350 Races - That’s a Lot of Miles

I didn’t set out on my 60th birthday intending to set goals with any specific # of races to run. It’s really something that has evolved over time. I ran 60 minutes at Red Rocks Park on my 60th birthday in Colorado Springs not knowing that was the first step to 350. After 350, who knows? The first race I ran after turning 60 was the America Discovery Trail half marathon. I had worked my way up to running 12 miles on the treadmill at work so figured I could do a half. Sometime after that race I was running at Palmer Park and looking at Pikes Peak and somehow convinced myself that I was going to train on trails and try to run the Ascent in 2009. I had run it for the first and last time in 1986 the year after I moved toColorado Springs.

I barely made the cutoff for the Ascent and you can see from the picture how exhausted I was at the top but that didn’t discourage me from continuing to race. At some point after that race I found a website that allowed you to signup and track 25 half marathons in 25 different states and that is probably when some of these number of race goals started taking shape. When I reached that goal I then decided that maybe I would try to do a half in all fifty states. That goal had to be readjusted to just doing a race of any distance in all to states or at least the 48 continental states. Half’s had simply become to hard as I got older and started having health issues. I had made up my mind that if I ran over three hours for a half then I would stop racing half’s. At the Ventura I ran 2:59+ so I figured the end of half’s was near. I wound up doing one more in Salem, Oregon it was over three hours so I said I was done with half’s. That was the Willamette Valley Half in 2018 and I ran 3:07.6 my notes say, “Not prepared for a half” and that was an understatement but that wasn’t the worst example of racing unprepared, that was yet to come.

By this time I was only doing races of 10K or less while working towards my goal of racing in every state. However for some crazy reason I felt that I still had some longer efforts in me. I signed up for two trail races in April 2019 and that’s when I found out that the wheels were really coming off. The first was the Ozark Foothills 25K in St. Louis while I was visiting the kids. My notes from that race made it clear that it was a poor decision. “Very technical and muddy course. Only two aid stations. Climbed into mid 70’s by the time I finished. Hardest race I’ve ever done. Poorly prepared. Underestimated the course and overestimated myself. Two falls and then basically walked the rest. 6:54.20. (The cutoff was 7 hours). Finally got my DFL!” I was supposed to go to Chase’s lacrosse game with him and Tom but literally was too tired to attempt driving home much less getting cleaned up. When I was finally able to muster the energy I drove to the house and then literally had to sit on the top step for an hour before I was able to walk downstairs to clean up. I didn’t realize it at the time but that race showed just how much my health was deteriorating. It would be another year before I finally had the reason.

The next race I had signed up for was three weeks later a trail half marathon in Tijeras, New Mexico I was still so beat up from the 25K that I wound up not doing the race. As it turned out I wouldn’t race again until late May when I raced twice in three days 3.5 trail race in Aguilar on the 25th and then the Bolder Boulder 10K on the 27th. The I raced 6 times in June and 3 in July back in Oregon. That put me at 36 races since turning 70. At the end of 2019 I would finish with 303 races since turning 60 and 52 since turning 70 moving ahead with no specific number goals but knowing that I wanted to keep going..

2020 was the year that turned things upside down. Coronavirus did it for the world and all racing pretty much became virtual starting in April. I did three in person races before everything shut down and one more in person in September. I also did 13 virtual races including a couple we tried to do as “Virtual Reunion Runs” trying to keep everyone somewhat motivated. The biggest thing that happened in May was when I finally received a diagnosis for why my health seemed to be deteriorating. I was diagnosed with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinurea PNH, the most rare blood disorder that there is. My own bone marrow attacks and destroys my red blood cells. Less red blood cells = less oxygen production. And you can imagine what less oxygen does to fitness. I ended 2020 with a reason for my fitness struggles, 319 races since turning 60 and 68 since turning 70. 

2021 was the least productive of all. I only did 9 total races including 3 virtual but I did manage to run a 5K in St. Joseph, Michigan and get my 40th state. In 2022 I was able to increase the number of races again and ran a total of 19 including states 41 to 44. Fitness wise I had reached the point where my racing was simply trying to walk as fast as possible and that’s where I find myself today, 3-13-23 just trying to get out there and race despite how much more difficult it has become. ‘22 ended with 347 since 60 and 96 since 70. 

I struggle now making a decision to race or not and that’s almost more difficult than the actual race itself. I sign up race day now because otherwise it’s pretty much gambling with the entry fee. My next race will be 100 since turning 70 so I want to get that one and then see where I can go from there. (I did sign up for a race in Colorado Springs in May because it sells out and we’re going to do Take Five in the Garden as a reunion Run.) Milestones after 350 and 100 only time will tell. 

I managed to get 349 and 350 both this week by doing an Oregon Track Club monthly race on Thursday and the Run for the Shamrock 5K on Saturday. 

What’s ahead? Only time will tell!