I laced up my running shoes, stretched my legs, arms, calves, neck, and my back while Dierks Bentley’s “Gold” played loudly in my Apple AirPods Pro.
I opened the door to the yellow, 2-story house where the smell of the ocean a block away touched my nose and the 81-degree humid heat sank into my skin at 7:30 am.
Today’s run would be on Anna Maria Island, Florida — a 7-mile-long barrier island just off the coast of Bradenton and Sarasota.
It would be a hot run over the next hour. My only decision now was whether to run on the beach or on the boardwalk parallel to the beach. How about both?
That’s the joy of running and why I still do it 5 to 6 days a week at age 55. I’ve played ice hockey and baseball for most of my life and running is the most individualized sport and form of exercise on planet Earth. I dictate where I want to run that day, how fast or slow I want to go, whether I want to run hills or a flat surface, or if I want to sing my playlist out loud or just think life over in my head and play the music low.
Today, I want to sing that playlist loud as ever!
Why do I run? The answers are simple: Fitness, mind, health, clarity, confidence, adventure, the love for nature, the love for life.
I’ve been 3 different types of runner in my life. In my teens it was strictly for competitive purposes while running cross country and track in high school. I ran with purpose. Ten-mile practice runs were easy, even in blazing heat. Our 3-mile meets were simple. In my 20s and 30s it was strictly for fitness and running 5k and 10k races. I ran just to run. For practice I would run 3-5 miles a day.
That sounds strange to me now, but I really did just “run to run.” But now — I run because it’s life-changing, an adventure, and a learning experience for me. That’s me as a runner now.
Granted the majority of my runs are on flat surface through my subdivision in Chesterfield Township, MI. I know the routes that I take like the back of my hand because I’ve done them so many times. And they all measure between 2.2 and 3.5 miles. I’ve memorized the landscaping of every house and lot in the neighborhood. I know which dogs to pet and which ones to stay away from. I’ll never forget the little yappy french bulldog on Dorner Lake Street that chased me down the sidewalk nipping at my feet. Once I was a house away, I turned around and crouched down. The dog approached me cautiously as I held out my hand while it barked. He came close enough for me to pet the top of his head.
I still avoid running in front of yappy dog’s house though. And he still barks at me every time that I run past his house on the opposite side of the street.
I travel often on business and my wife and I take 2-3 vacations per year. So, whenever I travel, I go running. I make it part of that business trip or part of that vacation. I’ve run in Nuremberg, Florence, Italy, Barcelona, Granada, Amsterdam, and U.S. cities like Orlando, Annapolis, National Harbor, Denver, Traverse City — too many to count.
That’s why I love running when I travel. I take in the beautiful views of the oceans, mountains, valleys, canals, bustling downtown, or whatever it may be. I breathe in the salty ocean smell, the crisp mountain air, the cool freshwater lake smell, the smell of freshly mown grass, or the engine exhaust smell on the streets of Washington D.C. (that’s the worst smell, except cigarette and weed smoke is a close second).
Despite some unpleasant odors, Washington D.C. is one of my favorite places to run. I travel there about 3-4 times per year on business and always fit in a couple runs. Running the National Mall, which features several Smithsonian museums, the Lincoln Memorial, U.S. Capitol building, Washington Monument, and the World War 2 monument is one of my favorite. I’ve passed so many runners on the Mall, been passed by so many runners, and joined alongside so many runners.
For runners, it’s like that. It’s a shared, cohesive, mindset for athletes who share mutual suffering. There’s a bond created between runners and training partners. The more energy that other runners create, the more it gives you and it becomes this symbiotic relationship. Runners wave to other runners as they pass by; they give encouraging words; they cheer each other on. You definitely feel this on race days at 5k and 10k events.
I stopped running in my mid-thirties and thought that was it. I would never run again. It was too painful, too exhausting, too overwhelming. While I continued playing ice hockey, I married my wife, Sue, at 38 and started having the time of my life. I gained 60 pounds, threw away any sense of diet and exercise and lived like I was dying.
Then then pandemic came in 2020. I had a physical exam with my doctor, was way overweight, had high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. I needed to make life changes.
Everything that I ate changed. I started (and continue to this day) the Mediterranean Diet. And I started running again.
There is no end to what people can do no matter the age, and I had to keep this in my mind everyday. The weight went on over 12 years and it wouldn’t come off in a week. I could do this, but it would take dedication.
Fifteen years after hanging up my running shoes, I laced up a new pair. I stretched my legs, calves, arms, back. I walked outside and started doing a slow jog.
Thirty seconds later I was huffing and puffing and began walking. I was completely out of breath. But I needed to keep with it. I ran for 30 seconds more and walked for a minute and continued that for one mile. I did that 5 times that week.
The next week I ran for one minute and walked for 30 seconds and repeated that for one mile. For 5 consecutive days I did that. The next week I ran for 2 minutes and walked for 30 seconds and continued that for 2 miles.
This progress and development continued to evolve until I was eventually able to run 3 miles without stopping, which was about 2 months after I started running. Four months later I ran a 5k race at Blakes Farms in Armada, MI, and finished it in 39:55. Since then I’ve run ten 5k races and each finishing time has been better than the other.
And I lost 40 pounds, my blood sugar went way down, and my blood pressure improved dramatically. Fat Tom was no more. I got a completely new wardrobe. My pants and shorts went down 4 sizes. My shirts went from X-large to Medium.
Since I started running again, I’ve realized that age is just a number. It’s incredible what athletes can do. People continue to defy it and through proper training and fitness they can compete at the highest level at sports.
Hockey legends Gordie Howe played until he was 52, Chris Chelios played until he was 48, and Jaromir Jagr was 45 when he retired. One of my Major League Baseball idols was Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who retired at 46. Incredibly, he was the 20th youngest of the oldest people ever to play in the MLB. Legendary Pitcher Satchel Page owns that distinction, having played until he was 59! Most recently, the NFL’s greatest quarterback ever — Tom Brady — retired at age 45.
Closer to home, I look at the top finishing times in the 5k races that I run in. Sure, some of the top finishers are in their late teens or early twenties, but most are in their 50s, 60s, or even 70s. In one of the recent Blake’s Farm 5k races where I ran, the third place overall men’s runner finished in 19 minutes and he was 63 years old! To give you the idea of his speed, I typically run 3 miles in 30-31 minutes and that’s probably pretty average for a 55 year-old guy who’s 20 pounds overweight.
Since I began my goal of running 5-6 days per week, I’ve realized that you can never start things too late in life. Through my training, I subscribe to a program called iFit, which has professional trainers on video who guide me on my treadmill at home or on the iFit app on my iPhone where I can listen to the trainers give motivation through my AirPods.
One of those iFit trainers is the incredible, ultra-marathoner Tommy Rivs Puzey. He’s run in hundreds and hundreds of extreme competition races and even in the U.S. Olympic trials. Incredibly, during the 2020 pandemic, he survived from a raging, rare form of cancer and pushed his body to the limits to be able to recover and continue as a trainer on the iFit platform. He even raced in the 2023 Boston Marathon and the 2022 New York City Marathon.
In one of my favorite workouts with him where he ran in the Swiss Alps, Tommy Rivs said this.
“Our bodies are incredibly adaptive. We have to start somewhere and slowly put in the time. It’s successive. It’s like math or learning to read. You can’t just jump into it. You have to literally start with the basics — basic alphabet and the basic number system. That’s what we’re doing – building strength and durability. It’s successive.”
He continued. “We go one step after another. It’s never too late to become what you’ve wanted to be. It doesn’t matter whether it’s academic, career, or professional. Doesn’t matter if it’s a physical achievement or musical instrument that you want to learn. When people say it’s impossible to do it and you’ve lost your window that’s an absolute 100% lie.”
That is so true. A few years into my wife, Sue’s breast cancer battle over the last 8 years, the breast cancer went to her brain (you can read about her breast cancer battle and amazing survival in my three-part blog series). We didn’t know if that was her end. But a brain surgeon removed the tumor and after rehabilitation, she was able to adapt and heal and do almost everything physically as well as before her brain tumor. While she may not run again, she does aerobic exercises several times per week. She can walk just as far as the average person even with a weak ankle and sometimes floppy foot. She’s walked the halls and steps of the Coliseum in Rome, the cobblestone streets of Florence, Italy, slippery rocks near a waterfall and mud baths in St. Lucia, and the squishy sandy beaches in Florida.
“Sometimes that progression takes a while to get back to, but with hard work, we eventually get back,” Tommy Rivs said. “Find a goal, create a plan and work relentlessly until you’ve achieved that plan. Anything is possible. Make a goal, create a plan, and then start doing it.”
Tommy Rivs continued: “The key, though, is to find something that you really want, earn that fitness, develop your strengths, learn those new talents and skills. You have to lay that infrastructure and that takes time. Don’t lose sight of that goal. Avoid people who try to belittle your ambitions — don’t hang around them. Don’t listen to them and tell them to get lost. Silence those voices.”
Because of the teachings and motivation from Tommy Rivs and some of the other wonderful iFit trainers like athletes John Peel, Casey Gilbert, Hannah Eden, Stacey Clark, and about 40 other trainers whom I’ve trained with in the fitness program, I’ve found that my running training is transformative. We can become something completely new, completely reformed. and there’s nothing better than that.
Fitness-wise, whatever your goal is, continue working, climbing, riding, running, rising day by day, and using that same process that has gotten you this far.
Running for me became a life-changing experience. Now when I run, I don’t care about getting the best time. I make it an awesome experience. I say hello and flash a smile to almost every stranger who I pass by. I stop to pet a dog being walked by its owner. I stop while running on the beach to pick up some seashells that catch my eye. While running on the sidewalk, I’ll pick up a worm struggling to move and drying in the heat, then toss it into the grass to help give it life.
For me, running has been transformative and a life-changing experience where I look for the next adventure. I’m not out to win a marathon or even a 5k or 10k race. God — just keep me healthy enough and keep my bodily structures strong enough that I can hopefully do this for another 15 to 20 years.
