Category Archives: Running Tips | Senior Runner Blogs

Running and Life’s Aggressions

I know a guy who I frequently have coffee with who is a 74 years old fellow and a total intellectual. He is a retired UN employee with some unfortunate past history. He hid as a child in Belgium from the Nazi’s. His family was dirt poor but he was a shining example of the Jewish culture, using education as a weapon after the war. So he did well and all was bright. But life is a state of mind and after a horrible marriage with a lying criminal wife who escaped to another country to avoid criminal prosecution and financial misgivings, this gentleman battled his past and considered himself a manic depressive.

This gentleman found a way to survive his financial woes with a small government check and a family member’s kind help. His health was above average and was still a handsome man who had no problem dating from time to time, getting into some romance once in a while.

But he was an aggressive man who could not get past his past misfortunes and his only balancing act was his very brisk daily walks. Sometimes he would walk twice a day to balance his extreme aggression and let his past be forgotten temporarily by the feeling of calm that this walks provided.

However, he had knee pains and one day had to stop his daily walks. Swimming was his only outlet but not as a regular drill due to logistics. So he gained weight and became very temperamental in less than a month after his knee problem.

So he lost his ability to stay calm. He almost came to blows with yours truly over nonsense and foolishness that i would have nothing of, except the obvious of possible self defense. I probably would not have fought back if not attacked as this is sheer immaturity. But it happened as this raging senior hit a security guard and now faces a court date unless it can be settled privately.

What is the point of all this? Well this is a running lifestyle site. We runners take our aggression out on the track and the road as well as on trails, and we gain prospective from our hobby and our sanity medicine from our chosen sport. Runners win their battles during their daily runs or in races. What we win is our health, our calm and our sanity in this crazy world.

So do not forget, even if we have injuries, we are runners and must maintain being one if we can. Get on that exercise bike or swim in the pool and whatever does not aggravate that injury to maintain some form of fitness that helps get rid of life’s aggressions. And being disciplined athletes, of course never let life’s mental challenges get the best of us. Now go out and kick some road ass!

Always remember you are an athlete

My one business partner David, tips the scales at a little under 400 pounds. About six months ago, with that weight, he quit a long time smoking habit so that was a start. I was all over him to maintain an excercise discipline which for him walking made the most sense. He had in the past been inconsistent in trying to maintain a walking discipline and had a lot of excuses. Finally he understood as a young 34 year old man that he could be leaving behind a beautiful wife and 2 adorable children with three grown up step children. We have a beautiful rubber running track here in Baguio with pine trees surrounding the facility and it is a jovial place with early morning joggers and athletes from the national team working out.

Well David has now maintained his discipline, 5 days a week and will get a 6th day in every so often. Some of the initial problems of being overweight such as lower back problems have gone away and i can see he is addicted to this daily ritual. His eating habits are gradually changing which is part of the whole ball of wax. I do walk with him once in a while as a so called mentor and there are many very average runners on the track enjoying themselves.

So where are we going here. Well David is up to two and a quarter miles per walk. I figure less then 25% of the world population walks two miles a day. David is an athlete in my eyes as are the runners out there that struggle to do their short runs but maintain the daily discipline. So my words of wisdom are as such. When you go out for your daily exercise, think of yourself as an athlete as it is important to remember you are one of so few that can maintain a daily routine. I promise you this attitude will help you to improve immensely and will give you the self esteem one needs to make your walk or run or whatever your sport of choice is, a lifetime endeavor which of course gives you inner freedom

The days one hates Running

Life is full of Bio Rhythms especially at times of a senior runner. The combo of a hard work week and lots of family responsibility combined with some problems in both work and personal worlds, makes it tough sometimes to concentrate on your runs. The truth is of course that it should help to relax you and help you to deal with problems. But there are some days where the benefits feel repressive. You will curse yourself during the run. When the run is over though, you’re thankful and feeling better.

You have to be tough and understand the big picture in a not so perfect world. The big picture is you have to stick with it and understand the benefits of staying in great shape that will benefit you everyday, in short and long term physical and mental health.

So when you first wake up and dread the thought of your early morning run or get home from work stressed and tired and the thought of the run makes you hate running, or the first ten minutes of your run creates a venue where you say to yourself that reading or watching TV is a heck of a lot more fun than this physical torture, just remember that you benefit in every way by sticking with your discipline of trotting along and getting rid of the tension, reaping the health benefits of your daily running. What are your experiences?

I will share my experiences of running under the afternoon sun and why i believe no shower is required, which is good for you, office workers going back to work as a good sweaty run. Will talk about spitting and clearing the mucus from my nose in the great outdoors. Also the life style changes, like big time water consumption and diet changes as running changes life styles. Runners usually like to drink alcohol at the end of the day from my experience, especially after a nice evening run. It kind of intensifies a runner’s high.

So does running give one mental freedom? Absolutely! And that’s why for the most part, i rarely have met a runner who is unsuccessful in most aspects of their lives. In this book, we will compare other stories of runners i have met and lay out just what makes us a different breed. So yes, running is a religion to some of us.