I was out for a run yesterday. I had spun for an hour on the trainer before heading out on the roads. I felt good for the first time in a long time. I felt like I did when tearing off 5:45 miles one after the other was doable, when an easy run meant 6:30- 7:00. Then I ran by a large window and was witness to the stiff-legged gait on an old man imitating a runner. It was me. It didn’t change how I felt physically. The years of activity and open heart surgery have taken their toll. I can read a clock and I know that I have become glacially slow. I just never realized how terrible I looked: labored, inflexible, and pained. I looked down at my legs and noticed the never before seen wrinkles, indicators that they had been in the sun for 62 seasons. What struck me the most was the dichotomy between how I felt and how I looked. I’m sure this metamorphosis didn’t take place overnight, but I wonder where I was when it did. Are my eyes that bad or was my vision that selective? Don’t blink, things are changing and you might miss something.
I’ll be out there this year trying to improve on the painful season that was last season. However, I will be a little more self conscience and a little less self important. I’ll still have a great time. Get out the calendar so I can get accurate splits.
i’m 31 … i have those exact same thoughts … “jesus, i sure as hell don’t LOOK like a runner! pick up those knees, midfoot, not heel! relax those shoulders! arm drive, arm drive!” then i step right into a pothole and twist my ankle …
it’s like that commercial on espn where the guy is trying to chip over a sand trap and all the “advice” keeps popping into his head until he chunks it right onto the beach … then all the “how to hit out of a sandtrap” tips start playing.
Are you sure you aren’t my twin? I do the exact same thing. Actually this past weekend while doing some fairly hard intervals, I was huffing and puffing thinking I was just screaming down the street. I look into the window shop and was NOT impressed with what I saw. Arms a flailing, legs like rubber man. I think I looked like Elaine from Seinfeld when she dances. It was at that point, I finally realized, I am getting older and the body needs to accept it.
I can’t do what I did in high school any more. But then again, I now have the money to do lots of other things I couldn’t do in high school!
who cares what you look like, be proud of yourself for being out there. Most people stare at thier reflection coming off of a tv screen instead of doing something good for themselves. Put away your watch for a couple of runs and just enjoy it.
i am 24 and experience the same thing. i feel like a superstar when i’m out there, then i glance over to a window and am like, “whoa, that chick is SHORT!” then i realize that chick is me. i notice the mini-stride, strained face, and stiff shoulders. yep, i’m a total poseur when it comes to this triathlon thing. i hope i never see myself swimming and have my illusions that i’m fast and have a good stroke shattered.
you know what else gets me? pictures from races. i’m in complete denial that the person making that face is actually me. because i feel like a hottie when i’m out there racin’.
At least at one point in your life 6:30-7:00 felt easy.
At 62 you’re still able to get out and enjoy the world.
And one of the nicest swim strokes I’d seen in a while at our pool I saw yesterday. The guy was effortlessly passing me, was smooth has silk and just kept on going. I talked to him later as we both finished about the same time…he was 79.
I was out on a 2 ½ hour MTB ride Saturday and I’m rip’n down the trail and I’m thinking man this is so much fun, and then I think dudeyour 47 years old should I be doing this? And the answer was yes-just ride!! I never feel old when I’m out riding. And being in my late 40’s has never slowed me down, much ha ha
And by the way, who is that old guy I see in the mirror every morning?
I really don’t care what I look like. If I did I would have cashed in a long time ago. It was the bold contrast between how I felt as a younger man performing well and how I feel now at a fraction of the accomplishment. I’ve never been a slave to the clock except to quantify how much I’ve done on any given day and plan workouts. Hell, I remember being in races and running in the back of the pack with friends who were beginners! My point, ill stated to be sure, was that I was feeling so good with no empirical data to support that feeling.
I have bad news for you and for me. It ain’t going to get any better. I am about to 50. I used to laugh at people who ran at my pace. I have been back running for about five years now. I am about at the level I expected to reach after five weeks.
The important thing is that I keep getting faster each year. I am going to keep plugging until that trend reverses. Then I will find some other motivation hopefully.
I have bad news for you and for me. It ain’t going to get any better. I am about to 50. I used to laugh at people who ran at my pace. I have been back running for about five years now. I am about at the level I expected to reach after five weeks.
The important thing is that I keep getting faster each year. I am going to keep plugging until that trend reverses. Then I will find some other motivation hopefully.
You look better than the 99.999% of the people who are not out there doing what you are.
Don’t worry about what it looks like. How it feels and how it makes you feel is all that matters.
I did powerman ohio this weekend with severe stomach cramps and finshed next to last in my age group. I looked bad enough that medical pulled me off the road to check me out. No matter how I looked, I finished and that is all that matters to me.
At 62 most people have hung up their shoes and settled into the comfy chair with a pipe and slippers. People like you give me hope for my own future.
Several years ago I used to skydive at a club in England. I met an old guy there who was held in awe by the instructors. He used to turn up once a month or so and had a wierd kit configuration. Brand new state of the art rig, but with a big ripcord handle on the chest instead of a pilot chute. He used to go up to about 8000 feet, wave at the pilot and they’d let him out. He’d freefall for about 15 seconds and then just enjoy the ride down.
I got chatting to him eventually, and he said he hadn’t jumped in a long time, and then one day decided it was time to be doing something again, saw some people jumping as he was driving past the drop zone, so he came down and started. I asked why the kit was rigged that way, and he said that it was because his rig had always been like that when he used to jump and he didn’t want to change it. I asked him when he’d last jumped before joining the club. You know what he said?
Arnhem.
He was 76.
Sometimes old people make young people just look small.
I think one of the problems of hanging out on a superstud website is that you are surrounded by superfit people, so you think you are not doing so well, but in actual fact, just being able to run at all for any distance, whatever age you are, puts you in a pretty small minority. Theres a half marathon here that attracts about 6,000 starters, 3,500 of whom are walkers. We have a 8.5km fun run here that gets about 50,000 people, and being able to run that puts you in the top 10% of the starters, even though some of them are pulling gun carriages or wearing diving suits. You know the sort of thing.
Then again, I just put my mediocre income into a global income comparion calculator, and discovered that I was wealthier than 99.9% of the world’s population. I am not a millionaire, far from it.
But then again, I now have the money to do lots of other things I couldn’t do in high school! 