Age is our friend, not our enemy

​This past weekend, I virtually monitored the Capital Backyard Ultra just up to the north of me in Lorton, Virginia. For my non-runner friends, the format of this running race is this:

All runners line up together at a starting line. They have 1 hour to complete a 4.17 mile circuit. If they do, they get to line up and start again the next hour for another 4.17 mile circuit. If they don't complete it, they are out of the race.

The winner is the runner still standing when all the others have said, I can't do one more circuit.

I was in awe of one of the women in this race - Jennifer Russo. As the hours ticked away, there she was. Still starting the next loop. Until she was lined up for the 60th loop - 60 hours and 250 miles away from the race's official starting line.

That would ultimately be Ms. Russo's final loop; she was the next to the last runner standing.

I was in awe of her time and distance. But more - Russo is 56 years old. Like - that's in MY age group. In fact, two of the runners who finished in the top ten were over 50; all of them were over 40.

Over 40 is NOT your typical peak for anything athletic. But it does seem to be true of these running endurance events.

I spent some time thinking about that this weekend. I think one of the main reasons for that is because at some point in these events, your physical capacity becomes much less important than your mental capacity.

Two hundred miles into a race, everyone is in pain. The last women and men standing are going to be the ones who aren't scared off by that pain.

I think the older you are, the more likely it is you've experienced some pain along the way. And you've overcome it.

In a lot of sporting events, 56 can start sounding too old. Shoot, in many LIFE events 56 starts sounding too old.

But the thing about life - it IS hardship. That's just a fact. Sure, it helps to be physically prepared for hardship, but more and more, I believe the folks who finish the next loops in life aren't the most pysically fit, they are the ones who see that next loop as totally beatable.

That's easier to see when you've beaten hardship before. And at 56, chances are you've had far more chances to beat it than you had when you were 26.

No matter how old we are, chances are when it comes to conquering that next loop, there is greater risk that we're not old enough than there is that we are too old.

When it comes to tackling that next loop, the years are our friend, not our enemy.

Think about that today when harship comes along. Life isn't always about THIS loop - sometimes it's just preparation for a bigger loop down the road.

The loop that gives us the chance to be the last one standing...