This story was written in 1978 for a presentation to encourage beginners at a running clinic.
My first race was a disaster. One of my daughters was in the first grade, and it was Field Day at the school. The last event of the day was a mother-daughter race. Of course, I said “yes” when I was invited to run. I had always been fairly athletic. I hiked a lot, swam for fun, and played some tennis. We mothers lined up on the track. It was evident that only a few mothers had agreed to run in this event, perhaps ten. Well, I came in last in that event to my chagrin and to the embarrassment of my daughter. So much for natural talent!
Since then, I have come in last many times. In fact, more often than not. It bothered me in the school race but no more. My point here is that, when one gets to my age, the main purpose in taking up jogging and running is not to win the race, because you won’t. Then why race, you ask? Because it’s the one time in your running career when you will put yourself out and try to do your very best for you, and you do win for yourself. When most serious runners talk about and strive to run a race at very fast paces, five-, six-, seven-minute miles, I am delighted if I can run a six-mile race at an eight- or eight-and-a-half-minute pace. That’s just great! My marathon pace was a nine-minute mile, really good for me. But most people you will hear today at the clinic won’t even train that slow.
So, leave your stopwatch at home when you start to run. Go out for fun. Go out for what it can do for you. Let your body know you will try to get it back into shape. That’s what it’s all about. And, the benefits are your reward!
I started running about eleven years ago because I thought it would improve my figure. I was living in Illinois then and like a bear, hibernated and got fat in the winter. But one soon learns that the first benefit of jogging is ‘state of mind’. As has been said, one cannot run and be depressed. Run and your frustrations and worries will soon be forgotten. But as one’s body begins to regain contours it was intended to possess, as the muscles begin to strengthen, as your wind returns, as you increase your distance gradually, you suddenly feel yourself coming alive again. You discover a new you.
When you turn down those invitations because it’s your running hour, you feel rather smug. You are disciplining yourself. When your friends are sitting down watching television, you are out on the track getting in shape. When you miss the cocktail hour, you are getting your own high on the track.
Now, how does one start out? First of all, there are many books on the subject. When I started jogging there was one book, I don’t even remember the name, but it was by a man named Thomas Cureton, a physical education teacher at the University of Illinois (Physical Fitness and Dynamic Health c. 1965). And, since I lived in the same town, that’s probably why it was on my shelf. He was regarded as an eccentric. I regret now that I did not make an effort to meet him. But it was because of this book that I began to jog, and I knew no women at that time who did. I felt a fool but stuck it out. You have the comfort now that jogging has become a fad, and no one will think of you as a fool. But you may still feel one, for if you have never jogged before it will hurt, you will be uncomfortable and discouraged. You may not be able to go more than ten or fifteen steps and have to stop. But we can all walk. And you can walk a lot further than you can run, so walk until you get your breath back and try again. If you persevere, I promise you will be jogging a quarter of a mile (once around a high school track) before you know it.
Be content with that goal, to get around the track once. Gradually, increase your distance by walking and jogging until you can do a mile. That will be the milestone of your life. It’s uphill all the way to that point, but from then on, it’s downhill, because your body is relearning how to exercise. Your lungs are learning how to breath. Your aerobics, the oxygen in your muscles, are getting stored.
So, why worry about racing. You don’t have to. It’s just something that’s out there to do. When I began running and for the first four years, I didn’t even know that people raced once out of high school or college, except for true athletes such as Olympic runners. I was completely out of touch. Then I discovered people were having fun and that clubs were being formed. And that women could join. Why race? Because eventually you get bored with no new goals in sight. Now your present goal may be to run two miles every day. But after you have done that for a year, you might get bored, so try to improve your speed. But still there have to be new goals. I know many people who keep in shape doing one or two miles a day, and I think it’s great. Don’t knock it. They are doing what they want to do. Compared to the general population, that is a real accomplishment and a good practice in discipline. More than that, running gets to be a hobby, and it is true that one gets hooked, not only through the sport, but through the friends one meets. It’s a whole new social order. You find your friends in the jogging world don’t smoke, party very little, but they are the most congenial people in the world, yet independent, loners sometimes. To misquote Will Rogers, I never met a jogger I didn’t like.
The reason I was invited to speak today is to give hope to those of you who are beginners and especially to those in my age group. As I said, all kinds of books can be purchased on jogging and running. The two I would recommend are The Complete Runner and The Complete Book of Running. There is Dr. Cooper’s Aerobics and The Joy of Running. And there is the magazine Runner’s World. And our very own Inside Running newsletter published in Houston by Joanne Schmidt.
And the joy in this is that there are age groups, so in a sense you can win! And, the older you are, the better chance you have of winning for your age group. One fine woman runner in Houston, Lida Askew, has been a pioneer for women over forty. She has set many Gulf Coast, national and international records because, for instance there are only seven women in the United States over fifty who have run marathons. I don’t think Joanne Woodward is included in that list. Lida recently completed a fifty-mile race walk which is probably a world record for her age.
So, forget what I said at the beginning of my talk about not winning. Winning does not always mean you are at the head of the pack. But if you are old enough you can win. And that’s another thing. This is the only sport I know where you actually look forward to your birthdays. And also one of the few in which you have to reveal your age. It killed me when I first had to put my age down to enter a race. Up to that point I had told very few friends my age. And, I will tell you now, I am fifty-two going on thirty-nine. That’s how good I feel. And, I attribute my good health to running.
Now for the person who would like to train for a marathon. You can do it in less than a year if you are determined. I know a man of fifty-six who ran his first lap back in February a year ago and finished the Houston Marathon in January in less than three and a half hours. He qualified for Boston, too. He was determined, disciplined, and he did it. It’s not easy. One has to be selfish. One has to give up a lot of other activities.
But to begin, first of all try to meet other joggers who are training, so you can jog with someone at least part of the time. The miles go by quicker that way. After you have been able to work up to three miles, you may want to test yourself in a race. Local running clubs sponsor events all the time. The All-Comers meets beginning soon, are good to enter because runners of all abilities enter. There are many ten- and eleven-minute milers in these. While you train, don’t increase your mileage faster than ten percent a week. This will prevent muscle soreness and possible injuries. Go slow. Plan a schedule. If you can’t talk while you run, you are training at too fast a pace.
For the first marathon, you need six to eight weeks of running forty to fifty miles a week at least. One day a week you should run twice your normal distance. During this six to eight-week period you should run at least one twenty miler before the marathon. This will give you the necessary confidence you can really run that far. A typical week would be five or six miles a day with a twelve or fifteen miler on weekends. Slack off the last week and don’t run at all the three or four days before the marathon. For instance, if you would like to run the Houston Marathon next year, you would need to be running twenty-five miles a week by next summer. From there you can gradually build up to the forty or fifty miles a week. You will need to do it gradually or you will be injured. By injured, I mean shin splints, sore knees, Achilles heel, sore hips, etc… which you will hear about in this clinic. Before running a marathon, I would recommend entering ten- and twenty-kilometer races as a means of building confidence and to acquire race sense. Make yourself believe you will finish the race.
I will conclude by saying that when I began jogging, racing and certainly running a marathon was not even contemplated. I would have sworn to you then that I would, in fact, never do such a thing. But we learn never to say never, and if I can do it, you can do it. If you want to. You have to be selfish. Friends may not understand why you have to train. Why you can’t always be on time to dinner. Your family may complain because you’re late. Joanne Woodward’s movie (See How She Runs) had much truth. Friends and family may call you selfish. But, if you are going to train, you have to train. And, we adults have limited time to do so. I have to stop off after work. I try to run every day, but it’s not always possible. My house suffers, my social life suffers, my reading suffers, my family suffers. But all this is forgotten when the goal is reached.
Good luck! You can do anything you want to do. And I promise you, running will open up a whole new world for you. It is a positive addiction.