I frequently hear from people that all my running is going to ruin my body.  I don’t believe it.  And I think the latest scientific studies would back up my contention that keeping active is the key to living a long time.  Where are the studies saying life long runners have more health problems than non-runners?

While it is just anecdotal evidence, I do find inspiration by people like Ed Whitlock who at the age of 82 continues to compete in races.  In fact, he recently ran a 7:01 mile which was just 30 seconds off the world record for that distance for a person over 80.  Most impressive however, is his 3:15:54 time in the marathon for a person over the age of 80.  That’s faster than I can do right now.  ugh.

Now, if I learned that running would somehow hurt me in the future I might reconsider the number of miles I put on.  But all the data I’ve seen thus far suggests that it is just the opposite.  Running is good for you.  So, I’m going to keep doing it.

I wonder how fast I’ll be at 80.  I’ve always said that if I just keep the pace that I’m doing now, I’ll be competitive by the time I’m 80.  Of course, Ed Whitlock suggests that maybe that’s not true.

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