I’ve been stepping back a bit, observing what is happening in the running world around me. Particularly, changes I see in challenges senior runners are taking on. And more particularly, that I am seeing runners who have invested their time and training in distance running, now trying out some track competition.

I’ve observed this phenomenon among friends and local runners as well as commentary on blogs and social media sites.

I took on this challenge myself about four years ago, thinking that maybe in my 70’s it would be prudent to develop some understanding of track competition, assuming marathons and 50 K’s might be more than I could handle. Now, I still have so much to learn. I pretty much go out and train, doing repeats at short distances, then just run as fast as I can in races. No strategy, just run. Yes, I have so much to learn.

And, like many of my fellow seniors who have returned to, or just discovered, the track, I haven’t given up on distance running. Let me provide some examples:

At the recent National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, several friends joined in track events for the first time, several of them still doing marathons and half-marathons. Not surprisingly for my dedicated and competitive friends, they all placed in the top three of their age groups, and sometimes placing first. Lee, my 92-year old running and breakfast buddy, ran multiple events and placed well in all of them.

The next week we ran the Harrisburg Mile with first place age group finishes by Clare (AG 65-69), Kathy (AG 60-64), and Michelle (AG 50-54). I hung on with a second place AG finish against an incredible 73-year old.

The summer of track continued on. Take for instance my 75-79 age group. While I didn’t attend or participate in the 2023 USATF Masters Track & Field National Championships in Greensboro NC in late July, some senior distance runners new to the track wasted no time breaking records. The phenomenal 75-year old Jeannie Rice who ran a 3:33:15 time at the 2023 Boston Marathon pulled out three world records on the track in Greensboro with a 22:41:46 5000m, 6:14:88 in the 1500 meter and 1:27:90 for the 400 meter. As I understand, this was her first experience competing in track. In that 5K, Nancy Rollins, who has a history placing well in both marathon distances and track distances, placed second.

Whether or not you run for the competition, for the friendships, for your health or any other reason, here is my question for you:

Have you tried training for both distance (10 miles or longer) and track events? If so, did you run track early in your running career or are you starting fresh as a senior runner?