Rex's daily fitness journal - warning: out of shape shirtless dude pics

FunkmasterRex wrote: »

my father is 80 and runs 5 miles a day 6 days a week. My mother is 78 and runs 6.2 miles 6 days a week.

You might think from this snip of an earlier post that I run because of my parents, but it's the other way around. I was running in my 30s after lifting for exercise throughout my 20s. When my father was 62, I suggested that he try running. I'll never forget how he looked at me like I was crazy, to suggest that at his age. But my Dad was a planner and someone who knew how to commit to things until he succeeded. So he began reading about running training plans and at 62 found a website that had a training course and plan to train to run a marathon. I think he has run 26 marathons including the NYC marathon, the Boston marathon (that requires you to qualify with a low time) and one in the Swiss Alps at Jungfrau in Switzerland. He used to do the Mt. Washington run in New Hampshire straight up the mountain for 10 miles for 10 straight years. When he was starting at 62, he was a heavy drinker. That was his main pastime. I never thought that he would live much past 70. When he took up running, he found that drinking got in the way of his training runs and decided to give up drinking. I think running gave him 10 more years of fulfilling life and he is still going strong.
My mother was more naturally athletic. She went to college as an athlete and rowed competitively while in school. She didn't do exercise after college, and when my Dad approached my Mom about running together when she was 60 years old she thought he was crazy. At the time she was suffering from shoulder pain and all the ailments that come with age. She gave it a try so that they had something to do together in retirement. They slowly followed the plan and she has done over 30 marathons in five continents, all in their 60s and 70s. They used to plan all their trips here and abroad based on the marathons that they were going to compete in. They used the time in between races to execute structured training programs. My Mom was always more athletically gifted and she often won her age group at many races. Although it was at an advanced age group, there were always many surprisingly well-trained people with many decades of running experience at international races.
They are now winding down their competitive racing careers and focusing more on running to optimize health. They still do a large volume of training and I hope it keeps them healthy for many more years.
For the past 18 years they have been much more consistent than I have in training. I gave up running and exercise at different times to focus on work or family or some other thing that came up at the time. I don't regret doing this because I feel privileged to have been able to focus on family and work. Those around me supported me in my choices to focus on different things and I will always be thankful to them.
I hope that all of you dream big. You never know where life will take you if you take a reasonable and sustainable approach that makes you just a little bit better each day in some aspect. That is my approach - to try to be a little better than I was yesterday. Don't be afraid - you never know where that will take you.