behind the 8 ball

i had a lovely birthday this week. i’m in as good shape as i have been for many years. but i am at an age group disadvantage. my age now ends with an 8. the 8’s are the wasteland of age for the amateur endurance athlete.

for the 8-challenged athlete the next age group is at least one more hard season away. for the 8-challenged athlete the competition may very well be 8 years their junior.

the qualifying standards for many major events come in blocks of 10 years. this puts the Crazy-8 age grouper in the worst stages of decrepitude to try to qualify. this is the point on the curve where the vicissitudes of age peak against the requirements for qualification. if you struggled at 36 or 46 you have a big hill to climb at 38 or 48.

what to do? we just keep training and don’t worry about the numbers. we take it as a challenge. another in a long series of challenges that distance running brings us through the years. as our abilities potentially decline the next rung on the ladder doesn’t come down to meet us.

one could argue that we are just getting our come-uppance for enjoying those easy years at the beginning of the age group. for everything there is a season, right?

then there is the challenge for the 8-challenged age grouper in the local road race. most races have 10-year age groups. 30 – 40, 40-50, etc. when i compete this fall i am in an age group with runners almost 10 years my junior.

in many places a fast age grouper might stand a chance of getting a 3rd place finish. here in massachusetts that’s a stretch. there is such a prevalence of fast age groupers here that the stars really have to align for me to have a chance. having an 8-year youth disadvantage really puts it out of reach.

for example; last year i ran my local thanksgiving 5K, like i always do. i had a pretty good race. i averaged 6:23 per mile pace. there were around 600 runners. 327 of them were in my age group! come on! really? with that time i came in 39th overall and…wait for it…35th in my age group!

the consolation prize, if there was one, is that i was the 2nd 47 or older male. this year – while i suppose there’s a chance of a couple really fast 49 year-olds rolling into the next age group – i’ve got a whole new crop of fresh-as-a-daisy 40 year-olds to compete against.

even if you find one of those special races that offers 5-year age groups the 8’s are still the worst place to be, (along with the 3’s).

my plan is to not worry about any of this age related stress. my plan is to keep smiling and to keep training hard so that, in a couple years, i can kick some 58 year-old’s wrinkly old arse.

i’ll see you out there!

- chris russell on runrunlive.com