Decades on the road

Last Monday, while on the finishing stretch of a morning 10k run, my second at 66 years old, a motorcycle rider slowly drove beside me, the driver asking me how old I was. He was somewhere between his mid-20's and early 30's by my estimate. Smiling, I told him I was 66 years old. He quipped back: "Bata pa ko gadagan ka na, sir, ba. Lig-on kaayo. (I've seen you running since I was young, sir. Such endurance)."

I was perhaps in my mid- to late-20's when I started running, and have gone on since that time in the mid-80's, except for a couple of years or so that I dabbled more in cycling and run much less. I have been running since my return sometime in 2005-2006.

Many times, commuting on a tricycle when I came home from the city where I worked for about 5 years or so, the driver would ask if I still ran, and tell me how I have been a common sight running along the highway most mornings. Not seeing me on my usual early morning jaunts at that time pethaps made them ask: "What the hell happened to that running guy?"

I can only smile thinking about it.

Other runners I have run with when I started, most of them younger than me, have stopped running. I have run with many others who have picked up the habit over the years. I don't see many of them on the road nowadays. The few that still do seem to be moving faster than me now, but many more have stopped.  My times have slowed down over the years. My 45-minute 10k runs when I was in my mid-50's are now done in over an hour, closer to 2 hours in fact. But I am thankful I can still do it. I can still run. Not many my age here do that.

Now that I have retired from work, and have more time to run and ride, I am doubly grateful. I am blessed, and I will continue to make my runs and my rides my songs of praise. 

1987 (?) in my early 30's.
Running a lap around the North Cotabato Provincial Capitol dirt track
to finish a 21k race during the province's anniversary celebration that year. 

1999 at 44.
Running to the finish of the 16th Davao Finisher's Marathon 26k run.

2000 at 45.

Crossing the finish of the 17th DFM. 

I did a repeat of the previous year's 26k run.

2010 at 55 years old.
At the finish of the 27th Davao Finishers' Marathon 42k.
My official race time: 

4:23:16.

2011
Sprinting to the finish of the 28th Davao Finisher's Marathon 42K.
My official time: 3:52:21,
good for 10th among male finishers.
I was 56 years old.