The “boy” in question is my friend Richard and he’s 72 ! About 6 months ago he announced that he was going to run the 10(.6)km version of the Ronde Ceretane run here in France. It’s next Sunday.
Although he’s a great walker, he hasn’t run since 2016. I couldn’t dissuade him, and he’s done no more since May than walking and some workouts.
So last Wednesday I jogged with him around the 5km version which I’ll be doing next weekend. He did okay : a decent 150 jogging cadence l reckon.
Today we tackled the full 10km. Last year it was my downfall: I wasn’t fit and wasn’t prepared for the nasty rough ascents at km 7 and 10. I came a magnificent last of 366 runners!
He did it! Shattered, but he finished. My final advice to him was to ignore the gazelles (it’s not a fun run) and choose his own pace.
I’ll still worry next week