Marathon running at 40

Today I turn 40 years old. With that comes a new age group and a new Boston qualifying time, which serves as a great benchmark for goal-setting.

But really, what changes at 40? How different will Sunday's race be from the one I ran six months ago?

The aging process can not be stopped, so at some point we all have to live with PRs as a thing of the past. Runner Dave Griffin wrote a book called 'After the Last PR' which I would like to read in the future.

And yet, in the short distances, I have defied the usual expectations of running into my late 30s. Who else gets personal records in short races at age 39? Short races are young men's games, yet I managed to get PRs in the 5K, four mile, five mile and 15K distances, and even place high above many of my younger competitors.

Even if you take into consideration, that I started running at 30, I still can't imagine there are too many people who are hitting short-race  PRsat the end of their first decade in the sport.

With the marathon, I have defied expectations in very much the wrong way. Most marathon men I know hit their PR at or around 40. Yet I can not seem to top my 3:04:42 from the Eisenhower Marathon in Abilene, KS., in 2009 at age 34. Not for lack of trying, of course. 

While my 3:06 finishes in the Missoula and Central Park marathons were at least close, the excrutiating wall-hitting, stomach-turning nightmares of Gansett (though with a surprising 3:13), Fortitude for First Descents (the nadir at 3:54) and Park City (a close second-worst at 3:53) are experiences I do not want to re-live. Because of those crash-and-burn experiences, I do not think it wise to use the occasion of my 40th birthday to try again for a PR. 

Perhaps then, marathon running at 40 means running smarter, if not always faster. In that sense, I already began my journey into Masters running in March, when I learned at my previous race that sacrificing a little bit of time and getting a 3:10 ends up being better than gunning for a record and ending up with a 3:54. It is a weird notion - trying a little less in order to gain a little more.

If that sounds like an excuse for playing it safe, so be it. But I can not take another marathon in the 3:50s. I would rather inch my way back toward the PR, even if I never get there.

Therefore, the idealistic goal is 3:07, enough to move my average up by one minute to 3:17.  That would put this race as my fourth best out of 12. Realistically, I can still be thrilled if I beat my new Boston qualifier time of 3:15. And even if I do not make that, beating my average time of 3:18 will make me happy.

What I want more than anything, though, is to not hit the wall, to finish strong and to feel good knowing that this is exactly the right way to spend my 40th birthday.