Yep! 31 and a 3:33 on a second or third try? You will kick our butts when you turn master, in 9 years. 

Third but I had a 2.5 year break between the first and second.   And sadly, it's closer to 8 years.

 

Oh... so sad... only 8 years before the beginning of the end. 

 

I wish it was 8 years for me....

 

You, you're almost over the hill. Get used to the idea. 

Unfortunately, it's not good when it's downhill in that kind of thing, haha.

Truthfully, I look and feel better than when I first started running 15 years ago.  I even look younger than in my wedding pictures.  Exercise does work for something.

I'm 46 and I don't ache all the time. In fact I'm only sore after a long run, or after speedwork, and if I forget to stretch... and if I sit too long... or don't get enough sleep, or have the wrong shoes on. Yeah, ok, I do hurt all the time!  But it's a good hurt if you know what I mean.

When I'm in a training cycle, I'm stiff pretty much all the time. From the speedwork, the hill work and the high mileage with barely no rest. When I'm in between training cycles, I run about 40-50 mpw, just at a medium pace, and I'm never sore. I think sometimes the soreness is just an indication of the type of work we're doing at the moment. It's not like real hurt, not an injury. More like overall normal training fatigue. And it's probably normal with runners of all ages, but there's more of it in older runners.

 

I don't think any of us are saying that we hurt all the time, just more than we used to.

 

A former contract worker we had was a ballerina in her early 20's who limped a lot. People commented often why do it if you can't walk normally. If I was that type of person running, I would find another activity/sport.

I usually am that person.  There isn't a single other activity/sport that has the antidepressant effect that running does for me.  (And yes, I've tried many other things.)

I definitely feel you Shari! I guess I've been fortunate to not experience many of the symptoms of aging that most master runners speak of - until the last 12-18 months. As you know I've run high mileage for the last 5 years - something I never did before. Could this have played a part as most masters that have been running for 40 years ran higher mileage in their youth not their master years. In that respect I'm an outlier.

There are a host of variable at play; age [57], increased mileage and my event last August. To what degree each of those have played in my current state is uncertain. What I do know is that I'm unable to perform to the level I did a year ago or even 6 months ago. I was running 90 miles in the weeks before my event and as high as 80 miles following but this year I've peaked at 38 miles. Everytime I string together 3-4 days something "breaks down" forcing me to take a couple of days off. Should this be the inevitable signs of aging my coach warned me about when he turned 40? I don't know but I'm not ready to go quietly and accept my current state of fitness as my reality.

Good luck and when I learn more I'll be sure to share this with you [and the forum readership].