Another Year(s) Older

Happy 59th cuppa from Dr. Mike – click to see the classy Murray tartan around the rim.

Having just celebrated (?) a birthday, I found this recent posting from my fav blogging Doctor (Dr, John Mandrola, from Louisville, KY) thought provoking.

100 is the new 80…If you are good to yourself (and lucky)

Posted: 01 Feb 2014 05:45 AM PST

“There has been a change in your prescription,” said the eye doctor, a wise and bald man, who could have been mistaken for an economics professor at Princeton.

“It’s improved?” the 30 year-old cardiologist asked. Better, improved, always the reflex for athletic cardiologists.

“Doctor…you have been to the pinnacle and passed it. Your eyes, like the rest of your body, are on the downward side.”

Damn aging. The creases, the sags, the morning kinks, and the children on bikes who ride away from you as if they are on a motorbike.

Then there is Frenchman Robert Marchand.

The phrase I like to use when leaving the exam room of arrhythmia patients: “Be good to yourself.”

Likely, Mr Marchand is no Rabbit Angstrom.

JMM

http://www.drjohnm.org/2014/02/100-is-the-new-80-if-you-are-good-to-yourself-and-lucky/

Also, just saw a CNN story about a 99 year old Japanese woman who is a world class endurance swimmer. She got started in the sport while still a youthful 83!

Check out video at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/09/world/asia/japan-on-the-road-elderly/index.html?iref=allsearch

I guess I wouldn’t mind living to be 100 years old. So long as I don’t run out of $$$ – and can keep running marathons!

“Anything worth doing is going to be difficult,” says Fauja Singh, the 100-year-old runner who this week became the world’s oldest person to complete a full-length marathon, crossing the line at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront event in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds. (And he didn’t finish last: five came in after him.)

 

 

Dubai Marathon

Due to camera angle, my image is not visible in this picture…..trust me, it was a battle all the way to the finish line!

Splits

	Time Of Day	Time	Diff	min/km	km/h
10km	08:02:06	00:58:15	58:15	05:50	10.30
HALF	09:04:38	02:00:47	01:02:32	05:39	10.65
30km	09:57:30	02:53:38	52:51	05:57	10.11
Finish	11:09:21	04:05:30	01:11:52	05:54	10.18

I got off to a slower than desired start, as the left hammy was talking to me…..once I fully warmed up, started to move out. I wanted to break 4 hours, but it wasn’t in me today. Training slacked off over Christmas break, and I didn’t get long runs in as planned.

Course was long, flat and boring (out and back). Temps were cool 15c, but humid. Legs are throbbing now, but a nice bath and some panadol should settle things down for my Egypt party tonight.

All in all, I’m happy with the result.

One of the most boring marathon courses I’ve run (yes, you were correct Barene).

closing in on the finish line

 

Spechen sie Berlin?

If I can stagger across the finish line at Berlin, I’ll have done 4 of the BIG 5 marathons……

A welcome arrival to my inbox this week…….summary translation: I’m accepted to run the 2014 Berlin Marathon!

Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Liebe(r) John Murray,

die Vor-Registrierungsphase ist beendet, die Lostrommel wurde eifrig gerührt und die Gewinner unter 74.707 Bewerbern gezogen. Wir freuen uns Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass Sie für einen Startplatz ausgelost wurden und somit am 41. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 2014 teilnehmen können!

Ihre Registrierung in 3 Schritten:

1 ) Wann: 04.11.2013 – 11.11.2013 / 24:00 Uhr

2 ) Über folgenden Link erreichen Sie Ihr Anmeldeformular: https://portal.mikatiming.de/event/scc-events/marathon/2014/de/

3 ) Anmeldung/Login:
Bitte geben Sie Ihre persönlichen Zugangsdaten ein:
Benutzer: john.murray
Passwort: xxxxxxx

Die Registrierung ist nur über den voran genannten Login möglich (nicht über Ihr etwaig vorhandenes Teilnehmerkonto). Sie werden automatisch in Ihren vorbereiteten, personalisierten Datensatz weitergeleitet – die Weitergabe Ihres Startplatzes an Dritte ist weder möglich noch erlaubt!

Wichtige Hinweise:

– Ohne eine Registrierung im oben genannten Zeitraum ist keine Teilnahme am 41. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON möglich!
– Wenn Ihre Anmeldungen nicht bis zum 11.11.2013 / 24:00 Uhr durchgeführt worden ist, werden Ihre Login-Daten gesperrt und Ihr Startplatz an Nachrücker weitergegeben.

Für Rückfragen wenden Sie sich bitte an: info@scc-events-com.

Wir freuen uns, Sie am 28. September 2014 zum 41. BMW BERLIN-MARATHON zu begrüßen!

Ihr SCC Events-Team

Bleiben Sie auf dem Laufenden über unsere Veranstaltungen und abonnieren Sie unseren Newsletter:
http://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/news-und-media/newsletter.html
Im Anschluss erhalten Sie eine E-Mail, in der Sie dann die Anmeldung des Newsletters bestätigen müssen.

We Love our Guns

We get these alerts several times a week. Most of them don’t impact me, as I don’t travel to these areas often. They’re more for the field operations staff…..

—— SMS ——
From: Et-Security
Received: Mar 1, 2013 23:05
Subject: masked  armed  robbers  reportedly…

masked  armed  robbers  reportedly  operating    close  to  Alj  Jimoh  B/stp,  Shasha,  Lagos.  Avoid  the  area,  pl.

—— SMS ——
From: Et-Security
Received: Feb 26, 2013 22:22
Subject: Sporadic  gunshot  reported  at …

Sporadic  gunshot  reported  at  Ologunde  area  Ajah.  Advised  to  approach  area  with  caution,  pl

Nice oasis in Lagos during the day, the park gets a little seedy around the edges at night…..

But this morning I came upon my own personal version of this kind of Lagos wahala……while out for the standard long Saturday morning run across the Falomo bridge, I was looping around Muri Okunola park. This is an edgy area, a confluence zone, where the posh Island people mix with some of the grittier street peeps of Lagos.

At 6am, the posh clubbers are starting to exit the night life and head back to their pads. The street creeps are around, looking for some fast easy money. And the street girls are looking for 1 or 2 (maybe 3?!) last customers. Always interesting to trot through, but not a place to linger….

a typical street girl at Muri Okunola, working hard for her money. She likes her mobile phone…..

Mumma Murray didn’t raise an idiot (I hope?), so as a pass through this place, I quicken my pace. This morning seemed a bit more tense. Not sure how I detected this. Maybe it was the speeding police pick-up truck that went blasting down a side street, obviously chasing something of interest?

So my pace increased a bit more. Then suddenly a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM came from about 100 meters away. Due to my time with The Viking (aka Glenn Larson) and The Dude (aka Henry Murray), I’m very familiar with the sound of live fire. And this was the real thing, too close to me for comfort!

I stepped on the gas, as did the mob of people near by. Then another BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, only this time it was less than 25m away from me.

‘Holy Shit! I’m in the middle of a gun fight, and the other guys are gonna start blasting in my direction next!’.

At this point, I flipped on my Usain Bolt running mode. Full blast for at least 500 meters. Slowed down when I heard a last set of gun shots, far off in the distance.

After this, little incident, I slowed my pace down to recover from the speed blasts. Anoda morning thrill here in NairaLand……

Starting and Ending the Day

a typical start to a running morning – mug of warm lemon juice (a trick from wifey), a handful of semi-medicinal supplements and Bonk Breaker energy bar. Not sure my UK pals would eat anything named ‘Bonk’?

Here’s what those supplements really are….old oyibo is especially grateful for his daily ibuprofen!

And at the end of the day…..see the Dutch waffle sitting on top of my tea cup? These little babies are loaded with a petra-bomb of fat, calories and deliciousness. My running pal Sebastian (a Dutch dude) told me that the locals like to heat these up with their steaming tea, to make the caramel inside soooooo smooth and gooey. After eating one of these, you must run an extra 3km in the morning!

Christmas Wrap Pix

By far the nicest Christmas tree I’ve seen in a very long time! Wifey did this one by herself, so you know it was perfect (cuz I wasn’t there to screw something up!)

Yes, it was cold – and here are the icicles to prove it. But don’t they look great with the Christmas lights behind them?

The Lagos running dude got a great new running hat from Santa. You can’t see the battery powered flashing red light on the back – a nice perk for running on the dark streets of Lagos.

Viola gave me this very nice tea table, made in Ghana. It is even more attractive in real life – and very functional! I keep it in my office at work.

 

 

 

 

 

Running by the Numbers

Finisher Medals from around the world……

Race bib numbers since coming to Nigeria……..

2012 was a big year of running for me.

I started 2012 a little pudgy after a fun Christmas / New Years in London and Tanzania. During the year I polished off 2 Ultra marathons – 2 Oceans (Cape Town) and Comrades (Durban). Both are iconic ‘bucket runs’. Knocked them both down with respectable times (5:55 and 10:47) for an old oyibo.

Did a fun 1/2 marathon in Ghana, that was tougher than it was supposed to be. Finished the year with the Amsterdam Marathon, cranking off a 3:59:59. Wifey flew across to party down with me and the Lagos runners after the event.

I want to thank my great running friends here in Lagos. Without our commitment and encouragements, I don’t think I could have pulled this off.

Ghana Margaret – produces screams of pain and occasional pleasure out of the aging oyibo sportster almost every weekend.

And Ghana Margaret gets credit for keeping the wheels loose and spinning with her regular SPORTS massages.

No serious injuries, a few embarrassing bouts with sickness – probably my biggest challenge was maintaining a running schedule while traveling frequently. But like most addicted runners, I’ve mastered the art of packing with running gear, and slipping in runs, no matter where I’m visiting.

Those who know me, won’t be surprised that I very anally log all of my running and fitness time. Also track my weight daily (first thing in the morn, buck naked, after relieving my bladder…), my heart rate (average) and calorie burn rate (both coming from my Polar Heart Rate Monitor – I don’t run without it!).

From the tables below (top = 2011, bottom = 2012), it is clear I ramped it up a bit in 2012. The trick for an older runner is to keep the momentum moving, without going too hard/too far, and causing an injury.

I’ve learned that running in the Lagos heat/humidity makes you tough! If you can run for +3 hours in temps greater than 28C/86F, you can do a lot of things that you didn’t expect (like run the hills of South Africa).

In late 2012 I started swimming and biking. The swimming builds core / upper body strength and feels great. Biking is just a blast to do around Lagos. Urban trail riding. Doesn’t do much to my aerobic fitness, by my thighs are stronger (and stiffer).

Totals		3,721	10,755	1,297		136,154	14,476
Average	172.69	71.56	206.83	24.93	144.23	2618.35	278.39
Min	168.40	0.00	0.00	0.00	133.00	0.00	0.00
Max	177.40	180.00	378.00	45.00	155.00	5399.00	528.00
2011	weight	other	run mins	run miles	hr ave	tot cals	total mins

Totals		2,967	10,874	1,315			13,841
Average	169.58	57	209	25.29	145	2645	266
Min	164.23	0	0	0.00	132	0	0
Max	175.80	165	467	63.00	151	5875	567
2012	weight	other	run mins	run miles	hr ave	tot cals	total mins

One Running Shoe in the Grave

My running Hero: Fauja Singh (age 100) running Toronto Marathon

 

Today’s WSJ had an article about the potential problems that older endurance athletes may encounter. Little problems like they may die sooner than expected because their bodies get worn out from all their endurance training. It’s a pretty interesting read. Click on the link to check it out.

http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578145462264024472.html?mod=WSJPRO_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Third#articleTabs%3Darticle

One Running Shoe in the Grave

New Studies on Older Endurance Athletes Suggest the Fittest Reap Few Health Benefits

In a five-kilometer race Thanksgiving morning, Ralph Foiles finished first in his age group, earning the 56-year-old Kansan a winner’s medal.

Or was it a booby prize?

A fast-emerging body of scientific evidence points to a conclusion that’s unsettling, to say the least, for a lot of older athletes: Running can take a toll on the heart that essentially eliminates the benefits of exercise.

“Running too fast, too far and for too many years may speed one’s progress toward the finish line of life,” concludes an editorial to be published next month in the British journal Heart.

Until recently, the cardiac risk of exercise was measured almost exclusively by the incidence of deaths during races. For marathoners, that rate was one in 100,000—a number that didn’t exactly strike fear. Moreover, data showed that runners generally enjoyed enormous longevity benefits over nonrunners.

What the new research suggests is that the benefits of running may come to a hard stop later in life. In a study involving 52,600 people followed for three decades, the runners in the group had a 19% lower death rate than nonrunners, according to the Heart editorial. But among the running cohort, those who ran a lot—more than 20 to 25 miles a week—lost that mortality advantage.

In the reader’s comments section, I felt obliged to say the following:

• John Murray Wrote: (your comment)

So what? DNA, total lifestyle, geography, etc….all have some impact on when ‘the last day comes’. Who cares! As a 57 year old endurance athlete, I accept that I’m slowing down (but still can keep up with a lot of runners 10 – 15 years younger than me). I do my running/biking/swimming because it’s fun, it makes me feel good, I can eat/drink with relative abandon, and it diverts me from other much less healthy activities (i.e., drinking, television, smoking, etc…). I don’t do this stuff so that I might live a theoretical 234.8 days longer. When the big guy decides to throw the ‘off’ switch on me, I’ll be ready……..and smiling!

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Swoosh – RIP

My first encounter with Swoosh was @ 5:45am while running down Gerrard Road in Ikoyi. I’d been in Nigeria for about 6 months, and was starting to get my legs underneath me. Hadn’t made running friends yet, so was still running solo. Starting to feel confident in my ability to navigate Lagos roads in the morning, and the body was getting used to the heat/humidity that is tropical Africa.

On this morning, I was putting some thunder into my pace. Thought I was moving along pretty quickly. And for an old oyibo, I probably was……

Then, as I approached the Queensway intersection turn-off, my usual route, suddenly there was a Swoosh! A tall, slender black woman ran past me, almost like I was standing still!

Whoa!

So I put a few chunks of coal into the boiler in an attempt to catch up with her. Wifey knows that I only chase ‘nice’ fast women, so this was a legitimate chase. As fast as I could run, there was not a chance I’d catch this woman, as she smoked onward toward Falomo.

Who was this exotic, speedster girl? Was this real, or was it another fantasy of mine? It remained a mystery to me, as I never encountered this Black Speedster again.

She would always be Swoosh, the unknown mystery speedster on Gerrard Road.

A few months later, I met Jim Laferty, and started hanging with the Ikoyi runners @ 40 Cameron Road. And wouldn’t you know it, here I encounter Swoosh!

Swoosh nearing the finish line in Houston

Swoosh and Me after the NYC marathon

 

We finally get to meet and I learn she’s the sweetest thing you’d ever want to know. I told her about our first encounter, and of course, she had no recollection of it. Guess it happens all the time that she’s smokes old white guys at 5:45am???!

We discover that we’re both planning to run the NYC marathon later in the year and decide to meet up at Frenchies (a cheap, somewhat sleazy Nigerian joint on Victoria Island) the next Sunday morning to trade training strategies.

On the day, Swoosh shows up, coming from church. She looked stunning. I almost didn’t recognize her!

Swoosh and her side kick Esther

As a side note, this metamorphosis from sweaty/gritty runner babe into super beauty happens regularly when we meet our running girls away from the running world. It’s one of the pleasant by-products we experience running here in Nigeria! But I digress……

Swoosh had been out for a long run before church (same for me, but no church), but she totally shocked me when she ordered a ‘full English’ breakfast, and slammed it down in rapid fashion. This stunningly beautiful woman could chow down like a truck driver! Without a spare ounce of ‘unnecessary’ on her body.

We both got to NYC and met up after the race. Of course, Swoosh finished way before me. She’s exceptional, and it was a pleasure just to be out running with her. Not a problem being out-run by someone as talented as Swoosh.

Sometime later, after running the Houston marathon, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Being the tough Nigerian girl that she was, she fought the disease with all her might, for well over a year. She had the best treatment available in the US, but the evil cancer finally claimed her life 2 weeks ago.

She was an incredible human, who brought joy to everyone who had the good fortune to meet her. A true inspiration to all of us.

Swoosh (aka Uche Orizu), we love you, miss you and know you’re in a better place. We cherish our time with you.

God Bless!

Last time we saw Swoosh – she surprised us when she made it our Ikoyi Runner’s celebration earlier this year. That’s Ebeli on the right.