
But, for now, we'll again present this coming Friday, November 1, at the Indianapolis Monumental marathon expo and once again hope that some marathon runners will take the LifeNuts program home. This will be Mike's last blog for a while. He's postponed having his shoulder repaired surgically until he fulfills his part of the LifeNuts challenge in the IMM half marathon. That's quite a generous gesture on the part of a 91-year-old. Don't miss the chance to meet him, to run with him, and to soak in the knowledge and wisdom that he exudes. Maybe he'll have a sign to carry so that you can locate him on Saturday morning. One thing for sure: he'll probably line up near the end of the pack at the start. Cheer him on if you see him. He's a hero in my book! Here's his weekly blog:
Running Practice, week of October 20|: walked 5, ran 22 miles
Likely runs, week of Oct. 27, two 10-mile practice, 5-mile walk and IMM half-marathon, = 33.1 plus the walk.
THE CHALLENGE
We started this challenge in June: Can you beat a 91-year old in the half-marathon? The Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, that is. Why June? To give you time to practice for it, in case you had doubts about your capability. Please note that I, 91, can run about as fast as a 4-year old boy (world champion) if he held on to his mother's little finger. Truly. The statistic is that he ran a whole marathon in a little over 6 hours in 1972 or so; so a half could have taken him less than 3 hours. They no longer list him but they do list a 5-year old with a marathon time of 5:25! Woo hoo!
Recognizing finally that letting little ones run marathons was akin to cruelty to animals, the race officials now record only males 14-year-olds and up in the half-marathons. Acknowledging the superiority of women, they record the time of a 9-year old girl, 1:59:58. I did a 2:02 at age 80, to
compare.
That's why I promise to go slow. Because I can't go fast! Your challenge is to walk steadily for about 3 hours. You can easily pass me at an hour or sooner.
It's really amusing to run at this age. I can't run fast enough in cool weather to get warm. I can't run hard enough to get tired. Or get sore muscles. There's talk I'm trying to break the world record for age 91. Nonsense! The competition is too fierce! It's me! And I'm 7 months older now than when I set the record, which means nearly 4 minutes slower.
Sincere congratulations if you pick up the challenge! Let's talk on the way! and at the finish.
Maybe they'll have me or a standard-bearer holding a flag on a stick at the start so we can start off together and you can gauge your pace to suit.
We'll be making a presentation at the Expo at 1:00 PM on Friday. If you pick up on some of what we have to say it could improve your health, weight, speed and quality of life. I've been running
marathons for 42 years and shorter races as well, and Bob Kroeger has run 60 marathons in the past 6 years. Looking forward to seeing you then!