minute miles and I walk much of that distance. Because I’ve run for so long I have more “wisdom” about it now and am more content to use time as a part of my training. I have no (well, almost no) desire to push to quickly reach faster and longer runs. In the interest of avoiding injury (as older runners’ threshold for injury is thinner), I’m content to slowly increase my distance and speed. 

But even though I’m slower and do fewer miles each week, I still get the same enjoyment from running that I had during my younger years and still look forward to my runs.

I’m sure we all react differently to our running as we grow older. If we listen to our bodies, aging shouldn’t be a serious problem. Our bodies will tell us when we need to reduce the stress and get more rest. A great book on this is Jeff Galloway’s, Running Until You’re 100.

I’m finding out that growing old is a great time of life—not just in running but in all aspects. I’ve always enjoyed being me. Life is a grand adventure, and my older years are just new and exciting chapters in that adventure. My overall goal in running is to run a marathon at any pace at the age of 100!