Age Factor in Distance Running

In Jog for Hope, the guy who came in second place came and asked me, "How old are you?". I said I was 34 and I asked him his age. 17. 17?!! Makes me feel pretty old. I'm twice his age. Haha. Never underestimate a young and unknown runners! He gave me a really good fight till I wanted to give up in certain stage. Just happy that I hanged on to him that day.

It makes you wonder in general, who is better in long distance running, older or younger runners? Your pick.

You have Haile Gebrselassie, the world record holder for marathon (2:03:59) and also Paul Tergat (who once held the WR for the distance). Both are 36 and 40 respectively now. Both are still winning races. Of late, you have the younger ones coming up, including the 2008 Olympic champion and 2009 Flora London Marathon, Samuel Wanjiru. He is only 23 this year. He ran the fastest Olympic marathon of all time with his PB of 2:06:32 and in 2009 London Marathon his own PB with a time of 2:05:10. Closing in on Gebreselassie time.

In the local running scenes, there are plenty of top veteran runners who are more than capable of beating the younger dudes. Jean Pierre Lautredoux, M Ramakrishnan and Don Khor just to name a few. Maybe this is due to the lack of younger generation nowadays who are keen in distance running, which can be considered by many, a BORING sport. Most of them traded spikes and racing flats for PSP, PS3, Xbox and Wii. Young adults would probably be more keen in signing up thousands of RM to join a fitness centre, which is more "glamour". Maybe once in a while, you will see them participating in races such as Orange Run or Shape & Mens Health Run. Other than that, hardly see them. In Singapore Marathon, you can see quite a lot of young participants in Half or the Full marathons. Why is there a big difference here in Malaysia?

I've stumbled upon this blog. This guy happens to be a politician in Sarawak. Well, it's more on Sarawak, but in general, I won't be disagreeing with him completely. I think this is happening around Malaysia and not Sarawak alone. Politicians and old hats are still running some of the sports associations and they should be given the boot if they are not performing. And it's funny when you read it especially the "sleeping" part.

http://yippeego.com/ypwordpress/?p=945

It's true that Sarawak produces a lot of volleyball, track & field and swimming in the past, but now, it is in a sorry state. I would have been chosen to run in some of the MSSM, Sukma meet if not because of their reasoning of "my time wasn't good enough". (In the past finishing first wasn't the ticket to these meets). I think most of the "old hats" are still in there in the SAAA. To tell you the truth, I'm still feeling the pain when you see your close friends in training get chosen and not you.

Now come to think of it, I should have gotten the contact of that young man who came in 2nd that day and ask whether he wants to train with me. Maybe he has his own coach, but he is good to let his talent go to waste.