Competition, Master Track

Fifty-Plus Fitness Library

Library : Year 2 | Session 10: Competition -- the Aging Factor

Dear Dr. Bortz,
I am a 75 year old male and have for the past five years or so participated in master track and field, namely the high jump, long jump and 80m low hurdles. I much enjoy the events, both training and meets. I have recently been slowed down by prostate cancer surgery and radiation therapy, but am now back in good health. Some doctors I know question the wisdom of such activities at my age. I think the message is all that jumping and landing is foolish: you're going to hurt yourself, stick to running. I know from experience that, if you hit a hurdle you might have a nasty fall, but the long jump and high jump (I do the flop). Are the odds against me with those events? __Dick

Dear Dick

First, I feel it is a privilege to receive a message from one of our heroes. To be competing actively at 75 sets a standard for the rest of us. You, of course, are right in fashion with prostate cancer. It almost seems that if you don't have it there is something weird about you. This disease takes many different routes, some are bumpy and short, and others are mellow and almost carefree. I certainly hope that yours is the latter course. But whichever direction you and your condition take you, the central issue emerges, "who is in charge, you or your cancer?

Your question takes me back to my treasured time with Norman Cousins. Norman had an advice, which fits your circumstance, "accept the diagnosis, reject the verdict". This perfectly sums up your reality. Denial gets you nowhere, but how you grasp your reality, and shape it to your own life's desires is a challenge, which presents itself.

I recall well running with George Sheehan here at Stanford many years after his diagnosis of prostate cancer. He wasn't as swift as he used to be, who of us is? But, he was certainly still at the task of being "the best animal" (his words) he could be. Maybe you might enjoy his last book, "Going the Distance", which is a chronicle of his long experience with his miserable illness.

How we live the whole of our lives, not just the first part, is the business of our Fifty-Plus group. We are bonded by the recognition that the last should have its hurrahs too, and that whimpers are inconsistent with jumping and running. Keep moving.