Coug,
I wish I was up to three miles. Back in December I had triple by-pass surgery. Imagine that. After running for 40 years of my life, from age 14, I had heart trouble in my mid-fifties. It is a matter of genetics for me. Anyway, I have been walking and running for the past couple of months. I am getting stronger. The longest I have been able to run so far is 12 minutes, then I walk for two minutes and then add a couple more running segments of about five minutes with walks in between.
I have done some reading about running after heart surgery and it is possible, if one works back up slowly, to get back up to where one was before the surgery. We will see. Just another running goal for which to aim.
I am reminded of being in Mombasa, Kenya watching the Olympic trials for the '72 Munich games. Amos Biwot had won the Gold in the steeplechase at the previous Olympics in Mexico (starting a string for Kenyan, steeplechase gold in every subsequent Olympics). While lacing up his shoes, in the stands, before warming up, I overheard him tell another runner that he had only trained the past two weeks during the intervening four years. He went on to finish third at those trials, behind Ben Jipcho and Kip Keino. Eight weeks latter, he set an Olympic record while winning his heat in Munich. However, Keino and Jipcho finished one-two in final, with Biwot finishing fourth.
It take more than just natural ability for the Kenyans to win these days, but win they do. |
