Patriot’s Day is coming on April 15, which means the granddaddy of marathons (well, American marathons) will be run in Boston, which means we’ll see a lot of stories about granddaddies who run marathons. Older marathoners are considered feature-bait, because they are thought to be unusual. Marathon-running preteens are also unusual but also possibly a sign of prosecutable parental neglect, so they are less attractive subjects for your newspaper’s variety section.
We’re already seeing some of these “ancient marathoner” stories, including this one on Ken Poole, a 71-year-old who running his 16th Boston Marathon (and his 38th overall). A tip of the hat to Poole, who says he’s running faster now than in his 60s and who has two recommendations: “Take a teaspoon of cod liver oil daily to keep your joints moving, and don’t stop running. ‘Don’t stop what you’re doing. Once you stop, you’re dead. You just have to keep going.’”
Along with these stories—wrinkled hand in glove—are stories on whether anyone over a certain age should ever run a marathon. These are pretty easy to write: you find a representative old runner. You interview someone who says if you’re in good enough shape to run a marathon, you can probably run one. Then you interview someone who says the exertion of a marathon could give an old person a heart attack. Here you offer a few statistics on both sides, to be fair and because you don’t want to encourage some frail old lady to strap on her shoes and croak at Mile 7 or pull up with a swollen knee at Mile 12 and be crippled for the rest of her life. That’s a lot of responsibility.
In the end you throw up your hands and say some people can do it, and some can’t, but it’s one of those things that people are going to do if they really want to do it. You mix in a couple of conflicting quotes: you need to let yourself heal, so don’t push too hard…but never stop, because it’s harder to start and stop if you’re older. “Once you stop you’re dead.” And you end by recommending moderation.
All true, and no one here is telling you to run a marathon because no one here wants to feel culpable if you stroke out at Mile 23, but across-the-board moderation is also risky. Spiritually risky. If you’re over 55 or 60, you don’t want to corral your animal spirits. As John Wayne said in The Shootist, every now and then, you need to let the badger loose. Everyone should feel a little hardcore about something. Just one thing is enough. Change it, if you want. But you should be a little hardcore about something.
Photo of the 2005 Boston Marathon (looking down Beacon Street near mile 25) by Pingswept via Wikimedia Commons.
