In a week, I’ll be running in the Los Angeles Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon-my last event for this year.
As I look back over these last, almost, 10 months, I can’t believe I completed 3 halfs and soon my 4th one.
This year, I have been blessed by staying mostly injury-free. It has been achieved through a combination of motivating myself to do what I must do to stay strong as I continue to train and run in these events. But at the same time, I’ve listened to my body and have remembered to do the recovery part.
During this year as I have been training for these 4 halfs, I have often been asked why I’m pushing and challenging myself this way especially at my age. I’m soon to be 61. At this age, I’ve been told by some, it’s not good for my joints to be running, all of this training is too much, and I could even break a bone or two. Yikes!
There is no doubt that training for a half marathon is hard, physical work. It means long runs once a week, normally on a Saturday or Sunday, plus a couple of other runs during the week, strength training once or twice a week, and the daily rolling on a hard tube to keep my IT Bands loose. And let’s not forget the constant motivating of oneself to train especially when I’m training alone.
Do I achieve this type of training each week? I would love to say “yes” but I don’t.
I go in spurts-one week I’m good, the next I’m not. It’s hard to get up and run 4-6 miles on a weekday, harder still to do 12 miles by oneself. Though I must say, I’ve been fortunate to have a group of ladies who I’ve run with–ladies who have trained with me for a particular half, ladies who have supported me when I’ve ran long miles by myself, and others who I run with during the week periodically.
And I listen to my body. There are some days when my body just says “no”, rest and let those muscles heal. Sometimes, it is just a day of recovery and other times, it is drawn out for a couple of days or more.
But my main motivation for running is three-fold:
- I want to live to be over 100, healthy and with all of my faculties intact. With a long family history of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes being fit has allowed me to avoid these issues so far.
- I want to see my grandchildren grow up. My oldest wants to be an actress, the middle one will be the late bloomer but will take on the world, and the youngest one, at the moment, wants to be the President. How could I not want to be alive to see how they turn out and blossom into their own.
- And lastly, I do enjoy running. It helps to clear my mind, relieves the daily stress, and allows me to find solutions to my everyday problems.
But I do know without having an event to challenge me, I wouldn’t be motivated to train, run the miles I do, and stay healthy.
As I near this last half marathon for this year, I’m planning my challenges for next year.
I have signed up for the Pasadena Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in February. I may do the Portland and Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll again. I would love to challenge myself to do Ragnar which is a 2 day relay race next year or the following year. And I’m hoping that my daughter will do the Los Angeles Rock ‘n’ Roll with me next year instead of in 2014.
So what are you doing to challenge yourself as you age?