5 km in 38 minutes

Running five km in thirty eight minutes, these numbers aren't flattering, I know that. Still, I persist and really enjoy my run despite the times I post.

My numbers were a little different when I was twenty five, whilst I never bothered timing my runs, they were around twenty minutes or better. So, what happened? Well, for starters, I ran five to ten kilometres three to five times a week, now it is one to two times in any given week.

When I wasn't running I was doing weights, normally a run was combined with a weights session, if I didn't run then it was just a weights session. We also need to take into account my age, I'm not 25 anymore, I'm 50 so I need to expect a slowdown of sorts but I need to ask myself, is double the age and double the time acceptable?

Ok, so I have hamstring issues on my left leg, I also have a sore left knee, I walk with a limp these days that causes muscle strains in unusual places on my lower legs. Standing in one position too long causes pain, a little difficult when I am supervising workers as I am direct contact and tend to spend long periods in one place.

Or should I be happy? I'm 50 and still running, sure, it's not at a level that I am happy with, should I just be happy that I get out twice a week for a run. Actually, I'm happy I am still out running, could I go faster and harder? Well, yes I could but I run to a heart rate monitor as I had heart issues so I don't push it. I try to get a maximum heart and lung workout as that is my desired outcome.

I never ran to a timer or heart rate monitor previously, I wish I did so I had a better baseline but since it was never an issue before I never concerned myself with such details. Since I began to write this post, it sat in a folder waiting to be published my heart rate monitor broke and I no longer run to a specified heart rate.

Now I run with a chronograph watch on my wrist, my old TAG Heuer s/el and I'm posting times around 35 minutes now - I’m happy with my progress. What annoys me is I've had this timepiece for 20 years and only recently began to run with it on my wrist, previously I had taken it off my wrist for any form of exercise without ever thinking about it.

Still, I’m 50 years old and not just running, sure the young ones knock me off with their pace and endurance but I'm happy to be out there exercising and enjoying life. Next I'm going to fix up my mountain bike and clock up more kilometres on bush tracks and enjoy the scenery and spend more time paddling on my kayak. Life is great, loving the Perth outdoors lifestyle.