There is no easy answer to this. A week from Sunday I will be competing in my seventh marathon, my fourth since 2010. On Saturday, I will turn fifty-eight, and yeah, I’ve every intention of – if I manage to be steady enough at Steamtown to qualify for the Boston Marathon again – to run in 2015, my sixtieth year.
It bears reminding that I suffer from a condition: deep vein thrombosis that predominately affects the circulation in my left leg. If I don’t get in at least an every-other-day run, the leg will swell more than it does without, and, well, I’ve never been inclined to see what a long layoff would do to it, to how stiff and uncomfortable it might make for me in doing even the most simple things, like climbing stairs or walking up a hill, so suffice to say there has never been – outside of illness and injury, which might in the past thirty-five years total about a month of days – a time when I didn’t run at least a little bit every other day.
Once you find a course that you love, my advice is to keep at it. Saturday, my birthday, I will be a week away from picking up credentials for my seventh marathon. And, it’s not a lie to say that I’ve never felt better prepared for a marathon. All that, and more, because I have stayed the course.
Next: Running for Your Life: Last Week!
It bears reminding that I suffer from a condition: deep vein thrombosis that predominately affects the circulation in my left leg. If I don’t get in at least an every-other-day run, the leg will swell more than it does without, and, well, I’ve never been inclined to see what a long layoff would do to it, to how stiff and uncomfortable it might make for me in doing even the most simple things, like climbing stairs or walking up a hill, so suffice to say there has never been – outside of illness and injury, which might in the past thirty-five years total about a month of days – a time when I didn’t run at least a little bit every other day.
Once you find a course that you love, my advice is to keep at it. Saturday, my birthday, I will be a week away from picking up credentials for my seventh marathon. And, it’s not a lie to say that I’ve never felt better prepared for a marathon. All that, and more, because I have stayed the course.
Next: Running for Your Life: Last Week!
