From Long Run to Longevity: The Benefits of Middle Age

It would be objectively preposterous for me to say that getting older is fun. Or desirable. Or in any way what I want to be doing. But, of course, time stops for no one, and embracing the aging process may just make it more bearable…dare I say even borderline fun?

The concept of longevity has been on my mind a lot recently. The older I get, the clearer it is to me that health is not determined solely by the number of miles run, but rather by a diligent and consistent focus on multiple areas of wellness. I have been a runner for my entire life (well, at least since kindergarten!). I dare say that I’m lucky because running comes naturally to me. My body seems to respond well to it, I rarely get injured (knock on wood), and – at least back in my prime – I was quite good at it. And aside from a few brief hiatuses, I have kept a consistent routine of miles throughout my adult life. I’m not as fast as I once was, but my aerobic fitness is objectively excellent.

They say age is just a number. Well, yes, it’s true that it is possible to still be strong, vibrant, and fit well into your later decades. But there is also a certain amount of inevitable physical degradation that occurs as we age, from a natural decline in muscle and bone mass to decreased efficiency in organ function to changes in skin and hair. These are changes we can’t avoid entirely, but I would argue that how you choose to deal with these changes says a lot about how well you will age. And aging not only gracefully but well involves a commitment to a lot of things: healthy eating, good quality and sufficient sleep, maintaining a handle on stress levels, and maintaining your fitness – cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, mobility, etc.

No Debbie Downer here, believe it or not. My point is actually made in quite the opposite tone – that of motivated optimism. Because here I sit in my…early…40’s and feel in many ways fitter and healthier than I did in my 20’s. Sure, I could run 10 miles on a lark when I was 21, often after a (very) late night of barhopping. And sure, I could eat a diet consisting largely of fried appetizers and late-night pizzas and ward off weight gain with only occasional jogs or sporadic gym visits. And now? Now that 11pm sounds really late to be up, and I derive far more satisfaction from cooking a meal that’s both healthy and palatable to my kids than I do from fried food indulgences, now I would take on my 20-something self in a Fight Club scenario with no hesitation.

I love running for so many reasons, including the fact that it doesn’t discriminate for age. If I train in a healthy, sustainable way, it is entirely feasible that I’ll still be running in my 80’s. Running is a long-term relationship, an indefinite commitment, and each of us will experience different seasons over the course of our running career. Back when I was haphazardly training for races when it suited my social schedule, I could do one big old long run and call it a day. My training schedule was far more reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock painting that a carefully-constructed plan. I ran quite simply because I was good at it, I’d always been good at it, and it had become part of my identity. There wasn’t a lot of conscious though going on about the health benefits of running, trust me. I ran to be fast and I ran to finish races.

Fast-forward 20 odd years and my mileage has increased, my racing frequency has diminished, and my reasons for pounding that pavement have shifted. Now I run because it makes me happy, because it offers me a brief respite from the stresses of daily life, and because running is one piece of a bigger healthy lifestyle puzzle. I run because, in many ways, my life depends on it. But making those miles count involves complementing that aerobic output with a concerted focus on strength training, on mobility and proprioception, on training ALL of my muscles, not just those heavily involved in endurance running.

Part of adulting is coping with and eventually accepting those major milestones we may or may not have seen coming. My mother died at a relatively young age from Lewy Body Dementia, a type of dementia I had never even heard of before her diagnosis. You better believe her passing had a profound impact on how I viewed my remaining years, how I wanted to approach my health through a commitment to sustainable habits. On a happier but still complex note, I became a mother myself at the age of 32. I love my kids more than life itself, but being a new mother was unexpectedly and sharply lonely, identity-stripping, and terrifying. Running post-partum helped me find my identity again. And today, as I grapple with everything life seems to throw at us – the news, politics, rising costs, etc. – I find solace in running and pushing myself to be stronger and ever more capable. The knowledge that I am doing something for my health, that I am challenging my body and mind, helps me keep my stress levels in check and focused on what I can actually control instead of spiraling over world events.

Running is now far more about longevity and maintaining the building blocks of a healthy life than it is about conquering that long run or hitting a PR pace. It is life-long commitment that must be accompanied by a firm and unwavering dedication to every aspect of your health. Strong lungs are at their best when complimented by a strong core. And 8 hours of sleep each night isn’t going to extend your lifespan if you are suffering from debilitating chronic stress. Because a healthy body is best served by a healthy mind - and vice versa.