How can I learn to run happy, even faster, and for many, many more years?
Apparently, be like a cool baboon.
This might seem like an odd mantra to adopt for marathon training, but if it works for a 95-year-old who set 400 world records as a masters’ athlete since taking up track and field in her late 70s, who am I to argue?
This week I had the pleasure to hear a lecture by Bruce Grierson, who has documented the ‘secret’ of how retired Vancouver school teacher Olga Kotelko became a competitive athlete in her golden years, earning her weight in gold medals.
When Bruce said this 90-plus gal performed more like a 55- or 60-year-old , I sat up straighter in my seat.
Good Lord, I feel like a 90-year-old when I run. Maybe our karmas got swapped somewhere in the cosmos.
When Bruce first met Olga over a cup of tea some years ago, the two of them hit it off. The 47-year-old and the petite woman who grew up on a Saskatchewan farm and fled an abusive husband in the middle of the night as a pregnant young mother decided that together they’d explore ‘What Makes Olga Run.”
Bruce accompanied Olga to competitions as well as to medical research facilities where scientists hoped to learn more about whether she was simply blessed with good genes or there was something more.
Grieson’s book explains the “more.”
Sitting in the crowd of about 300 in a UVic auditorium, I leaned forward in my front row seat to listen to Olga’s story and like those around me wondered - was it what she ate? Her training? Amount of sleep?
Certainly Olga had the benefit of good genes, but her 10 siblings and parents didn’t live as long or with the vibrant athletic strength that she did.
Grierson recalled the time the two of them, after a visit to a US medical institute for tests, were headed to the security check-point where you remove your shoes and walk through a full-body scanner. Bruce dutifully removed his footwear.
Olga didn’t, pointing to a sign that said those over age 75 were exempt, and proceeded toward the machine where she was stopped by an official. Asking how old she was, Olga replied “93.”
The agent looked her and blurted out “You’re shitting me,” before asking her again how old she was. And what was her secret.
“Enjoy life,” she said. Whereupon, the agent paused, smiled, gestured towards a person in the near distance, no doubt her boss, and said “I quit!”
Which brings me to Bruce’s 'seven rules' for optimal aging that sum up the research and observations chronicled in his book.
Rule 1: Keep Moving. Olga couldn’t sit still for more than 30 minutes. On long flights when she and Bruce were on a book tour, she’d be in the galley doing stretches or walking up and down the aisles.
Rule 2: Create Routines Then Break Them. Routines are related to success in all sorts of endeavours. Committing the mundane in our lives to routines, opens up other time and capacity for brilliance.
Rule 3: Be Opportunistic. I already knew this from Dean, a wise, veteran runner buddy of mine. Manage your energy wisely. Listen to the your body. Conserve your energy when it makes sense to do so.
Rule 4: Be a Mensch. Help others, be kind. Don’t be so caught up in being the Alpha baboon. Be the cool, laid back one, helpful. Research showed those baboons had dramatically lower markers for stress in their bodies and lived longer.
Rule 5. Believe in Something. Olga had strong Catholic faith. She believed her life had purpose.
Rule 6. Lighten Up. I like this one because I need to remember it in all parts of my life, not just in recovering from a running injury or attempting a marathon. As Bruce writes in our short lives: “there really is no time for grumbling.”
Rule 7: Cultivate a Sense of Progress. Study after study shows that we need to feel that we’re improving, if only by the smallest amounts. But we can also adjust our expectations. I took up running late enough in life that I know I’ll never have a podium time, even for my age group, but I can make improvements on how I am this month, this year, given my challenges with injuries. Hell, at least I’m running again, which I wasn’t six months ago.
Rule 8: Don’t Do it if You Don’t Love it. This should be fun. That doesn’t mean it won’t be tough. But if you’re not smiling at some point during or after, then it’s not worth it.
Rule 9: Begin Now.
Thanks Bruce, and thanks to Olga, who sadly died on June 21 in West Vancouver. She didn’t wear out. In fact, I believe she saw a new starting line waiting for her.
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