One of the great things about running is that it provides competitive opportunities for people of all ages. Road races often have five-year age groups, sometimes up to 80 years and older, which makes it possible for a good runner of any age to be successful and achieve recognition. Area age group aces like Patrick Griffith and Sharon Dolan are local celebrities, and are as well-known and respected as the overall winners. Coping with aging is not easy for a runner, though, and requires some adjustments.

For the young runner, racing is an expanding world of opportunity. Given steady training the runner will make rapid progress, just through the process of attaining physical maturity. Up to about the ages of 25-30 the times just get faster and faster. (For runners who start training seriously at a later age, this time lasts until about five years after beginning serious training.) Some time around age 30 it eventually becomes clear that the times are no longer getting faster. Hard effort seems to produce no positive results, and may even result in slower times. This often causes the runner to change training methods, change coaches, or otherwise shake things up, usually with only negative consequences. The fact is, this initial time of plateau and decline is natural and inevitable, and is the runner's first hint of mortality. Aging gracefully requires accepting the inevitability of decline, and making the best of it.

For any runner 35 years or older, there are a number of useful tips that can help the runner enjoy racing as an older runner. Here are some of the things that I have personally found useful:

1. Beginning with the age group 35-39, keep PRs for every five-year age group. Sure, you may not be able to run what you did when you were 28, but don't beat yourself up about it. Instead take pride in setting age group bests.

2. Realize that if you run as fast as you did the year before, that is a significant achievement. If you run faster than the year before, then you should be just as excited and pleased as if you had run your all-time PR. If you run slightly slower than the year before, that is still pretty good.

3. Count how many people older than you finished in front of you. For an older runner, that can be very encouraging if there are not very many. If you beat everybody older than you, that is an achievement comparable to a 27-year-old winning the race overall.

4. Realize that you may have to run fewer miles in training, and/or you may have to train at a slower pace. You also may have to take more days off. If you are always breaking down, then that is a signal that you may have to back off some. This is the hardest thing for older runners to accept, but the most important.

5. Variety can be refreshing. If you are going to race for 50 to 60 years, then you may not want to do the same kind of racing the entire time. For example, I concentrated on track and cross-country as a high school and college runner, moved to road racing in my 20's, tried my hand at marathons, went back to track racing when I was in my 40's, and now have returned exclusively to road racing. If my body hangs together I hope to run one more marathon about five years from now. I think it would be cool to run marathons 30 years apart (my last one was in 1980 at Boston). I also hope to do some more track racing when I hit 55 years old. This kind of variety introduces fresh challenges and makes competition interesting.

6. Stretch more. When I was younger I stretched very little, but now I stretch once or twice a day. What I am doing is really "loosening" rather than stretching, and I don't work my stretches very hard.

7. Be more careful with injuries. The older body doesn't recover as fast, so it is a good idea to rest when aches and pains become a problem, and to give your body more days to recover.

8. Reward races that include your age group. If you are 49, don't go to races with a ten-year 40-49 age group. Instead reward a race that has a 45-49 group. If you are 74, don't go to a race that has a 60 and up category as its oldest age group. This does two things--it gives you a chance to be successful competitively, and it encourages race directors to pay more attention to their age group runners.

9. Cross-train. Using some alternative exercises such as biking and swimming can take some of the stress off your legs, and also help prepare you for the day when you can no longer run.

10. Make sure to include some weight work and resistance work. People lose muscle mass and bone density as they age, and weight work helps to counteract this. Heavy-duty weight training is not necessary. For example, I do pushups, crunches, and work with dumbbells for upper body conditioning. Hill training can be used for lower body conditioning.

After 40 years of running, I am much slower than I was in my prime as an open runner, but I still enjoy competing as much as ever. If you maintain realistic expectations and make some necessary adjustments, you can experience satisfying competition for many, many years.

Roland Rust coaches a handful of dedicated runners. (His coaching and running resume can be found at Rust Resume.) Roland can be contacted at E-mail.