Running Observations

The Autumn on the Sound 5k race this year was won by an M40 year old runner and I had a talk with him. He was aware that I had started running late in life and he had wanted me to know that he had been an average runner in his younger days but had given it up until recently when he restarted our sport. Since restarting he has become faster and faster as he trained in spite of his aging. There is an old rule of thumb that after starting runners reach their prime in ten years. For me starting at eighty years it was five years when I was awarded the distinction of being, "outstanding athlete" for the year 2004 in my 80-89 year old class. Dorothy, my late wife commented, "Yes but that's only in the United States." The award was from the USATF, the largest group representing Track and Field in our land. I wonder if some of the runners of old who have given up the sport restarted, would they excel in their new age groups? I believe they would be surprised in their latent ability. How can they be encouraged?
At that race I made a discovery about which I have hesitated to mention without more data. I have asked dozens of runners if they had headaches. It was a first when a young runner said he had occasional headaches. That brings forth another question, do people with migraine headaches ever run for any reason? It would be interesting if those with that debilitating problem were never runners. You and I could something about that. Get them running,