I have to admit that I have gotten older over the years. Everybody gets one year older every year. Some people have aged well and others not so much. I feel good physically and mentally as I have aged, but this week, I found out that not all people agree with me. I had a couple eye-opening experiences that prevented me from achieving what I wanted to do because, “You are too old.” It was my first time getting recognized that I am indeed older.
I started thinking about the age groups in running over the years. In our first years of putting on races, the upper age limit was over 40 years. We rarely had any runner in years above that, so why have an age group if there are no runners to compete in it. One senior aged runner told me the older runners don’t come to your races because you do not have age group awards for them. So, to counter that statement we added age groups up to “over 60 years.” And there were enough runners in the older age groups that they were most often filled for all places.
The consideration for the women’s senior age groups would be a minimum number of runners. Looking back in history, the women that are now in their 50’s and 60’s never had the opportunity to play sports or run track when they were young as the girls and women have today. The latent talent and the opportunity to get out and run was now available to them, and they took advantage of it by entering local 5K and 10K races. And while they were award winners in their age groups they often were some of the top finishers overall in a race. Races today now often have a 70 years-andolder age group for these senior runners. There are a few races that have included a 90 years-andolder age group, and, more than likely, there will be several runners entered.
My experience with running, as I advanced in age, came on my 50th birthday. I had entered a very large 10K race in San Antonio. I usually placed in most races in the 40+ Masters age group. Thinking that I am the youngest 50-year-old runner here, I should do well. I finished in 9th place in my 50-year age group. I wondered where all of these fast 50year-old runners came from. One year at ‘Moe’s Better Half Marathon,’ 14 runners out of the first 15 runners were all in the 4049 or 50-59 age group. In fact, the Overall Women’s champion was Natalie Nalepa, at age 54, and she was one of those top 15 runners. So much for slowing down as you get older. It seems that the age group awards for the younger age in the 19 and under and the 20–29 years age groups are the most frequent left-over awards.
The opportunity for young girls and women in cross-country and track is have increased over the years, and watching some of the track and crosscountry meets, I can tell they are fast runners. My awakening to how fast these women runners can run was during one of the Capital 10K races. I was trying to finish in the low 40-minute time in this race. As I was flying along (my thoughts) when these two college age women went flying by me talking as if they were out for a stroll in the park. So much for my macho feeling that no woman could beat me. Another example of being passed by senior age runners was when Emmitt McCoy, who was in his 60’s if I remember correctly, and Chad Churchill, who was around 12 years, I’m guessing, were running side by side in that race and were passing runners as they were talking. The stares and pointing at this couple of an older runner and a very young runner were something to observe. They looked like they were out for an afternoon jog and just enjoying the run. The runners they passed were a little amazed that they were just passed by these two. The key to running as you get older is to keep running as part of your life. Age doesn’t determine when you need to stop. That’s the best part of running. You never hear, “You are too old.”
