Turning Sixty

Next year I turn sixty. I’ve participated in athletic events all my life, from track, volleyball, and hockey to triathlons, cross-country ski races, and road races. But now, the end of my competition days is in sight. When I wake up in the morning I have no doubt that my body has a lot of mileage. My right knee aches because I had part of the cartilage removed when I twisted my knee playing baseball. My right shoulder doesn’t have the flexibility and strength it once had. I wear orthotics in my running shoes to help prevent plantar fasciitis and tendonitis. I wear a compression stocking on my left calf to help circulation after I developed a clot behind my knee when I pulled my hamstring during the 100-meter sprint event at a masters track meet. On top of that, it takes a lot more time for me to recover after any type of workout. Getting old sucks.

I have been lucky that I am still able to run. I run more slowly than I used to, but that does not upset me as much as knowing that there is a day that I may no longer be able to run at all. When that happens, I am going to miss the exhilaration of my heart pounding and my lungs gasping for oxygen, and the endorphin rush from a hard run. I am going to miss the connection I feel with nature as I run through trails beside running water and surrounded by trees. So I’ve decided that this is the time for me to run the Victoria Marathon. I may never get another opportunity.

In 2014 I ran the New York City Marathon, but I hobbled to the finish line on a bad knee. Two months before the race, I had stepped awkwardly on an uneven part of the trail and injured my knee. The physiotherapist tried his best to rehabilitate my injury so that I could continue training, but every time I tried to run my knee would swell up. For the next two months, I rode the stationary bike and used the elliptical trainer to get ready for the race. Participating in the New York City Marathon was a wonderful experience and I was happy to be able to just finish the race, considering how poorly I trained for it. But this time I don’t want to just finish the race, I want to run it. It doesn’t have to be fast. I just want to finish it knowing I gave it my best effort.

If running a marathon was not enough of a challenge, I thought, why not do some other events to help me get ready. So I have decided that I would like to try to complete the full Birkebeiner. I have done the half Birkie a couple of times, but never the full. Now that I am semi-retired I have lots of time to train and I now live close to the Strathcona Recreational area. In the summer, I want to do a triathlon. It has been a long time since I competed in a triathlon and since I am planning on swimming and biking while training for the marathon, it seems logical that I should also compete in a triathlon.

I was inspired to make these goals by my wife Michelle who challenged herself to do sixty activities she had never done before when she turned sixty. She learned to juggle, learned to say a phrase in ten different languages, solved the Rubric’s Cube, and much more.

The Victoria Marathon is held each year on Thanksgiving weekend. That will give me one year to train. It is not going to be easy but if my body will hold up I will be able to complete the race, this time with a kick to the finish line.