Do not go gentle into
that good night,
Old age should burn and rave
at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying
of the light.
– Dylan Thomas
Boulder – Lois Calhoun gets a little slower every year, but she’s not going down without a fight.
Calhoun, 71, has won her age group each year since she began running the Bolder Boulder nine years ago. She runs four days a week and cross trains with bike rides, weightlifting and yoga.
She will not go gentle into that good night, but she’ll probably turn in early because she’s got a workout in the morning. Tuesdays you’ll find her on the track with the Boulder Road Runners at 7 a.m., doing intervals to keep her speed up. She has her sights set on a 58-minute Bolder Boulder on Monday.
“You can either get into an upward spiral or a downward spiral,” Calhoun said of resisting the aging process. “The less you do, the less you want to do, the less you are able to do. The more you do, the more you want to do, the more you are able to do.”
Just more than 18 percent of the participants in the Bolder Boulder last year were age 50 and older. Some jog or walk for health and fitness, but some are fiercely competitive. As age erodes their ability to run as fast as they did the year before, they look for ways to slow the process of slowing down.
It can be frustrating.
“I hear you loud and clear. I’m struggling with that myself,” said Joan Benoit Samuelson, 50, who won the first Olympic women’s marathon in 1984. “I have days when I can go out and my pace quickens as I run and warm up. There are other days where I can barely put one foot in front of the other.
“I have days when I feel like I felt 10 to 15 years ago. Those days are few and far between, but they keep me going.”
Erie’s Dave Dooley seems to be doing all right. Dooley, 60, ran the Carlsbad 5000 this spring in 18 minutes, 17 seconds (5:54 per mile), qualifying him for the Bolder Boulder’s A wave. Race officials believe he will be the first runner in his 60s to compete in the race’s fastest wave.
Dooley isn’t sure why he has been so successful, although he knows heredity has been good to him.
“I’ve been able to run injury-free, more or less, for the last 25-plus years,” Dooley said. “I didn’t start at a real early age. I started in my mid-30s, so maybe there’s something left in my joints. Other than that, it’s been consistent training. If you can keep the injuries at bay and you’re able to train every day – or regularly, anyway – I think that’s most of it for me.”
The harder Dooley works, the luckier he gets. Perhaps he was blessed with natural running ability, but he also runs 55-60 miles per week. Dooley stands 5-feet-9 and weighs 122 pounds.
“I know a lot of guys who had to cut back. They can’t take that kind of mileage anymore,” Dooley said. “I just feel very fortunate that I can still do it.”
Accenting great exercise
Arvada’s Bob Godfrey, 64, gets up at 4 a.m. weekdays to run. He has finished two marathons, running Boston Marathon qualifying times both times. He hasn’t made it to Boston yet, so he plans to get requalified so he can run at Boston next April.
He also wants to do a triathlon this summer.
“It’s a great exercise program,” Godfrey said of his running. “I want to stay fit. It’s a challenge, plus my son and daughter-in-law are doing it. I like to do things with them. I think it kind of keeps you young, associating with younger people.
“It’s like climbing a mountain, I guess: ‘Because it’s there.’ You want to meet the challenge.”
Running feels good but racing is supposed to hurt. Successful runners know they have to do speed work to reach their potential, and that means hitting the track – even if they are past retirement age.
“It feels good to push yourself,” Calhoun said. “If you’re going to compete, you have to get to the point (in workouts) where you feel the pain. It’s not like ‘no pain, no gain,’ but you need to feel that because you’re going to feel that in a race. You have to recognize it and say, ‘OK, I’ve felt this before and I know I can get through it.’ Your heart is pumping and you just feel like a million dollars.”
Rich Castro, president and founder of the Boulder Road Runners, has coached hundreds of runners from elite to beginners, and he’s learned a lot about older runners.
“The key is to continue to enjoy it,” said Castro, 59. “I really enjoy interacting with the club and helping them with their programs. That motivates me.”
Castro encourages his runners to do much of their training on soft surfaces. On the track, he has them run on outer lanes to decrease the severity of the turns.
Cross training allows runners to maintain cardiovascular fitness without the pounding of running and promotes recovery. Samuelson has begun riding a bike, and she hit the cross country ski trails last winter.
“Cross training becomes invaluable as we get older, because we need those days where we still feel like we’re being active, but we need days when the body is not subject to the trauma running does,” Castro said. “Folks say, ‘What cross training should I do?’ It’s the one you’re willing to do, whether it’s elliptical training or cycling or swimming, Pilates or yoga. Give me something you’re willing to do, and that’s going to be your off-day workout session.”
Cross training vital
Ellen Hart, 49, learned the hard way. A former elite runner, now a strong masters competitor, Hart has battled foot problems in recent years.
“I have really, truly, become a triathlete, and not just when I’m injured,” said Hart, who won the Bolder Boulder in 1981 and 1983. “Mixing in some triathlon events has helped me to maintain the discipline to actually get in the pool twice a week and get on the bike twice a week, because all I really want to do is run. I know, after banging my head against the wall however many times, that when I (run only), I get injured. Then I can’t do anything.”
Castro had “an epiphany” about running in his late 20s that serves as a good lesson for older runners learning to accept getting slower gracefully. Competition is great, but relationships are more important than results.
“I realized I had always run to please people, to get somewhere, to accomplish an immediate goal,” Castro said. “My epiphany was: ‘You run because you enjoy it. You love what it feels like to be flowing.’ Even though I’m much, much slower than I was as a collegiate runner, I really enjoy it because I surround myself with people who also enjoy the sport.
“It’s more than just the act itself. There’s so much more – the trips, the personalities, the festivities. All that is part of the sport we created.”
About the race
What: The 29th Bolder Boulder 10K Memorial Day race will be run Monday, regardless of weather.
Field: Current projections indicate registrations will reach 50,000, which would eclipse the record of 48,242 who registered for the 25th running in 2003. Last year 47,398 registered and 44,236 finished.
Registration: Runners may register from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the expo on the Pearl Street Mall. Race-day registration is from 5:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. near the starting line at 30th Street and Iris Avenue.
Cost: $43 (short-sleeve T-shirt), $48 (long-sleeve shirt), $53 (technical shirt). Additional “procrastination fees” will be charged today ($8) and Monday ($13).
Waves: This year’s race will be segmented into 72 waves. A qualifying time is necessary for the first 22 waves.
Times: The professional wheelchair race will begin at 6:55 a.m. The first citizens’ wave goes off at 7 a.m. and the last at approximately 9:18 a.m. The Memorial Day activities at Folsom Field begin at 11 a.m. The pro women’s race begins at 11:26 a.m., the men’s at 12:15 p.m.
Bus service: RTD will operate regional service from 10 metro Denver park-n-rides ($6 round trip).
Mobile lockers: Runners may pay $2 to check belongings at the start and have them at the finish.
