Back in the Running

After 15 days in India I'm back and gradually sliding back into the life of a runner. I'm planning on running (but not racing) a few short cross-country events over the next two months in my build-up for the Houston Half-Marathon in January. After a lazy summer I think I am ready to get back to work.

On the plus side, if this New York Times Health article is any indication I have plenty of time left to run:

A few years ago researchers at the German Sports University Cologne took a close look at the finishing times of 400,000 marathon and half-marathon runners between the ages of 20 and 79. They found no relevant differences in the finishing times of people between the ages of 20 and 50. The times for runners between 50 and 69 slowed only by 2.6 to 4.4 percent per decade. “Older athletes are able to maintain a high degree of physiological plasticity late into life,” the researchers wrote.

I'll toast to that!