We just returned from the National Senior Games in
Cleveland. My husband participated in
the 5K and 10K runs and came home with one ribbon and one medal for his age
group. My husband has been a runner
since junior high, but not so with all of the participants. One of the fascinating things about the
Senior Games is that some of these people were not athletes in their youth and
have come late (very late) to the notion of physical exercise being beneficial
and rewarding.
The day before the 5K, which was held at the Cleveland Zoo,
we were walking the race route to get a feel for the course and fell into
conversation with another couple who were doing the same thing. The wife of the participant told me that her
husband had had two heart attacks, and that his whole family was
overweight. He had taken up running
after the second heart attack and had lost 80 pounds during the past year. He was now more or less obsessed with
exercise and diet to the point that she had gone off to their second home in
Florida to get a break from it. She
commented that she no longer enjoyed eating since he had put himself, and her,
on a restrictive diet. She, by the way,
did not need to lose weight.
The dear lady couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the
strange world that runners retreat into prior to a race. There is no other topic worthy of conversation. Everything revolves around and is focused on “the
race.” As the wife of a long-time
runner, I assured her that this was “normal,” and that a week later she should
expect the whole race to be relived. He
will be making remarks like…”A week ago right now I was_______.” He may be wearing his medal under his shirt
and pulling it out to be admired by anyone who mentions “the race.”
The first eight runners in each age group were
recognized. Places 8 through 4 received
ribbons, while 3, 2 and 1 got bronze, silver and gold medals. At the awards ceremony, it was interesting
that as the older age group results were read, sometimes there were not as many
as 8 participants to be recognized. In
fact, in the 10 K, age 85-89, there was only one male participant, who
automatically received the gold.
After about age 85, the participants, both male and female
find it difficult to step up and down from the podium. They may be able to run/walk a 5 or 10 K, but
the little step up to the podium becomes a barrier, and they need to steady
themselves by holding on to someone to make that step up.
As each age group is called forward, one can’t help but
notice the increasing frailty, fewer participants and slower recovery
time. As hard as we try to take good
care of our bodies, eventually they deteriorate. Something breaks or wears out. We may be able to put off the inevitable for
a time, but no one lives forever. There
were no participants 95 or over.
But…if you live long enough and can still show up and put
one foot ahead of the other, you might just win the gold!
