Over 50's club

323 watchers

Velociraptor May 2018 5:59pm, 16 May 2018 38,272 posts	0 Velociraptor Last year I did trip over at the beginning of a parkrun, went down and nearly caused a pile-up. Not recommended I was also considered a poor runner when I was at school. I was an active child out of school and sometimes wonder whether things would have been different if I'd been able to race distances of more than 200 metres. My 100m speed now is almost identical to when I was 13 - and almost everyone can still beat me over that distance.
steve45 May 2018 7:02pm, 16 May 2018 2,556 posts	0 steve45 I wasn't a poor runner at school, just bloody useless--but really identified as such because I wasn't any good at the 100 yards or 220 yard race on school sports days. Starting to run shortly before I was thirty was probably because David Bedford's efforts and personality during the seventies ignited a fire! Coming up to 40 years running in the next couple of months--a bit less than many stalwarts-- and I've fallen/tripped just twice in races, once in the London Marathon. Twice is enough.
ChrisHB May 2018 7:40pm, 16 May 2018 16,664 posts	0 ChrisHB My running ability was 10-20 yards at primary school and well short of 400m at secondary. I regularly took over 27 minutes for two miles by the time I was in the 5th/6th form.
JRitchie May 2018 8:03pm, 16 May 2018 1,407 posts	0 JRitchie I was not a very good runner at school and running wasn't as popular as it is today. I competed at the Brechin Rights of Way which was organised by my old PE teacher. The timing clock was an old school chess clock type of thing (analogue) and the certificate noted the distance as 6 and 3/4miles. My number was stuck on with sellotape and was hand written. I also used to measure my runs religiously using an O/S map and a piece of string.
GregP May 2018 8:03pm, 16 May 2018 102,893 posts	0 GregP Andrew65 post 663 on the previous page is excellent.
Columba May 2018 8:19pm, 16 May 2018 15,580 posts	0 Columba Agreed, Greg, agreed. I didn't even start running systematically until I was in my late 50s, and that was mainly because of encouragement (direct and indirect) from Elder Daughter and Middle Son. As a child I enjoyed running; would run somewhere rather than walk. Was a moderately good runner at school, but there were several much faster girls on whom the gym teachers focused as they could win points for the school. Plus, parental interest was in things academic; it would not have occurred to them to encourage me in anything athletic. Indeed, in most ways I wasn't athletic.
57.5 Degrees of Pain May 2018 8:23pm, 16 May 2018 3,791 posts	0 57.5 Degrees of Pain I spent my day working in a nursing home. Further convincing me that being fit and healthy physically might prove to be a mistake if the brain gives up! But for now running is fun, there are quality of life benefits to being fit, mental health benefits to relaxing on the run and beating much younger athletes in races never gets boring!
jb62 May 2018 7:52am, 17 May 2018 12 posts	0 jb62 Confession: I was the class fat-lad in the far off days when there might have only been one or two per class. Then my cousin invited me to his Youth Club's sports day and the final event was some sort of long distance event running around a 400 metre track. I seemed to keep going longer than most - I was a fat-lad with a high boredom threshold! I'd like to say that this transformed me into a sleek and motivated athlete - but I dont think I ran again for about another 15 years or so! I was then stuck in the middle of nowhere with very little to do other than to get out and run. Within a week I was clocking 5 (hilly) mile runs and then I started doing events in my early 30s - and stuck at it ever since on and off. The big thing for me was discovering the whole Age Graded concept together with Parkruns. It seems my 'natural' distance just happens to be 5k - which was not a popular off-track distance when I was at my (alleged) peak. So my best ever 5k was achieved in my ealy 60s which is rather nice but makes me wonder what I'd have managed when I was in my 30s. Mind you, I'd still have preferred to have been a decent batsman!
GregP May 2018 8:00am, 17 May 2018 102,900 posts	0 GregP From a very early age I've always fallen into the 'overenthusiastic underachiever' camp - mad keen but a bit hopeless. I was no more than an okay cricketer in my youth but nuts about the game (still am). Played squash fanatically from late teens through early thirties but never to much of a standard. Been in and around the swim/bike/run game on and off for 25 years - some of the 'off' years were devoted to golf which I was keen but laughably bad at - and here I am. Bike a fair bit, run a bit less. Swim for fun. Happy though, for the most part.
steve45 May 2018 12:11pm, 17 May 2018 2,558 posts	0 steve45 Yes I liked Andrew's post too Greg. Unlike him though I DO want to live a long time, ideally in good health although I never began running for health reasons ( and still don't) but because I love it. I have a long term goal of running until I am least 80--which is another eleven years; I know or know of several 80 year olds who are still at it. My wife, who runs ultras is a lot younger than I am so of course I want to be around for that reason too! My brother and I have always said 100 years old and still able in most ways is a goal to aim for..fingers crossed! I'd drop that label of "underachiever" GregP...mental training is a valid way of getting more out of things...start identifying yourslef in a differnt way--heck--you're here on Fetch so you clearly aren't as lowly as you describe!