What they don't point out is that most of the people taking up running now are the same ones who took it up back in the 1970's! Take a look at the race results from any local road race: The largest and toughest bracket is the 40- year olds. Even my time this year would have placed me 3rd in the under 19 bracket, while I came in 18th in my own 40- group. Just for perspective on how competitive running was when I was a kid: I was a middle of the pack B-squad cross-country and track runner. But when I was 18 I ran fast enough to have come in first in this years race in both the under 19 age bracket as well as the under 29 bracket.
The running rage in the 1970's attracted young people. If there is a resurgence, it doesn't seem to have worked its way down to the young yet. If it had, the young runners would be far more competitive. Here are the third place results for The Groton Road Race this year.
FIN10K - MALE AGE GROUP: 19 - UNDER
3 ANDREW RILEY 142 16 PEPPERELL MA 46:27
FIN10K - MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
3 THOMAS WOLEJKO 68 27 ALLSTON MA 45:24
FIN10K - MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
3 STEVE LEVANDOSKY 465 38 HOPKINTON MA 39:33
FIN10K - MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 49
3 LIAM SKINNER 485 42 LOWELL MA 38:50
It is bizzaro world! The 40's are faster than the 30's who are faster than the 20's. Even I came within 21 seconds of the 27 year old third place finisher.
Added: Why the third place finisher instead of first? I am trying to show depth of talent for each group. Another way of putting it is that there were only 10 guys under 20, 27 in their 20's, 68 in their 30's and 102 guys in their 40's.
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