Author Archives: Bruce

Yes we are runners. We wake up in a haze and head out the door and come back as cleared minded folks after the cool morning air. We come home from work stressed and have pent-up energy and out the door and come back as complete human beings again. We love it and if we are cautious by not overdoing it and keeping to the laws of a strong upper body then we can have our running human tools last for a lifetime for this great passion of ours.

It is our discipline that is unmistakable that makes us who we are as runners. For many of us the discipline becomes auto pilot to us. So I believe it our responsibility for our overweight or out of shape friends to mentor them and be a role model of such. The answer is not that simple. For one, many folks have no desire to run and if they choose to get fit would they would some other exercise discipline. But for the folks who see us running or know of our love for running and they show a spark of interest I say yes it is our responsibility, although of course this is the writer’s subjective opinion.

I wrote a script of a man who lost his wife who he adored in sixties after they both had just retired. He was a basket case and was close to assisted living as he lost his will to live or take care of himself. His nephew forced him to take walks with him after a year of self hibernation in which he was really unable to care for himself. So he walked and felt better. He never was a smoker and was a wiry gentleman and saw other including nephew running on his now daily walks. He loved the idea of running as he saw the sweat and emotions. His nephew Sam knowing his Uncle had never run before and was a dead man walking just recently tried to deter him and told him to stick to walking. But Mort, my character’s name saw his doctor and surprisingly was just fine and cleared was told go very slowly with some instructions.

So Mort ran and rubbed Ben Gay in his old bones but he had a new lease on life. He had a healthy amount of retirement money and started traveling with his nephew who was a National Geographic reporter. He was running with enthusiasm in every country he traveled with his nephew. It was a transformation a rebirth. It takes people helping people in the world we live in. I believe we runners are special and therefore have a responsibility to help others to feel good the way we feel and mentor potential runners, young and old.

So with our fortune of being athletes with a high level of health, thanks to our love of our poetic movement, we can help others to love what we love and experience the great feeling we feel.

And remember for our obese friends or older friends and even people who are perceived to be way out of shape, it is never too late. So get out there and mentor someone.

Bruce Silverman
Founder Of Senior Runners

Ah the fall is just is just around the corner and the change of colors in most of the parts of our great country. And the cool breezes in the season we all seem to love so much. But let’s not forget the lessons learned and lessons to learn with a little less then month left during the sweltering heat of the summer months.

We will not discuss in depth the common sense rules of running in heat and just a reminder of the basics. Keep hydrated to the max and if you run at mid-day in ninety plus and high humidity weather you better be in damn good shape or only blame yourself for the ambulance coming to pick up your not so smart self up off the ground. Also try to run very early in the morning or at evening time when things cool down a bit. And shade is your ally so look for those shaded trees.

Okay some of us love the heat but many of us prefer the fall and spring and the not-too-cold dead of the winter. The summer usually takes on the characteristic in many places of constant heat throughout most of this season where winter can ease off at times so summer months can be intense. So this can be a tough time for the novice runners as well as some of us that do not take the heat well.

But if you’re like many of us, it is a challenge to get in tip-top shape as well as the challenge of never letting the elements taking us down as long as we follow the laws of nature already discussed above.

So what is it about running in the heat that turns many of us on? For one, the intense sweating and getting hose toxins out of us. The great feeling after a sweaty run with the nice hot shower to the nice cool air conditioned house to a ice cold beer or cold beverage of our choice. You feel so good after a nice summer run even if in some cases we need to relax a little longer during the recovery period.

If you are the social type then people are outdoors doing many activities as well. For us loners this might be the only season we run with others and in some cases just by the chance of running alongside a stranger or someone you see from time to time out there on the path out there.

Then there is beach running as well that one can run barefoot which has some advantages in some folk’s opinions from time to time. And even though not the sweltering heat concept this is one of the few times of the year we can run at very high altitudes because during winter the weather is just too severe in these regions.

Then there is the free feeling of running shirtless if of male gender (or a very liberated woman). So in reality one can wear less which is just part of getting into the swing of this season. The main thing that is that one should take advantage of this time to get into great shape as the sweating and learning to handle the elements, leading to top conditioning.

So in summary, for us that prefer the cooler weather or even better the temperate weather this is a time to accept that we runners must always be up to the challenge and win over our ability to maintain the discipline. And what’s even better is when fall rolls in, Wow! what a great feeling that we can run again in the climate we love and at the same time we are defeating the SWELTERING HEAT OF SUMMER.

Bruce Silverman
Founder Of Senior Runners