After several years of almost daily walking and hiking but very little running, I’m starting to run again. …just a couple of miles every other day so far but hopefully it will build and lead to completing a marathon by next fall. That’s if everything goes well.
I tire more easily than I did even four or five years ago. Maybe it’s because of my cancer; maybe it’s due to my age; maybe it’s a combination of the two plus a few physical disparities. On obvious problem is my knee – with all the cartilage removed in 2006.
So, as I see it:
Job 1 – get these old bones and muscles back in shape – lungs too
Job 2 – baby that knee so it doesn’t grind and scrape too much. And be gentle with those herniated disks in my back
Job 3 – combine the results of job 1 and job 2 into a completed marathon in my 70th year.
Why am I doing this? Honestly I suppose there are several factors; ego, self identity, stubbornness, or maybe just stupidity (that’s my wife’s conclusion). I’ve completed more than 75 marathons and ultra-marathons and I always enjoyed the challenge. I ran pretty fast in some of them (won a few) and pretty slow in others. One more would feel good – another personal goal met.
My last marathon was in Stockholm (the one in Sweden) in 2005 and it took me well over five hours – more than double my best times in the foggy past. But I can live with slow – not that I have much choice. Stay tuned…
axman
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