Runners are strange people, it’s a fact. We make up just about anything that can be made up when it comes to activities that can be done by running, in some cases successfully, in others with disastrous consequences.
Run Your Age – is a running-related invention that has to do with running on one’s birthday. You’ll tell me that this is something that many people do, so it’s not exactly a great invention. But, as the name suggests, those who join the initiative take into account the number of years they have completed and turn them into miles to run. Simple? It depends on how old you turn. While it might be a fairly smooth thing for some people to do until – I don’t know – their mid-twenties, as time goes on things obviously get complicated, and by the time you pass forty-two you find yourself, suddenly, to have to become an ultramarathon runner. A very demanding challenge with oneself, which behind it obviously has the desire to put oneself on the line but above all the desire to have fun and do something different than usual. The good thing – fortunately! – is that the distance does not have to be covered by running it to the best of one’s ability: it is enough to run it, regardless of pace. Five or three minutes per kilometer, it doesn’t change anything for the purpose of the goal to be achieved, the important thing is to complete the set number of kilometers and thus be able to circle on the calendar the day of one’s birthday as one in which a goal in one’s life was achieved.
MA CHI SE L’È INVENTATO?
The question has no certain answer, because so many runners cover the distance in kilometers equal to their age on their birthday, and on the Internet and on social media these jibes run (it really needs to be written) fast, however, the first to put on a real initiative complete with registration and a charity drive, it seems, were the Brits from AgeUK, which raise funds every year to help elderly people in need. Since there is no time limit for run your age, things do not get so easy as the years progress, in order to be more successful they made some changes to the original idea and created a real Challenge related to age and physical activity, with different activities depending on ability. Children, for example, are advised to run for the number of times of their completed years around their block (which then, if it is a American-style block you still run quite a bit), while for those who are older, other activities such as climbing flights of stairs, or moving a certain number of times along a given route are recommended. The concept is to continue to keep active, which is then the only thing that really matters.
If you then plan to go for a run but come to a certain point you realize that our age and the miles we should run don’t get along so well, it is the case of stop for a break and enjoy the scenery, which is still part of experiencing running at its best, isn’t it?
main image credit: Milkos on DepositPhotos.com