A Running Truth: You Are Never Too Old to Start Running

“I can’t run anymore,” an acquaintance recently told me. “It’s too hard on my joints at my age.”

Mmmm. I made those noncommittal murmuring noises you make when you’re trying to not to offend (or scare off) someone you’ve just met.

At her age? I found out later that she is TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME.

Hey, kids, I’m still running!

“I’ll walk but I’ll never run,” my mother told me when I first got serious about running and did my first marathon. I was 27 at the time; my mother was 61.

“Running would jostle my old bones,” my mother said.

A year or two later, my mother entered a women’s only 5K in Washington, D.C., with my sister, who took up running around the age of 40, after getting a divorce.

Mother called to report that she had WON HER AGE GROUP. This was 25+ years ago, so it’s entirely possible that she was also the last finisher and definitely the only woman in her 60+ age group. Still, a win’s a win.

And guess what she won? TWO AIRLINE TICKETS ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. Yep. That’s right. Talk about the good old days!

She took her friend Charlotte to a bridge tournament in Arizona. But of course.

My mother and me at the 2015 National Senior Games, where she won the gold medal in the 5K road race in the 85-89 age group.

When Sarah asked recently on @AnotherMotherRunner Facebook page for stories of women who came to running “later” in life, she got hundreds of responses, from mamas who took up running in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond. For health, for fitness. To lose weight, to gain sanity. For friendship or race swag. Because it was convenient. Because it was efficient. For all the reasons you and I started running whenever we did, and kept going at it for however long we have.

This is one of running’s main charms: the low barrier to entry. Really all you need is a good pair of running shoes (and a supportive sports bra) and a half-hour a few times a week, and you can find yourself on a path to whatever new running world you want to create, whether that’s a 5K, a marathon, or a never-want-to-race-ever-but-want-to-stay-fit routine. It’s all good.

Amy Farr started running at age 45

“I’m 47 and have been running just a little over two years!” said Amy Farr. “I have two children and I have lost almost 100 pounds over the last four years.” [Ed note: Yay! Go Amy!] “I’ve done a lot of 5ks, 10ks and I’ve done two half marathons, one full and some sprint triathlons.”

We start with a 5K—the gateway drug of running—and find our endorphin high.

“I did a few 5ks and one 10k before having kids,” said Erica Logcher Richards. “But I didn’t start distance running until I was in my 40’s. I’m about to turn 54 now. I’ve run 1 ultra, 6 marathons, a Ragnar relay (reach the beach), a 39.3 challenge, 3 duathlons, 4 sprint triathlons, a half Ironman relay, and countless half marathons (30+).” [Ed note: Yay! Go Erica!]

Erica started running marathons—and ultras! (over 26.2 miles)—in her 40s.

Wise women—of any age—build up over time.

“I’m 52 and started running about 5 years ago when a friend wanted to do Cooper River Bridge 10k. I trained for a YEAR to run 6 miles!,” said Robyn Godfrey, with a smiley emoji. “I was hooked and went on to run 10 half marathons and for my 50th, the London Marathon, then last year the Chicago Marathon. In three weeks, I’m tackling Berlin using the HR TLAM Program with Coach MK. I never thought I would be a runner as I always had bad knees and a weak back but here I am.” [Go Robyn!]

Robyn started running at 47; she has four grandkids!

See, it turns out, contrary to popular and persistent myths, running is actually not bad for your knees and back and joints as one of the most trustworthy running-science experts, Alex Hutchinson, author of the smart book Endure, reminds us. Motion is lotion. Also: All that pounding means I have strong health bones, no hint of osteopenia, despite being a thin, menopausal 56-year-old.

“I feel like I’m just getting started,” Robyn said. “It’s never too late to try something new and set goals for yourself. And there is no better feeling than achieving those goals.”

And some lucky mamas discover a latent hidden talent.

“I started running in my late 50’s and earned a Boston Qualifying time and ran it in 2015 at the age of 61,” said Pam Kennan. Pam had kept fit playing tennis but had never wanted to run before her daughter talked her into it. “I have since run all the major marathons and earned a BQ at the last one in Berlin 2017.” Wow! Go Pam!

Pam didn’t stop with marathons: “I also just did my first pull up from a dead hang so you are never too old to start something new.” Okay, now that’s just crazy talk.

Coming to the game “late” has its advantages.

Some people think over the age of 35 is “old” in running. [cough splutter faint] Shalane Flanagan (on this week’s AMR podcast), who won the New York City Marathon last November and is going back to defend her title at the “old” age of 37, was recently described as a “grand dame.”

But mid-30s isn’t “old” for those (all) of us not competing on the world stage.

“People who start running later in life have the advantage of coming to the sport with fresh legs,” said Marc T. Riker, 55, the CEO of the National Senior Games Association, which hosts Olympic style Games in many sports—including track and field; and 5K and 10K road races—for more than 10,000 over-50 athletes every other year.

Start running in your late 30s and gradually build up, you could “peak” in your 40s and 50s and beyond.

You’re never too “old” to start; you’re always too young to stop!

My mother, now 90, represents the front of a wave of older women runners who didn’t have a lot of opportunity to participate in sports before the passage of Title IX in 1972.

But there are now countless examples of “older” women breaking all kinds of barriers from Joan Benoit Samuelson, who ran a 2:47 marathon at age 52, setting the US 50+ record, to Ida Keeting who is still running 100 meters on the track … at age 103. Yay!

Ida Keeting, still running at 103. May we be so lucky!

Not that it’s all flowers and sunshine. Eventually you’ll slow down. (My mother reports your times really drop off after age 75.) You’ll have to accommodate an increasing array of worrisome aches and pains. You’ll have to cross train and rest more.

But oh well. Even if we eventually have to shuffle along at a creaky rate on cranky joints, it’s better than the alternative—sitting on a couch or lying six feet under! At least we’ll be out there, cheering each other on, as long as we can.

HOW ABOUT YOU? HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST GOT “SERIOUS” ABOUT THIS WHOLE RUNNING THING?