aging – Life of an old goat

Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon (Springfield IL)

Ever since my lumbar stenosis set-back, I’ve been trying to regain my walking form. Racewalkers: my knees are way soft; I make no pretense of legality in my walking.

I started basically by being unable to walk even a quarter mile without stabbing glute pain (2022) and have built back up to the half marathon distance. That is another story.

In 2024 I worked up to half marathons, but I could NOT walk them in under 3 hours (I got 3:05, 3:03). These were warm days.

In 2025 I did one (with knee braces; I had a knee setback) and improved to 3:01, mostly because of better pacing.

This year, my walks started to feel better so I impulsively signed up for the half marathon in Springfield. I did this race once before (1998) and walked jogged 1:49 on a very warm day. That was about 10 mintues off of my pace in those days.

I spoiled myself by getting a nice room the night before. I like having the time to relax and stretch my lumbar.

Pick up was at the old Capitol.

But, I STILL got up just before 4 am for the 7:30 start; eyes opened and I could not go back to sleep.

Instead of focusing, I made memes.

The memes had some basis in fact. The first one was about the 10ks I did in Madision in 1997-1998 (44 minutes and 41 minutes). Barbara did the 5k walk and the 5k and 10k courses merged in the final miles; the 10k featured an out and back first. Since she walked in the high 40s, I passed her late. She recalled that I looked like a lumbering bear.

The other: I did the 2000 Madison half in 1:35. But that was 26 years ago; you cannot go home again.

Anyway, back to the present day.

The hotel was a short walk to the start line and I got there with little difficulty. It was fun to talk to the other participants. And, I left my phone at the hotel; it tunrs out that this was a good idea!

I lined up at the back, where I belonged. I was hoping to crack 3 hours on the cool, even chilly day.

Unfortunately, I got taken in by the excitedment and the gang. Mile 1 came at 12:21 which was WAY too fast for me, NOW. I tried to back off and I was at 37:10 at mile 3 (38:20 or so at 5K, which was my fastest 5k walk last year) and I knew that I could not sustain that.

I made a deliberate effort to back off to a sustainable effort. The next mile was 13:05 (50:15 at mile 4), 13:36 for mile 5, 13:42 for mile 6 and I was finally at a sustainable pace.
It was just past mile 4 when the 2:45 pace group passed me. I said “oh no” and the lady leading the group thought that I was sad that they caught me. I said “no, I should have NEVER been in front of you!” That was to become relevant later.
mile 7: 13:41. mile 8: 13:45, next two miles were 26:41 which got me to mile 10 in 2:11:42. I knew that my goal was in reach.

13:26 for mile 11, 13:58 (vs uphill and stiff wind) for mile 12, and then to my 2:54:23 finish. My final 5K was 42:41; final mile against the wind was a bit slow.

And now back to the 2:45 pace lady: she saw me finishing and she went on the course to take me in! That was so sweet of her; my reaction was part “awwww” and part “well, I guess that I really am an old man.”

The performance itself: what I did right vs what I did wrong:

Right: training, taper. And I didn’t panic when I went out too fast; I salvaged my race by deliberately slowing down BEFORE my body forced me to. Fuel: orange juice seems to work.

Wrong: I didn’t drink enough; I had that “sort of double vision” I get when I am tired. I should have carried larger containers of juice and taken electrolyte tablets. And the start was downright stupid; I have to start these at a “stupid slow” pace.

Just is: ok, I am struggling with aging. I am not saying that I was ever good; I never was. But I once walked 2:17 (and won a monitored power walk) and I once ran 1:34. I was what a few other recreational runners aspired to be (seriously).

No one wants to be me now.

At my pace in the pack (final 200 of a 1300 participant race) you see mostly older people, crippled people, “party people” and those who are clowning around. One guy ran with an airhorn, yelled frequently, and just cut up all over the place. I think that I started too fast to get way from him, but then let him go, and then passed him for good at about 10k into it.

I want to make this clear: he was doing nothing wrong. He was being courteous of the other runners and I noticed that he thanked the police and volunteers (as did I). He has every right to enjoy the race the way that he wants to. It is just that I’ve reached the point where a younger person can totally clown and still be ahead of me, and that bruises the old ego a bit. Ok, more than a bit.

The good part is that I was able to race similarly aged people; I remember a tall guy and a lady with a blue top and black spandex. I really do enjoy racing the other gray hairs. And I was really impressed by one massive guy (50ish?) He was huge, very overweight, and (as a runner) left me in the dust at mile 5. Never saw him again. He struck me as a would be 1:30 runner in a XXXL body. I wonder if he was a former football player.

And so, my reactions are mixed. I am glad that I can walk this far, given what I feared in 2021. But, well, it is clearer than ever that I was, at my best, just a participant. It is just that “young man slow” is faster than “old man slow.”

My half marathon walks: (no running at all in any of these) Note: most links are broken.

September 2003: 2:17 (Appleton Fox-Cities powerwalk division)
January 2008: Austin 30K 3:50:56 (about 2:40 for the half marathon split)
September 2008: 2:25:13 Quad Cities
September 2010: 2:39:13 Quad Cities (surgery that summer)
September 2011: 2:40:53 IVS
September 2011: 2:22 Quad Cities
January 2012: 2:34 First Light
June 2012: 2:30:18 Galesburg
September 2012: 2:24:46 IVS
April 2014: 2:25:26 Peoria Heights
May 2014: 2:19:15 Peoria
September 2014 2:35 (IVS)
September 2014 2:24:17 Quad Cities
September 2015 2:38:13 IVS
June 2017: 2:47:24 Galesburg
July 2017 2:42:19 Chicago RR
August 2017 Mahomet Half marathon 2:52:33
October 2018 Whisky Daddle Half Marathon 2:29:23

August 2024: Mahomet Half Marathon 3:05:09.

September 2024: Quad Cities Half Marathon 3:03:37

September 2025: Quad Cities Half Marathon 3:01:27

April 2026: Lincoln Presidental Half 2:54:23

Seeing what you think

Ok. The first poll question: is it ok for a man to call up a married woman and ask her out to lunch? I am NOT talking about a working lunch for work, a committee, a client lunch, lunch after something like a 5k, or grabbing luch during a break at work. Oh yes, he is not her husband.

I am talking about him calling her and making a specific date for lunch.

If you wish to participate, answer the above question first.

Now, let’s ask the same question: is it ok for a man to call a married woman and ask her out to lunch (same stipulations as above) but now, the lady is an octogenarian and he is younger?

Do different rules apply if the woman is elderly and the man asking is not?

I asked the first question on Threads. It was low response, but the answer was mostly “no, it is not ok.”

What do you think?

Off to a BU game

I took B to the doctor, AFTER getting the workout in.
The Jones fracture is healing nicely.
Pull ups: 5 sets of 6, 8, 4, two sets of 5 (ragged again)
bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 134, 8 x 150 (watching my shoulder)
wagon wheel dead: 3 sets of 10 x 200
high incline: 10 x 94, 6 x 110, 5 x 115 (careful not to push for that extra rep)

Then a 2 mile walk at just under 16 mpm.

I’ve grown so cautious with age; I rarely, if ever, push for that extra rep.

Tonight: Bradley plays Drake. BU is only a 6.5 point favorite, which surprises me a bit.

Getting better..sort of

Ok, I walked my hilly 10k course in 1:27:52, which is the fastest I’ve finished this course since October 2024 (when my knees went). So, that’s progress, right?

The middle line (faint) is my all time average, and the red segment is the period over which most of my below average performances were: the later ones. The bottom started to fall out last fall right about the time I had a knee setback. I’ve recovered somewhat but not all the way back.

And that is how it usually goes: I have a stable period, get a setback, start up again at a lower level and get better, but never quite to where I was before the setback.

My marathon performances show this. I started in 1980 with 3:33 and did 3:48, 4:24 (showed up fat and out of shape), long period of morbid obesity, then 1998: 3:55, 3:46, 3:45, 4:26 (hot), 3:38, 3:40, 3:57, 4:44 (walk), 4:04 (walk jog; shin splints) in 2002.
Then came the walking period (mostly longer) but 5:12 in 2004 to 5:28 in 2009 (knee surgery in 2010).

The post knee surgery period was a disaster: almost 7 hours in 2012 (walk), 5:44 run/walk (2013), 5:48 walk (2015) 5:52 run walk (2016) then 2 slow walks (2018, 2019) in 6:14/6:42.

I have not been worth a darn since 2009. But there it is. And now: I had the lumbar setback in 2020-2021 and it took a long time for me to recover and..I am not sure if there is another marathon in me. I wonder how normal this is.

Wild weekend: Illini beat USC, I improve (slightly) in the half marathon

It is now Sunday. And I had some flashbacks to the past. And here is the truth:

USC football is not what it was during the John McKay, John Robinson and Pete Carrol days. The colors are the same, the fight song is the same, but the team is not.

I am not what I once was; my lifetime PBs for the half marathon are 1:34 as a runner and 2:17 as a walker. And for a period in my life, 2:20-2:40 was an all but guaranteed result as a walker. Those days are over. Completely.

Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun this weekend.

Saturday: Harry was my “date” for the USC game.

Note where they put the USC band.

The parachute team was spectacular.

Oh, the game: it was an interesting one. USC got the ball, promptly marched it into Illini territory and fumbled it away. The Illini drove it for a touchdown; the Illini offense was to rack up 500 yards of offense today. The Trojans promptly tied it with a march of their own; the teams were to punt one time apiece. The Illini retaliated 14-7 and, after a 4’th down stop, were threatening to make it 21-7, when the Trojans got a controversial fumble recovery. Then they marched it down to make it 14-10 at the half.

Second half: Illini got a field goal, and interception and then hit a swing pass to go up 24-10. No problem: USC drove it again to make it 24-17. The Illini got yet another touchdown to make it 31-17, which was the score going into the 4’th. The Trojans: once again, they used their excellent receivers to score and hit a 2 point conversion to make it 31-25.

Now it was the Illini’s turn, but they fumbled going into the Trojan end zone. This would have iced the game. Instead, the Trojans took the lead on a nifty pass and were up 32-31 with about 2 minutes to go.

That was too much time: the Illini promptly drove it to field goal range and their excellent kicker nailed it from 41 yards as time expired.

What a game! What a bounce back performance from the Illini after last week’s massacre at Indiana.

Yes, the Illini defense got shredded; that will be an ongoing problem.

Sunday

I drove to Quad Cities last night and stayed 4 miles away. I was to do the half marathon. The morning started at 59 F and was to get warmer, but the half marathon course managed to feature quite a bit of shade. That helped.

The result: 3:01:27, which was 2 minutes faster than last year. What cost me sub 3 hours: not enough training miles AND being around 200 lb. That is too heavy: I should be in the mid to high 180’s

I got into rhythm early and mostly ignored my watch. With the exception of that LOOOOONG pedestrian bridge next to I 74, I mostly maintained high 13s. The course was very intelligently designed; mile 2 was on the bridge and the marathoners reached it later, hence it never got crowded. I was treated to seeing the faster marathon runners.

Yes, at my walking pace, I was mostly the old, lame (I had knee braces) and heavier than optimal (see my remarks about my being too heavy). But, I am grateful for the longer time limits and for the opportunity to walk the course.

I admit that I teared up before the start; I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to do these. But I smiled at the finish; even though I did not have the reserves to take the final 1.1 miles fast. I was mildly surprised that I beat my last year’s time .

What I did right: 18 ten mile walks over the previous 20 weeks, heat conditioning. I also had a good attitude: “just walk; don’t be a slave to the watch.” And orange juice at mile 5 helped: I never got sick.

What I did wrong: too heavy, not enough training miles, and my 5k walk is too slow.

splits: 13:39, 14:22, 13:23, 13:42, 13:57 (1:09:05)
14:12, 13:47, 13:44, 27;33 (2 mile) 2:18:22
13:19, 13:49, 15:58 (14:30 pace)

My half marathon walks: (no running at all in any of these) Note: most links are broken.

August 2024: Mahomet Half Marathon 3:05:09.

September 2024: Quad Cities Half Marathon 3:03:37

September 2025: Quad Cities Half Marathon 3:01:27

Quad Cities History
1998: 3:55 as a runner (hot)
1999: 3:45 as a runner
2000: 1:40 for half of a relay
2001: 1:49 for half marathon (week after giving blood)
2002: 4:44 marathon as a walker
2004: 5:12 marathon as a walker
2005: 5:34 marathon as a walker.
2007: DNF at mile 23 (walker)
2008: 2:25 half marathon (walker)
2009: 5:28 marathon (as a walker)
2010: 2:39 half marathon (as a walker; knee surgery in July).
2011: 2:22:27 (half marathon powerwalk)
2013: 2:20:59 as a runner
2014: 2:24:17 powerwalk.
2016 DNF mile 20 (run/walk) heat
2017 DNF mile 20 (walk) heat
2018: Marathon powerwalk 6:14:11.
2019: Marathon powerwalk 6:42:06

2020: virtual 1/2 3:33:50

2024 Half Marathon walk 3:03:37

2025 Half Marathon walk 3:01:27

Illinois Football surges

Yesterday: nice 5k commuter walk, with 3 sets of deadlifts afterward:
10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224 (all low handle)

We then drove to the game. When we got there, I reflected on how my tickets changed over the years. My current seats are my concession to the age of my friends and guests.

The game itself: the Illini moved to a workman like 10-0 lead. Western Michigan tried to rally but missed a 46 yard field goal. And at the end of the first half, a quarterback run got them to the 1 on second down, but they were stuffed on 2 consecutive running plays.

During halftime, the Coach fired the team up, and in the second half, they put the game away as they should: 14 in the 3’rd and 14 more in the 4’th. The one cloud on the horizon that I see is pass protection.

So, how do my teams sit?
Illinois has yet to defeat at team that has won an FBS came. Duke lost to Tulane and is 1-2, WMU is 0-3 (close loss to North Texas, 23-6 lost to Michigan State), and Western actually defeated Pioneer League Valpo (Valpo lost to a D3 team the week before)

ND has lost to two good teams.
Texas lost to Ohio State and defeated dreadful San Jose St. and UTEP (no FBS wins between them)

Navy: wins over VMI, UAB (who does own a FBS win..over Akron), and 42-23 over Tulsa (rallied from 14-0 down)

Illinois State beat Eastern Illinois 42-30

This is tough to sort out but I see it this way:

Illinois: a lot like last year 9-3 or 8-4. Landmines include Indiana, USC, Ohio State, Washington and Rutgers
ND: 8-4 ish finish: USC and Arkansas are probably the biggest challenges
Texas: lacking the offense to compete at the top of the SEC but they MIGHT squeak into the playoffs
Navy: schedule is back loaded with games against ND, Memphis, USF and Army toward the end. 8-4 looks right to me.

Illinois State: definitely in the hunt for a playoff spot, but North Dakota State visits in a few weeks. They have a mediocre North Alabama team next week.

I feel blessed: I have tickets to see USC, North Dakota State and Ohio State in a 3 week period!

Today’s workout: I slept in and didn’t get going until about 9:30 or so. It was 78 F and was to rise to 90 F (46 percent humidity). I did a flat West Peoria course, adding a shady loop here and there when I could. I counted this as 10.1 (Garmin got 10.06).

About 4 miles into it, I thought about bailing as it was getting very warm. But I was NOT dizzy, I was not injured and I even wasn’t that stressed physically. I was just very annoyed by my 17 minute a mile pace (1:26 for the first 5) That was not a good enough reason to quit (I had plenty of water) so I stayed with it and actually picked up the pace just a bit. I am glad that I finished though this was 25 minutes slower than on cool weather pace of last week.

More catch up

Just the facts:
Monday: weights plus an easy 2 mile walk.
pull ups: 9 sets of 6
bench: 10 x 134, 5 x 160, 4 x 160, 3 x 160, 6 x 155 (got fatigued)
high incline: 10 x 94, 6 x 105, 6 x 105

Tuesday: 10k course in 1:35:35 85 F, 70 percent humidity.

Wednesday:
pull ups: 7 sets of 6, 1 of 10 (included some mixed grip)
bench: 10 x 134, 6 x 155
incline: 5 x 134, 6 x 134, 5 x 134
trap bar dead (all low) 10 x 150, 10 x 200, 10 x 225 The final set made my thighs quiver.

treadmill walk: 26:20 (13:35/12:45) It was storming outside.

Another catch up needed, and that’s good!

Well, I’ll start with the workouts first:
Thursday: 6.3 miles (Bradley Park out and back plus a lower loop plus going out to Bradley ave) in 1:37:44 (15:31) 86 F, 69 percent humidity.

Friday: upper body weights plus a 2.2 mile walk at just under 17 minutes per mile. The weights:

pull ups: 5 sets of 6, 10 (almost), 2 sets of 6 (mixed grip), set of 3 penalty reps
bench: 10 x 134
incline bench: 3 sets of 5 x 134
curls: 3 sets of 10
dumbbell shoulder: 3 sets of 10 x 40 (supported)

Saturday: thunderstorms so I did trap bar and straight bar deadlifts plus a 2 mile walk (break in the rain)
straight bar (small bar) 10 x 105, 10 x 149, 10 x 193
Trap bar low 10 x 224
trap bar 6 inch: 10 x 260

Sunday: started just after 9 am. 84 F, 80 percent humidity. There was some cloud cover.
To Bradley Park, out and back, then two loops where I did the upper park loop with a double back on the “middle” road, down to the start of Cornstalk, then along the bottom of the hill to the Bridge and up to Dog Park hill, one lower loop, one mini loop. Garmin got 10.15 miles; “course correction got 10.51 so we’ll call it 10.3 in 2:49:08, or 16:25. I did NOT go fast, and my stepson’s friend got a photo of me. No, my support knee was not straight.

Damn, I am really bad at what I do (in terms of sports/fitness)

Baseball:

Well, I caught games on Wednesday, (solo), Thursday (Lynn), Saturday (Tracy), Sunday (solo)

The opponent was the West Michigan Whitecaps, who lead the Eastern Division. And yes, they are good.

Wednesday’s game: a rout. The Whitecaps got out of a 9-0 lead and cruised to 9-4 win. Few were there due to the heat.

Thursday: The Whitecaps got out to a 5-0 lead after 2, and I thought “this one is over.” But the Whitecaps would not score again, and the Chiefs rallied with 3 in the 3’rd and again in the 5’th and then got some insurance to win 9-5. That might have been the finest game of the season: Arias threw two shut out innings to close.

Saturday: we got there late to see the Chiefs lose 8-3 on a game that was postponed due to lightning on Friday. The 3 runs cam in the 9th.

Then came the second 7 inning game. The starter for the Chiefs struggled just a bit in the first but only gave up 1 run. Then he was on fire for the next 4 innings. On the other hand, the Whitecaps starter was fire for the first 4 and then wilted in the 5’th. The Chiefs rocked the starter for 4 runs in the 5’th and picked up 2 more in the 6’th to breeze 6-1 in what was their best game to day, surpassing Thursday’s win.

Sunday: this one was a sloppy game: 5 errors between the two teams, plus several “not on the score sheet” errors. But this also featured some spectacular plays too (unassisted double play by the Whitecaps first baseman off of a line drive, a running catch in deep right center). It was 5-1 Whitecaps going into the 6’th when the Chiefs rallied to tie the game. But the Whitecaps came back with 2 (off of a big home run to left center) in the 7’th, and the Chiefs made up 1. But they could get no closer.
Very entertaining game though.

Note: some of the Chiefs officials appeared to be confused at the company I kept. Barbara was scheduled to go both on Thursday and Saturday, but did not feel up to it. She made Tuesday’s game though.

Acceptance

Fact: the day after a longer walk, I cannot work my legs hard.
So, today, it was an easy one:
straight bar deadlifts (more for fun than anything else)
10 x 134 low trap bar
10 x 134 straight bar
6 x 224 straight bar (did not want to push it: left hamstring)
5 x 234 wagon wheel (surprisingly hard)
5 x 234 wagon wheel (easier)

I’ve noticed this: a 4 inch handle trap bar deadlift is easier than low handle, but the wagon wheel (which provides a 4.2 inch advantage) doesn’t really feel that much easier than the regular height.
Then, during a break in the rain, an easy 5k walk at 16:27 mpm.

A ridiculous walk

My Garmin got it at 10.06 so let’s call it 10.2 (just a hair over 16 minute miles). It POURED…rain, rain, rain. On the “out leg” I did an extended West Peoria Cemetery loop (with the big hill). On the back, I did an extra mini campus loop to get to 10.

The feet hurt just a bit but that was about it. I was waterlogged throughout.

This was my 10’th 10 mile walk of this season (which started after I got through that annoying knee-ache period). Now, I should bump it up a couple of miles to get ready for September.