Running for Your Life: Steady Does It

Maybe it’s because I consider myself an asterisk athlete. If I don’t run, my deep vein thrombosis kicks in and my left leg is prone to swelling. I don’t know how debilitating it would’ve been had I not taken up jogging in my early twenties, during the early months after I suffered blood clots in my left leg and a pulmonary embolism. In my mid-twenties, I considered myself a runner, and ran in my first 10 kilometer race, a festive international romp between Prescott, Ontario, and Ogdensburg, New York.

Slowed by my bad leg, seeing the whole practice as being more about staying healthy than being competitive, I finished well back in the pack. But I was on my way.

Since then, I’ve run in eight marathons, completed six of them. In one, the 2010 Steamtown Marathon, I finished at 3:33:08, my personal record, which I’ve gotta acknowledge will be my fastest marathon. An eight-minute mile pace comes to just under 3:30 for a 26.2-mile race. I daresay I won’t be doing that kind of thing again.

After all, I’m 60 in October. On the treadmill, I’ll average a pace of 8:30 over five miles. That seems plenty fast enough, thank you.  If I can manage a nine-minute mile pace over 26.2 miles, that’s a time of just under four hours. Will that get me back to Boston? Well, the qualifying time in the 60-65 age category is 3:55. Worth shooting for!

That is, if I go about it smartly. Steady has been my mantra for almost four decades. I shouldn't be looking to rock the boat now.

Running for Your Life: Is Everybody Running?