I ran my first marathon, having run other races below this distance over the years. It was the MBNA Chester marathon which I managed to complete in 3 hrs 35 min 15 sec. The weather was fantastic and the crowds certainly made the day.

Started doing these at age 36 now I'm 58. After I ran it the first time I decided I would try to run it every year until I no longer could. So far so good!

I think it went well.

🤘🤩🤘 what a great run! My first official 5k ever!

I had such a blast getting back into it. Really looking forward to the next event. TBD but prob another 5k in early spring, a 10k in late spring and a half a year from now. #Boston2031

The kid was very confident. I was expecting a 26 min race at best. I’m not sure how but I wound up not getting updates from NRC app, possible because I was running it from the watch 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, so I come out of the gate hard, anticipating having to catch up to him when he gets gassed because he hasn’t been running… recon the enemy 😎.

I push to catch up, thinking I can catch him on the third mile, then pace him to the finish. I catch up in 3/4 of a mile. Welp, no battle plan survives first contact, I’m feeling good, so fuck it, rock on Tommy. Sub 7min pace which is damn near a sprint, but it feels doable for the race. Maybe dial it back a bit. I can’t, y’all. I dial it back and my body is telling my brain, nah bro, we got this. My legs are silently nodding….

I somehow manage to rein in control. By mile 3 I’m lagging. I’m not gassed, but my brain is telling my legs “I told you so”. My legs say “fuck you, smarty brain” and keep going. I did slow pretty good, but my best pace out and about has been 8:30.

I keep pushing. I use my old tactic. Lock on on the next runner in front and gain. Just gain. Don’t try to catch them, just keep gaining. That got me close enough to push over the finish line.

I was shooting for a 26 min run.

Damn.

I recently spoke with Jeannie Rice.

She started running at 35. She’s now 78, has run 137 marathons, still averages around 50 miles a week, and has set multiple age-group world records.

At all seven major marathons, she’s not only won her women’s age group — she’s beaten the men in her age group too.

So I asked her something I imagine a lot of us think about:

Why are you still doing this when so many runners your age have stopped?

Her answer wasn’t really about some secret workout.

A few things stood out:

• She protects her running time pretty fiercely.

• If she has to run early, she goes to bed early.

• If friends want dinner at 7 and she wants to be asleep early, she’ll suggest 5 or lunch instead.

• When she was raising kids, she got up earlier so her running wouldn’t interfere with their lives.

• If she feels good, she may turn a planned 6-mile run into 12 or 13.

• If she feels bad, she cuts it short.

• She still races because she likes having something to chase.

She also said something I liked about motivation.

It’s easy to skip one day. Then another day comes, and it becomes easy to skip that one too.

Her way around that is basically to not let the first excuse get too much momentum.

At the same time, she’s not blindly stubborn about training. She kept coming back to knowing your own body, changing the plan when needed, and knowing the difference between being lazy and actually needing to back off.

That balance was probably the most interesting part to me.

She’s clearly unusually gifted. She admits she’s been lucky with injuries and recovery.

But she has also spent more than 40 years building a life where running is not something she tries to fit in after everything else is done.

It gets protected first.

Full disclosure: I host Ageless Athlete, and this came from my conversation with Jeannie Rice.

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Even on not so of a good day (not feeling physically strong), I still conquered one trail at a time.

Think of it as our first mile marker. A couple of months ago this sub didn't exist, and now there are over 1,000 of us over 50s out on the course, with almost nobody dropping out of the pack. Thanks to everyone who's been posting, answering questions, and sharing races and setbacks.

With so many new people here, it'd be good to hear from you. How long have you been running, and what's on your course right now? It could be a fall marathon, coming back from an injury, or just getting out the door three times a week.

Plenty of miles still ahead. Glad you're running them with us!

My time was 33.40! I’m so elated because I expected it to be 39 or 40. Glad I took three days off before the race. My Achilles tendon and my knee hurt, but I expect to recover soon.

I did a local 10K “trail” (really dirt road) race today, with my daughter, son in law, and granddaughter (they did the 1K fun run, as grandbaby is just about 4 y.o.). Despite having a terrible final week before the race - I screwed my back up royally lifting weights and was literally laying on a heating pad unsure if I would be able to race 48 hours before the start, and was unable to run at all for 4 days - it went not too awfully. 42:50 for a 10K on dirt is a decent if not great time for me, and I did it without reinjuring my back (by far the #1 goal). This is my last ever M50 age group race because I’m turning 60 in just under one month, and looking forward to being at the young end of an age group again! That said, in this small race (~250 racers) I did manage to win the M50-59 age group despite being the oldest guy in it (I was 8th place overall in the race). So being a runner over 50 isn’t too big of a handicap!

looks like she couldn't keep up with him, lol

Over 50 and some say “just run easy now.” But the research says dropping intensity is one of the fastest ways to lose fitness as we age.

For me at 58, I keep at least one speed session per week if I can

So, honest question: are you still doing intervals, hills, any fast stuff at all? Or did you give it up and why?

Someone asked me why I run.

At 60, I’m certainly not as fast as I used to be. Missed my Boston qualifier by 3 minutes at my “best”. 30 years ago.

Since then I got off the road and never looked back. It’s been certainly gentler on my joints. Trail running and ultra running still gave me the same satisfaction without the pressure to redline myself.

A trail running day is never the same. The hill that you cruised over one time can feel like a death match the next. The trail that crushed your spirit one day will make you feel invincible the next.

Trail running makes my spirit stronger. And most importantly, keep me humble. It teaches me lessons about myself. That’s why I run. That’s why I’ll keep running until the bitter end.

I am training for a 100 miles race in Utah next April. I may finish, I may not. We will see.

Anyhow. Thanks for reading.

So you're over 60, do a race that went well and you're happy about yourself. But when you tell others that you arrive 3rd in your category, some ask you: "How many were running in your category?" And when you answer 10, you see their "so what" face.

What they don't realize is that after 60, injuries and many other factors contribute to lower the number of runners in the older age groups. Just being able to be an active runner is already an accomplishment.

So I say CHEERS to all of us out there.

“When I was 20 years old, I ran 120 miles a week. Now that I’m 80, it’s more like 25,” Burfoot said.

Burfoot is attempting to set a Guinness World Record by running a marathon in an eighth straight decade of his life. He said others have run marathons across seven decades, but not eight.

I have missed this!!!!!

I spoke with Bob Becker recently, and his story really messed with my idea of what “starting late” means.

Bob didn’t become a runner in his 20s or 30s.

He started at 57.

More than two decades later, at 80, he became the oldest official finisher of Badwater 135, the 135-mile race through Death Valley.

What makes that even better is that a couple of years earlier he had attempted it and missed the cutoff by just 17 minutes.

He came back and finished it.

A few things from our conversation felt especially relevant for runners over 50:

• Consistency matters more than some perfect training block. Bob has basically spent two decades staying fit rather than repeatedly starting over.

• His training has changed as he’s gotten older. More recovery, more strength work, more attention to balance and what his body is telling him.

• He doesn’t treat every pain the same. He talked about learning the difference between discomfort you can work through and pain that is telling you to stop.

• He gives community a lot of credit. Regular group runs became part of the rhythm of his life, not just something he did for fitness.

• He doesn’t seem particularly interested in proving he’s still young. He adapts and keeps going.

Bob has also had plenty go wrong along the way — cancer, a fractured femur, heart and lung issues. So this isn’t really a story about some genetically blessed person who never had to deal with setbacks.

The part I keep coming back to is that he started at 57.

A lot of people arrive in their 50s thinking the window for becoming a serious runner has already closed.

Bob seems like a pretty strong argument that it may be much wider than we think.

Full disclosure: Bob’s story came from a conversation I had with him for Ageless Athlete.

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Hey new group! I started running after I retired at age 58. 5 years and 4 marathons later i’m still at it. I have a local half next Sunday and I’ve signed up for the Medtronic Twin Cities next fall. Anybody else got a race coming up?

“All my friends, the guys that had run all the previous races, have stopped running now,” Gibrall said “I’ve been lucky. I haven’t had the injuries that some of them had. Some of them just got too old and maybe not interested anymore. Some of them have even passed away, but yeah, they were a good group of guys.”

Gibrall would like to reach 50 consecutive Richmond Marathons and is also eyeing 54. He said he believes 54 may be the record for consecutively finishing the same marathon.

First post here, hello! I started composing this message a few days ago, wanting to ask for tips from more experienced runners than myself in a similar age group, but didn't hit send. Instead, updating that draft to offer a snapshot of where I am in my running journey as a 63 year old, by way of introduction here.

I started running a few months ago (C25K, using the JustRun app). The program worked wonders for me, and I am amazed at my progress and new found enjoyment in running. After completing C25K, I stayed with JustRun and have been doing their 6-week 5to10K training program (the actual goal of the program is a 60-minutes nonstop).

Lately I'd been stuck at the Week 4 challenge (which is 54-minutes of running in 3 segments, with a 1-min walk interval at minute 18 and again at minute 36). Couldn't get through it without sneaking an extra walk interval (or 2 or 3...), or tuckering completely out and quitting by minute 49. Tried it again, and again - 7 times (I adhere closely to the program and won't allow myself to advance to the next week until I've comfortably met this week's challenge). No doubt spoiled by the tremendous (and quick) progress these past few months, I felt like I'd hit a wall, and was feeling discouraged. Hoping it was just a plateau in my training, yet fearing it was a dead-end or max for me.

8th try today (32F/0C with crunchy & sparkly frost underfoot on the grassy field where I run, new experience for me). Finally ... I was able to get through the 54-minute run successfully, and with surprising ease. Yay! Nearly 7K distance at an average 8:17/km pace overall. Not sure what made the difference -could have been as simple as a song in my playlist that distracted me well enough to stay strong, who knows! In any case, done - can now move forward with the program.

I finished a half marathon on my local trails today. I was so unprepared, it was criminal.

Last month, my training topped at 35 miles, on road and trails with elevation and hills. Then I got sick for a week. Then I had to travel for work. Then my wife got sick. Then we both had to travel.

Then the race happened. 13.1 miles. 2500 feet of elevation. 74 degrees at 7:30am (Southern California). It was a simple out-and-back that starts in a long canyon, goes up switchbacks and turns around. Not a billy goat path, mind you, a truck trail.

I'll spare you the blow-by-blow but the lack of hill training was a punishment in itself. My quads are absolutely trashed. And no heat training. I reached the turnaround in 1 hour 50 minutes. Volunteer had a temperature gauge outside his truck: 85 degrees at 10am.

Coming back down took all I had. My gut was failing quickly. So was my back and my hips. I kept pushing because quitting was not an option. I finished in 3 hours 23 minutes.

My saving grace is that I am a dog with a bone when it comes to this. But the one thing that gnaws at me right now is that I have ran this trail (the out-and-back) countless times. And never once, was my time this bad.

Anyhow. Live and learn. Now if you don't mind, that 60 yo is going to attempt to take a bath with epsom salt. My wife does not care for my smell at the moment lol.

Hi all. I used to run in my 20s and 30s, and set my 5km PB of 19:45 in July 2007 and my 10km PB of 50:26 a few months later (both when aged 35). After a long break through my fitness being from other exercises - including a physical job - I ended up in a very sedentary job with easy access to cake and other office treats. 

I was cajoled into trying Parkrun in January 2025 aged 53 and 48 pounds / 3 stone over weight and hated it. I then started to run a 5km once in the week and then the 5km Parkrun on the Saturday.

Cycling helped and in April 2025 I ran a Parkrun in 39:08 which I got nowhere near again (times between 40:02 and 55:33 were usual but with no consistency of finish time week on week).

I ran at other, much less challenging Parkrun courses to post times between 36:01 (very flat) and 34:57 (a ridiculous 1.5km steep downhill run before two either flat or downhill loops and a hill to finish).

In August 2025 I fractured an ankle in three places - a trimollar fracture - in an accident completely unrelated to exercising. I spent two weeks immobile as I had two different types of operation to repair the damage. I could drive my automatic car in November 2025, using my unbroken ankle to press both pedals and went back to work in February 2026. My physiotherapy programme ran from January to June 2026, during which I walked my usual Parkrun to try and maintain a level of fitness.

I decided to really put the effort in once I was let go from Physiotherapy and from June 2026 (44:48) to today I've run 313.8km / 194.9miles. My 5km time has come down to 32:04 and today I ran 16.09km / 10miles with a first 5km time of 38:32. My ankle has healed perfectly and the only related long term damage is 'Morton's Neuroma' or nerve damage to my 3rd and 4th toes. I'm 5 foot 8 inches tall and as for weight, I'm down to from 14st 2lbs / 198lbs to 12st 13lbs / 181lbs.

I love the sport I used to love again.