It seems that there are an abundance of sayings about people as they age and get older. One that comes to mind is, “with age comes wisdom”. Then the other frequent posting on social media is the conflict between the mind and the body. The mind thinks that it is still at a much younger age. The body tries to tell the mind that if you try what you are thinking you are in for a rude awakening and may injure yourself. There has to be a point in time where the mind and the body think alike and agree with each other. At what age this transition of thinking differently to thinking alike is something senior aged people will disagree on.
In races the upper age category is now 70+ and in many races the age group is filled. And this includes both men and women. The Master’s category is for runners 40 years and above. Now there is a Senior Masters for runners 50 years and older and a Grand Masters category for runners 60 years and older. Evidently the age where the mind and body agree with one another is over 60 years. I ran in races well into my 50’s and entered power-lifting meets at 64 years. That is when my body told my mind that “you need to listen to me”. My knees were starting to hurt on deep squats. The doctor said, “No problem, do a few more meets and we can replace the knees.” After thinking about it I decided I had enough awards and would like to keep my knees. So far I still have my own knees but can no longer squat with 400 pounds.
The main reason this topic came into focus is I went on a two week vacation and had planned on entering a 5K race. I entered the Wildflower Trails 5K last year and walked in under an hour and was awarded second place. With a little more training I thought I could maybe walk and jog a little faster and maybe get first place. This is where the conflict between the mind and body came to the forefront. I had not trained as much as I had planned but still thought I could walk and jog 3.1 miles. On the morning of the race the weather was ‘cold’ (upper 40’s and low 50’s which for older people is cold) and windy and rainy. In my 40’s and 50’s this would be perfect racing weather. Good temperature to run in and a little rain just made it more challenging and fun. Since I usually ran a 5K race in just under 20 minutes this cold, wet, windy weather was not a problem.
Now, a few decades later the time to walk that 5K distance is almost an hour in time. Running in cold wet weather for 20 minutes is a lot different than walking an hour in these conditions. The statement of “with age comes wisdom” seemed to make a little more sense to me. Being younger and having all body parts working a 5K race was not a big deal. Now the thought of walking in cold, wet, and windy weather at a much older age and the chance of coming down with a cold or flu seemed like a real possibility. Adding time to standing around waiting for the gun to sound and not really having suitable clothes for standing around helped with my decision. Running generates body heat and the need for warm clothes is not a priority. I remember running the Dallas White Rock Marathon and after five miles you saw the piles of jackets, sweatshirts, and sweatpants, lying alongside the road. The runners who dressed warm for the standing around part of the race were now casting the warm clothes aside as their body temperature made the extra clothes too hot. I wore a wool watch cap and gloves and a tee shirt and this turned out to be the best option for running in cold weather.
I like to think that my decision not to run the race this year was that my mind and body agreed with each other and walking an hour in cold, wet, and windy conditions was not the best choice for me. I thought there is always next year and the chances of nicer weather conditions will make my entering the race much healthier. The idea that I had not trained as much as I should have to cover the distance in less than an hour was also part of the ‘wisdom’ I have accumulated at an older age. I probably would have received an award for my over 70 age group and the possibility of other senior age runners also thinking along the same line I did and not entering made my chances for a first place pretty good. An added plus from my viewpoint is that the extra time sleeping in was very welcome. And with another year to train and hope for warmer weather next year’s race is still on my bucket list to complete.
Moe Johnson Running with Moe
