The other day I started running again.
I hadn’t planned it. I was at the gym doing some weight lifting and I decided to take a walk on one of the treadmills facing the big windows that overlook Lake Mendota. It was more about the view than the walk, but I needed to get some steps in and that seemed like a good place to do it.
I kept increasing the speed of the treadmill as I became bored until I got up to a speed at which I needed to jog just to keep pace. After a few minutes of that, I thought I’d see how fast I could go and there it was. I was full out running. Not for very long. But it felt good.
The thing is I’ll be 66 next month and I haven’t run in about a decade. I used to love it, but once I hit my late fifties I just couldn’t get any juice in my legs anymore. I felt like I was moving two cement pillars. It stopped being fun, so I stopped. And that was fine since running can be hard on your joints. I’ve lost count of how many friends have become bionic in the joint category thanks to an obsession with running in their youth.
But I never obsessed. I never ran too far or too fast or too much. My commitment to moderation in all things served me well again. I didn’t destroy my legs, they just got tired.
Now, by happenstance, I’m running again and my legs feel like my old legs, which is to say they feel young. I guess they just needed a rest. A decade-long rest. Yesterday I set my new, 65-year old guy record, at a blazing 13:42 for a mile. Okay, so I’m not running the whole time, it’s more like a run/trot/walk. My next goal is a flat 13 minutes and, then who knows, I’m starting to think the 10 minute mile is not out of reach. Maybe by June.
I have a neighbor who retired at the end of the year from a very big job. He was a CEO for large construction company and he loved his job. He’s in the adjustment phase. I know this phase. It’s the Phone Stopped Ringing phase. You go from feeling like you’re at the center of everything to being at the center of nothing. It’s not a slow phase out. It’s a very sudden and very harsh realization that you really weren’t all that vital to the operation after all. It goes on perfectly well, maybe even better, without you.
I’d like to give him advice, but he hasn’t asked for it and I won’t force it on him. But now, since you’ve asked, I’ll offer it. If you’re my age or there abouts, my advice is to think about what you can still get better at, not about how you can wind down, clean out the storage room, put on presentable clothes, pack your bags and wait for the bus from The Home to come pick you up. That is the wrong approach.
The better approach is to look for stuff you can still do well and even get better at. I’ve never been able to complete a book despite many attempts. I’m working on that. (Technically, I did finish a book, but it was cheating. It’s a collection of YSDA essays called Light Blue. Anyway, I like it but it doesn’t count.)
I don’t play golf any worse than I played when I was 16. I improved in a burst between age eight, when I took it up, and 16 and then I’ve just sort of plateaued for half a century. But I’m no worse. I can actually get better.
I can learn new recipes. Martha Stewart’s new book has recipes for the perfect omelette, a clear broth mushroom soup and potato pancakes that I want to try. I have grilled a million steaks in my life and I’ve gotten two of them just exactly right. My quest is to figure out the formula that nails medium rare with that seared black crust that I remember getting perfect… twice.
Anyway, there’s more stuff like that. The point is to look for things that we can still get better at. To paraphrase a wise man, who is about my age, we were old and we were improving.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
Ha that same race was my first half. Start and end at Bratfest. Glad that never caught on.
Ran several more, the last one in 2015. After turning 60 (young punk in a new age group) and a health issue, decided to start up again. If all goes well I’ll do the Run Madtown half in May – a nice round 10 year break. Will not set any speed records.
If you get a chance read Amby Burfoot’s “Run Forever” and/or Murakami’s “What I talk about when I talk about running”.
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Hey, Dave! Longtime reader here. Since you enjoy writing and running you might like Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Do you know this book? I read it most springs and it might be a great fit for you as you pick up your habit again. Check it out!
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If you don’t have knees like king kong, protect them to the best of your ability. Like don’t run in shorts below 50F. Knees are poorly vascularized – low blood flow – they don’t deal well with mixed messages – cold outside, hot inside.
I prefer hiking and biking myself, after running for a couple of decades. Tore a meniscus 25+ years ago, which impacts choices I make now. Knowing what I know now, I would not have spent that much time running. It wasn’t good for my health or my knees.
The moderate pace you’re describing should be low impact on both your ability to recover and your joints.
TCM – Traditional Chinese Medicine – looks at running as an obsession that depletes fundamental energy. Fundamental energy (Jing) is energy that we are born with that cannot be replenished. Going into old age with a reserve of fundamental energy is like money in the bank.
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All good advice and much of it I didn’t know. Thanks, Thom. I will say, however, that there’s something about a good run. I just feel refreshed after it, kind of flushed out. Hard to explain, but I don’t have that feeling after any other kind of exercise.
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You’re welcome Dave.
Just because it’s not well known, I’ll share a bit more on the TCM perspective on running. The runner’s high that you’re describing and with which I am extremely familiar, is the body’s response to strain, not stress. Important distinction. The trauma of running induces the body’s natural pain ‘drugs’ – endorphins – to kick in so that you can get through it.
One other note – the greatest limiter in physical exercise is the ability to recover. If you don’t feel great after your run, particularly the next day, I suggest very easy exercise, what’s called active recovery – walking for example – or a day off. Don’t repeat until you feel good. Paying careful attention to how well recovered you are will yield the greatest long term benefits.
Patience, especially at our age, is a virtue.
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The great knee debate. I’ve had meniscus surgeries on both knees. I blame them on burpees.
No doubt there are people with “bad knees” for whatever reason but for people like me any knee issues are more related to bad alignment and weakness further up the chain.
Strong quads and gluteus medius are essential. My choice to achieve this and inner/outer balance around the knees is yoga.
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Yep, good stretching habits are essential for long term physical integrity.
‘Glute activation’ is becoming popular. For anyone unfamiliar, this takes the strain off your quadriceps, which greatly benefits long term knee health.
One Eye – meniscus replacement is on my radar. I’ve not heard great things about long term surgical outcomes though. In the meantime, I am finding Dit Da Jow, a Chinese herbal formula, and pharmaceutical grade DMSO very helpful. My favorite Jow is the Ancestor Formula from Plum Dragon Herbs:
https://plumdragonherbs.com/
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