Meh, I just ran my first sub 3:00 marathon at age 51. And yeah, walking afterward sucked really bad.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
I feel stiff and sore most days. The day after a hard workout, sometimes I'm walking like an 80 year old, for the first few steps anyway. And I'm 31.
Kids are not allowed in this thread. Out!
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
I don't remember much about 31 except that i was fat from having babies and running
around after a 1 and 3 year old in a Mommy fog. They are almost 23 and 25 now a lot
of shit has happened since 31
For me, 31 was pre-kid. I was working out some, but had never run more than 2 or 3 miles at a time. My how things have changed.
20,000 miles behind me, the world still to see.
I don't remember much about 31 except that i was fat from having babies and running around after a 1 and 3 year old in a Mommy fog. They are almost 23 and 25 now a lot of shit has happened since 31
At 31, I had arms and abs like Jillian What's her name, but I couldn't run more than 5 minutes. Then I would collapse after. I'm so glad things have changed.
Shari, cheers! To the good years ahead of you!
Super B****
Me. And I'm not even 30 yet. (Why I'd want to live to a ripe old age when THIS is what I'm like in my 20s, I don't know.)
chasing the impossible
because i never shut up ... i blog
Walk-Jogger
Way back when I was 31 I had only been running for about 3 years, and probably ran a 10K race in about 39: xx with minimal training. My running logs at that time were chiseled into stone tablets but have since been lost to the ages so there's no record. I'll be 59 in a couple of weeks and with 8 years of hard training under my belt currently I hope to equal that 39: xx in a 10K race this weekend. My running is about the only part of me that hasn't started wearing out significantly yet. I've lost partial vision in one eye, my ears ring full time and my hearing is getting worse, my hair is about half gone, and I've lost the ability to sleep for longer than 2 hours per night without pharmaceutical assistance. But as long as I can still run like the wind, I'm ok with getting older. It's still much better than the alternative.
Retired & Loving It
Hey now. I was just trying to give you old folks reassurance that it's not your age making you creaky and sore. It's the running.
I've been a master for so long (actually, when I started running, I already was a master...) that I don't remember what exercising as a young woman was like. I think that maybe, yes, recovery was faster. But I'm also pretty certain that I never worked out as intensely as I do now. It's like my pain threshold has increased over the years. But yeah... like Baboon, being tired and sore has become the norm for me. I don't even bother to ice, roll the stick, take pain killers, etc... I figure that as long as I can do my workouts with good energy, I don't care if I drag myself in discomfort the rest of the day. The negative side to all this is that I do less cleaning in general in the house, due to fatigue.
I've been a master for so long (actually, when I started running, I already was a master...) that I don't remember what exercising as a young woman was like. I think that maybe, yes, recovery was faster. But I'm also pretty certain that I never worked out as intensely as I do now. It's like my pain threshold has increased over the years.
But yeah... like Baboon, being tired and sore has become the norm for me. I don't even bother to ice, roll the stick, take pain killers, etc... I figure that as long as I can do my workouts with good energy, I don't care if I drag myself in discomfort the rest of the day. The negative side to all this is that I do less cleaning in general in the house, due to fatigue.
I will echo many of the comments already posted, I suppose the above describes me best.
Started running at ~44-45, will be 49 next month. Never heard of the Grand Master category; when I get there I will make people call me Grandmaster Flash. Walking around constantly sore kind of gives me a good feeling that I am working myself hard. And having been through an injury makes me appreciate that nothing I feel while not running matters too much, if the running is feeling good.
Also we late starters don't have PR's from our younger days to chase, our best days can be ahead of us.
Dave
Are we there, yet?
At 31 I had a solid 10 years of running behind me and was beginning to realize more PBs were going to be very hard to come by. Now at more than double that age I expect to set a few more PBs this year at new and longer distances.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
race obsessed
At 31 I was fat from baby and I don't have the excuse of being female...
Likely the best shape of my life @ 42. I don't creak most days, but sore is normal.
Barking Mad To Run
At 31 I was fat from baby and I don't have the excuse of being female... Likely the best shape of my life @ 42. I don't creak most days, but sore is normal.
31 was actually pretty good for me. I was living in Hawaii, was in the best shape of my life, and that was also the year I married the love of my life, Gail, my 'bride' now of 29 years.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
At 31, I was overweight (don't think I'd made it to "obese" by that point), completely out of shape, and having the time of my life as a newly minted lawyer engage full time in the pursuit of women.