#100 – Age = Goal

Fajuha Singh, aka the Superman Sikh, could run a marathon at the ripe young age of 92 years at 5 hours 40 minutes. This is unofficial since the he was born in an era before birth certificates. Living until 92 is a major achievement in itself. Running a marathon deserves some applause.

These days we are not surprised to see people over 90 who complete marathons under 7 hours. Have a quick glance at the Master Records in road running and you realize that some people don’t even slow down that much at their seventies.  Ed Whitlock’s marathon time is a mind-blowing 3:15 at 80 years of age. That is amazing.

There are some truly badass people out there. A guy named Bob Becker did run a double Badwater at 70. That is 292 miles. Or 467 kilometres.

It seems to me that most people can improve their marathon time until they are 40. Beyond that, you can keep completing races but you should expect to slow down.

I believe that most people quit running, not because their bodies can’t take it anymore but because they feel old or don’t want to look like weirdos.

I am 47 as I am writing this. According to Paul Allen’s “Life’s Creative Cycle” I should be “trying to keep up with the 25 year old’s”. I don’t want to do that. My fastest years are behind me. I accept that. I was never “fast” to begin with :-). I feel that trying to speed up will only increase my injury risk.  I don’t want to have a flash PR and a replacement. (or another broken hipbone) I want to run for as long as I can, with achievable and enjoyable targets.

So, here is my long term running goal. I will try to complete a race no shorter than “RaceDistance=100-MyAge” every year, without any specific speed goals.

Let’s call this #100minusAgeGoal.

My minimum target distance this year is 100-47(my age)=53 kilometres.

Assuming I will be otherwise healthy, this is a very achievable, even lazy target until I hit my sixties. Completing at least one marathon distance until I am 58 should not be that difficult. A half-marathon until 79 could be a lot harder. I guess things will get interesting after somewhere in my sixties.

And, If by any chance I make it to 2072, I will run my last race, a “1” km under 6 minutes 30 seconds and quit running at 99. Beyond that, I might have to slow down even more, enjoy other stuff people do to enjoy life, start swimming or even (God forbid) take to yoga.