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Message: [QUOTE="Marbles90, post: 3817932, member: 7436"] I do not totally agree with this. Yes, runners do get hurt as do other athletes, but running is certainly not the worst form of exercise. It is like any other sport, if you just go out and start running without an understanding of what you are doing, of course you can increase your chances to get hurt. As I mentioned in my earlier post, for those of you starting out, getting back into it, or even experienced runners, try your best to focus on effort and not speed. Your Apple watch as well as most GPS watches track your heart rate and you want to do the majority of your running at about 60%-75% of your max heart rate. Even without a heart rate monitor, you can do this by running or run/walk at a pace where you can easily carry on a conversation with a running partner. After you establish a base you can start to include speed intervals, hill climbs, tempo runs, fartlek runs, etc into your training but the bulk (~ 80%-85%) of your running should be at that slow aerobic pace. This will vastly limit the amount of impact on your body. You will actually get faster over time as you strengthen your cardio and you will enjoy running much more. I admit, it is hard at first to slow down when you know you can go faster but you adjust and it becomes much easier over time. I am 52 and have been running regularly since my 20’s without a single injury and I can tell you I have been injured much worse doing other sports like playing hoops or weightlifting. In this crazy pandemic year of canceled races, I set new PR’s in marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K - which I am calling the PR Grand Slam. (ETA: These were all live races either pre pandemic or post with approved Covid restrictions. Not virtual races). The 5K record was a race I never thought I would break since I set the original (19:33) back in 2003 when I was 35, But this last October I ran it in 19:11 (6:11/mile). Getting old does not necessarily mean getting slow!! As for fun running stories, last January (2020) I completed the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World. For those of you not familiar, the challenge is running back to back a 5K (Thursday), 10K (Friday), half marathon (Saturday) and full marathon (Sunday). 2020’s version had the added bonus of 80°+ temp on Sunday for the marathon. 48.6 miles in total over 4 days. It was very difficult but was tons of fun!! I was registered to do it again this year but it was canceled. ☹ [/QUOTE]

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