Welcome to Getting Fit at Fifty

My name is Art Davis and I started running in 2007 to lose weight. Check out my before and after photos at the bottom of the page. I ran my first 5K and 10K in 2007 I went on to run my first half Marathon and full Marathon in 2008.























Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Penguins

In the running lexicon, the word "Penguin" has come to mean a person who runs more for the joy of running than for recongition and public rewards. Some have even become perpetual Penguins, consumed by the pleasure of movement.

Some Penguins find joy in reaching their own potential, whatever that is. For some, me included, it means running the "Boston Marathon", the only U.S. marathon that has qualifying standards. For some, it means finding an independence and freedom in their daily runs that expands their limits.

John Bingham coined the term "Penguin" and inspried hundreds of thousands of men and women to run for fun, fitness and self-affirmation. John Bingham, once an overweight couch potato with a glut of bad habits including smoking and drinking, at the age of 43 looked mid-life in the face and started running. Since then he has run 40 marathons, hundreds of 5K and 10K races and written 4 books on running.

I started running in 2007 at the age of 48 and so far have lost 60 pounds. Can I be an athlete? yes. Does this make me a Penguin? You bet.

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." , John Bingham

2 comments:

  1. My favorite quote from John Bingham is when he was talking about testing out a heart rate monitor for a company by wearing it during a marathon. When he looked for his results online, he couldn't find them. So he called the company and this happened...

    Company: "We didn't post the results because there was obviously something wrong with the monitor or the data."

    John: "What went wrong?"

    Company: "It says you started out at about 65% of your maximum heart rate, which is what we would expect, but then it says you ran at 80% for over 5 hours!"

    John: "No, that's right, that's the way I run marathons."

    Company: "Do you know how fit you would have to be to keep your heart at 80% the maximum for FIVE HOURS??"

    John: "I AM FIT! I'M JUST SLOW!!"

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  2. Good one Art. I am a Penguin. I HATED running when I first started. 18 months later with 5 half marathons and a full marathon under my belt, I can't imagine not running. I run in pain. I run in the cold (6 degrees was my last run). I run in the rain. I run in the Missouri 90% humidity. I run...

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