AARP 50K

        Several people thought I was nuts.  But it seemed like a logical way for a runner to celebrate a milestone in his life.  After all, if Dave McGillvray could do it, why not me?  When I was finished, I could have kissed Jeff Galloway! - not literally of course, but I was amazed how how well his strategy worked.

          Now that I've lost some of you, let me back up a couple of years.  I recall reading a story about Dave McGillvray, who always does a long run on his birthday that is equal in miles to how old he has just turned.  Last year Dave moved up from the Technical Race Director of the Boston Marathon to the position of Race Director that Guy Morse held for many years.  Seemed like a great way to celebrate your birthday.  I have heard of lots of runners who determined to run a marathon before age 40 or 50, but since I have already done 16 marathons, turning 50 deserved something special.

          The idea of running 50 miles on July 14th seemed too much.  Running a 50K seemed a much better choice.  Since 31 miles seemed about the distance from Rochester to York Beach, ME, this became the plan.  When I went down to York on July 4th this summer to run the Four on the Fourth, I mapped out a course that would bring me to Shorts Sands beach for the finish.

          Since I had used Jeff  Galloway's run/walk plan successfully in the fall of 2000 to run 2 marathons and a half marathon in the space of 22 days, and run a PR in all three of them, I decided to utilize his plan again for my first "Ultramarathon!"

          Right from the start at 6 AM on Portland St. in Rochester, I began my regiman of running for 8 minutes and walking for 2 minutes.  I kept this up for most all of the way and was amazed at how good my legs felt and how quickly those 8 minutes passed before it was time for a walk break again.  What was more amazing was that I reached 26.2 miles in 4:15:12.  This was my 4th fastest marathon time ever!  I was under no pressure at all - I was just enjoying the beautiful sunny day - and even stopped at two stores to refill my 2 water bottles.  (A big thank you to club member Mike Nelson and family who saw me near the York Elementary School and stopped and refilled my water bottle.)

          The only discomfort I experienced was that my quads began to cramp just after mile 28.  I walked for a little longer time and was able to run the last 2 miles nonstop and even finished with a little kick at 11:14 AM.  Total time = 5:14:04 and that works out to an average pace of 10:08 min./mile.  It is amazing that most of us can do a lot more than we think we can.  If you are thinking about a marathon, check out Jeff Galloway's site at www.runinjuryfree.com.

          Turning 50 and joining the AARP crowd isn't so bad after all for a couple of reasons:  1) no more having to compete against those 40 something guys and as long as Ken, Mike and Paul don't show up for a race, I have a chance to place in my age category and 2) I'll take that AARP discount - thank you very much!  And don't forget to respect your elders!

- Don Yeaton