Fit after 50: Getting Up and Running Physically, Mentally, and Professionally

By Ruth K. Wassinger

Written by a woman who began running marathons at 50 years old, this inspirational guide describes the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of exercise. It confronts the problem of obesity today—nearly 60 percent of Americans are overweight—and emphasizes that weight control becomes an even greater challenge with age. But as this handbook asserts, it's never too late to get fit. In nine easy-to-follow steps, the mechanics of an exercise program are clearly explained to help fitness first-timers devise their own regimens and become healthier in all areas of life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Sep 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781938803307

Book preview

Introduction

The best way to introduce this book is to state what it is not. It is not a book written by a person who has committed a lifetime to being either an athlete or a trainer. No, this book is written by a wife, mother, former teacher, and current financial planner who, at age fifty, discovered a new focus. This focus is a passion for running.

My early-morning training runs became my time to clear my mind by listening to nature and connecting with God. Running allowed me to clean the cobwebs out of my head, and caused my body to start feeling better than ever. It increased my confidence in my ability to lead and succeed in my career. Because my mind was set free, I felt more creative and positive than I ever had in my entire life.

Fit after 50 is written for you, whether you’re actually over fifty or not. It’s both my personal story and a simple, nine-step guide to follow to help you feel more fit and more confident in all areas of your life. It’s never too late to tone your body and your mind. You don’t have to be a marathon runner to enjoy both the physical and the mental benefits of running.

For me, running has been the catalyst to my becoming a better wife, mother, public servant, leader, and financial professional. Handling the day-to-day challenges that each of us faces is no different from running during a rainstorm or up a steep hill. It’s all about taking it one day at a time.

My wish for each of you is to make you feel good about the person that you are and the person that you will become through the hands-on, practical process of transitioning from a spectator to a full participant in life.

At mile 20 I thought I was dead.

At mile 22 I wished I were dead.

At mile 24 I knew I was dead.

At mile 26.2 I realized I had

become too tough to die!

1

Yes, You Can!

Itell people who inquire about my running history that I was born too early. While I was attending Friend High School, in Friend, Nebraska, from 1964 to 1968, there were no women’s athletics. Girls participated in a Pep Club, the cheering squad for the boys’ sporting events. Girls were not given equal status in athletics until Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This thirty-seven-word law enacted on June 23, 1972, states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefit of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Given my lack of physical prowess in high school, maybe girls’ sports teams wouldn’t have made a difference in my athletic development. Then again, maybe working with an encouraging and skilled coach would have been just what I needed. All I know is that was then and this is now. I know you can begin running after age fifty and achieve success.

Success is doing what you have set your mind to do. Some women say that they are too old to run. I say: Begin by walking. Walking is great exercise. Pump your arms and walk with assertion. Walking with a brisk step will challenge you. Your heartbeat will increase and you will start to sweat. When you feel like running, run a few feet and then return to walking. Ease into running. Find a friend who would like to run with you. You will be accountable to each other and be disciplined to work out together.

When I started running I observed the other women running and their running moxie. I could tell those who had run for years just by their competitive spirit. When I first started running I was amazed at how fast some of these women ran. But I knew that I needed to be concerned with only one runner. That runner was me. I knew that I was running to improve my health and to stay in shape. Because I like to eat, I was also running so that I could burn off those calories and continue to enjoy eating!

My husband, Richard, has been an athlete all of his life. He knows the psychology of competitiveness. Early on when I started running, he would remind me that I was competing against myself and no one else. If I ran a ten-minute mile, that was all right because other runners had more experience than I did. As I continued to enter races, I became more and more comfortable with the competition.

It’s Never Too Late to Start

It is never too late to begin running. Runners are a nurturing, encouraging group of people. If you have a running trail or a city park that you choose as your running route, you will find that there is room for one more person, you. Runners greet each other with a head nod or a quick Hi. Each person is there to enjoy running. Runners are positive people. If you run or walk at a certain time, you will see the same people on a daily basis. When one of you misses a day, the next time you will probably ask or be asked Where were you? You will start forming a bond with people whose names you don’t even know.

Part of my morning run is through a park. Two retired gentlemen are there every day. One rides a bicycle and the other one walks, sometimes using a walking stick. We look forward to seeing each other and usually joke or tease each other. If they haven’t seen me, they will ask the usual question, Where have you been? My reply often is that I had to run really, really early to accommodate my work schedule.

Sometimes women are self-conscious about what other people will think. Don’t worry about them. You are doing this for you. Running is working out. Instead of being at the gym, you’re out in nature.

Don’t worry about your makeup and hair. I’ve seen women at the starting line of races with great hairdos and makeup, but most women don’t bother much with these when they’re running. When you are running or entering a race you are going to sweat. Your makeup is going to melt. So when you’re running, don’t worry about this aspect of your appearance. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let it stand in the way of your running. When you finish your run or race, you will have an incredible glow. Your facial coloring will be that of a person who got a great workout.

The Fifties: A Perfect Time to Start Running

Fifty is such a perfect age to start running because you don’t have as many excuses.

Young mothers raising a family have an obligation to their families and also to themselves. Finding the time to work out can be challenging for them. Later in life, many women are in the sandwich generation. They have children as well as elderly parents, and are responsible for some aspect of their care. But many women fifty and older are likely to be empty nesters. If they have children at home, the children are probably old enough to care for themselves. This gives many women fifty and over an excellent opportunity to be able to run.

The number one reason that people tell me that they don’t run is that they don’t have the time. But we all do what we want to do when we want to do it! It’s as simple as that. We prioritize.

You are about to embark on the most incredible sweeping of your mind experience through running. Running is going to help minimize your stress because it will help you clear your mind. Running is your time.

You will be cleaning the cobwebs out of your brain. You’ll find yourself coming up with solutions to problems—both professional and personal—that you have had on your mind. Several times when I have been perplexed by a problem involving a client, as I’m running, something in my mind clicks. The solution to the problem becomes so obvious.

Change Your Attitude, Change Your Future

In the 1960s, Roberta Gibb and Kathrine Switzer paved the road for the rest of us to run competitively, if we choose to, even in the prestigious Boston Marathon. They refused to accept the commonly held belief that women were too weak to run.

When Roberta Gibb wrote to the Boston Athletic Association in 1966 for an application, she was turned down because women were not allowed to enter. That policy had been in place since the running of the first Boston Marathon in 1897. Undaunted, Gibb went to Boston anyway, riding a bus for four days from San Diego. She slipped into the race from behind some bushes near the start of the marathon and ran the race in 3:21:40.

Even before Gibb, a few women had run marathons. In 1896, a young woman named Melpomene supposedly ran the Greek Olympic course. However, there was very little glory given to these individuals.

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer entered the Boston Marathon. Switzer completed the registration form signing her name as K.V. Switzer so as to not identify herself as a woman. The weather was cold and sleeting the morning of the Boston Marathon, and no one noticed Switzer in her baggy sweat suit. She was two miles into the race before the press truck came by and realized K.V. Switzer was a woman. The media began taking pictures and the race codirector, Jock Semple, lost his temper and attacked Switzer, trying to rip off her race number. Switzer was running with her boyfriend Tom, who threw a shoulder into Semple.

Interestingly, unknown to Switzer, Roberta Gibb was also running the Boston Marathon that year; Switzer finished the marathon almost one hour ahead of Gibb.

Switzer was banned from running any future competitions. Why? Because women were supposed to be able to run no farther than 1½ miles! Even in 1967, they were to run with a chaperone. Switzer’s objective had been to run and finish her first marathon. The photos that flashed around the world showing her in the Boston Marathon represented a monumental breakthrough for women. Millions of people realized that women could run long distances.

In response to Switzer’s achievement, Jock Semple changed the Boston Marathon application to say Men Only. However, women ran the course without getting a race number, thereby not officially entering the race.

Women would not be able to officially enter the Boston Marathon until 1972. At that time, they had to have their own starting line and were scored separately from men. Women also had to be able to finish the race in 3:30—what a difficult challenge! But on that hot day of the 1972 Boston Marathon, seven women started and finished the event. Nina Kuscski won in 3:10. She became the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon.

By 1973, women would be able to concentrate on being athletes and finally realize that they would not be scorned for looking hot and sweaty but be applauded for their athletic ability. Considering the extraordinary efforts early female runners had to make to get in the game, it’s no wonder that many women did not have the confidence to run. But the challenges that women met and overcame proved irrefutably that they were not the weaker sex. Their bodies could withstand running far more than 1½ miles.

The Sky’s the Limit!

Today, not only are there no gender restrictions for running the Boston Marathon, but age categories for runners have no limits either. Just check out a local running Web site on your computer and you will see categories for race results going as high as the age of the entrants. If someone eighty years or older enters a race, he or she will be acknowledged in that race category.

Although there are no rules that place an age restriction on running, fewer women age fifty and older enter races compared to other age categories. In 2006, my first Boston Marathon, 4 percent of the finishers were women fifty and older. Boston is the only marathon that you have to have a qualifying time to enter, so the percentage of women fifty and older finishing other marathons is higher because women who run, walk, or do a combination to finish the race will be counted.

You Can Do It!

But I don’t want you to get ahead of yourself. At this point, don’t be concerned with running a marathon. Less than 1 percent of all runners will ever complete a marathon. As a new runner, you are running purely for the joy and fun of it. If you decide to run a race (and I will encourage you to do so throughout this book), there are many lengths for races, ranging from one mile to the ultramarathons. (Yes, there are races longer than a marathon!)

I’ll never forget the look on my children’s faces when their dad, whom they had just congratulated after seeing a new trophy on the kitchen table, told them to take a harder look at the trophy. It was a female runner with a ponytail. Mom’s trophy. They were shocked! I was exhilarated! Your