How do marathon runners age?

Hard.

The constant pounding is tough on the joints.

Also, the downward force when you step pulls and tears on the tissue of the face which over time might contribute to a more haggard appearance.

Of course, it will vary and people who run learn not to stomp when they place their feet - you wouldn't last long from repetitive stress injuries if you were clomping away like a clydesdale horse.

So let me try to understand something here OP. You posted a question about older marathon runners yet you did not post a picture or even bother to provide a link to one. I mean, what’s up with that? Can you at least provide a straight answer? I don’t understand why you couldn’t have at least just googled for a picture as an example. It just seems kind of shitty. It really does. Doesn’t it to you? I mean take a good look at yourself OP. You’re just a selfish son of a bitch that just takes and takes from others with no regard. I’m sick of you.

They age very poorly. Running marathons is not what the human body was designed for. As a group, I find them to insufferable and cult like.

r3, just say "this thread is useless without pics" and be done with it.

Usually pretty good cardiovascular health. I thought they would have ground up articulations but apparently marathon runners have less arthritis than non runners. Since they usually don't have much fat in them their faces look older while their bodies are still ok.

Many of them die of some form of cancer, mostly colorectal cancer. So you know it's not healthy to do extreme sport. And their prematurely wrinkled faces!!! MEH!

It's either the ass or the face that's gonna fall. Choose one because you can't have both.

Extreme exercise actually suppresses the immune system. Moderate exercise is best.

Eliud Kipchoge is the greatest marathoner the world has ever seen. He's the world record holder and recently ran the marathon in under 2 hours in a staged, time trial experiment. He's only 35.

R10 He looks a decade older.

Now that's bringing the receipts, R10.

Is he dating anyone?

Marathon runners have literally zero body fat. I know DL thinks fat is the enemy, but it's what gives people youthful skin and face.

r13, married with kids.

R14 With body fat there is a sweet spot, too much or too little is aging.

[quote]Usually pretty good cardiovascular health

Pfft!

I made a thread a while back about why people bother to run marathons. I think it's a combination of media acting like it's healthy for you and people who want to be ambitious and achieve a goal. Same logic as to why people wanna climb Mount Everest.

My BF's dad used to run marathons all the time. He's 86 now and has had both knees and one hip replaced. He has complete degeneration of cartilage in his lower back and is in excruciating pain at all times. He also has multiple heart issues, but that probably has nothing to do with the marathon running. He's also a complete asshole and we think he probably used marathon training as a way to stay out of the house as long as possibly while my BF and his brother were growing up.

Black men stay more youthful looking longer than white men. That photo of at R10 looks like a healthy handsome black man pushing 50.

Not good.

I ran a marathon once and collapsed after 5 yards....

R17 My brother did his first one when he was 40. I think that was some sort of midlife crisis because a bunch of his friends started doing the same at about the same age. He said he'd only try once to see if he could so it, but since then he's done maybe 5 of those. Each time he says he'll only do this one more and be done with it. I think there's something addictive about it.

Personally the longest run I did was a 20k and I was ready to die. Never again. Human bodies are not built for that kind of stuff.

They age horrendously. I know one who is fifty and is crippled with arthritis. Can't even walk to the corner shop without loading up on Vicodin. It's best to stay away from regular running and engage in non weight bearing exercise instead if you want your joints to age well.

i also wonder about those cross fit games guys! gorgeous built strong bodies but one wonders how much is too much when they hit their 40s, 50s, 60s? when does it world class cross the line into damaging in their later years? is it better to be a active "weekend warrior for life" as opposed to a world champion cross fit games competitor for 10 years in their 20's and 30's and hope this wear and tear doesn't creep into them when they hit middle age and older?.

[quote]They age very poorly. Running marathons is not what the human body was designed for. As a group, I find them to insufferable and cult like.

They think everyone else is fat and unhealthy. I've seen the skinniest people being fat-shamed within the group.

A while back there was a great DL thread about marathon runners and how crazy and fucked-up they were.

It was in that thread that I learned that it's common for marathon runners to get sudden bouts of severe diarrhea, and they'll literally squat down, shit on the side of the road, and keep going.

Or in the case of this guy, literally shit all over themselves and keep going.

There's also a bunch of other gross side effects, bleeding nipples, toenails falling off, etc. That right there tells you that the human body wasn't designed for that.

I used to admire marathon runners, but that thread really opened my eyes.

Bloody nipples

More bloody nips

Run hard, put away sweaty

Thanks, R25/R26. This is horrifying and I really didn't need to know about it.

They have nipple guards to protect against the horrors of R25, R26. Those runners really should have invested in a pair.

Extreme running and anorexia are very similar. It’s about taking back control despite the health effects. Both groups get a “high” out of it.

One year at a time.

Does Celine Dion run marathons?

Thanks, I think R25 may have changed my life!

[quote]A while back there was a great DL thread about marathon runners and how crazy and fucked-up they were.

Did you see them continue running and jumping over maimed bodies and debris at the Boston Marathon bombing just to get to the finish line and stop their watches while they were crossing?

Marathon champion going number 2 during marathon.

If diarrhea is a known side effect, it really makes you wonder why they wouldn't just wear adult diapers while running the marathon

R37, they don’t, so they can be all “told you I was hardcore”.

I’ve known more than one middle-aged woman who’s taken up running (or CrossFit) to lose weight and it’s like a midlife crisis thing for them. The marathon seems to be proof of their superiority. I mean, more power to ya, but...

R37 They would lose half their audience.

R39 made me laugh out loud

Aren't they essentially dopamine addicts?

Years ago on Howard Stern they talked about the female winner of the New York Marathon. She had her period and diarrhea at the same time. That must have been a big mess.

I agree the human body isn't made for such abuse. I remember a jazz dance teacher told me that ballet dancers practice so intensely as little kids by their 30s they've done so much damage they have to retire and/or end up teaching ballet themselves.

“Come on, let it all out” “don’t hold anything back” “leave it all on the street” - cries the scat freak audience.

I know someone who’s a runner. He’s the type of person who tells fit and healthy people how fat and unhealthy they are. He’s probably a closet anorexic.

Wise lesson on life: even if you shit yourself, just keep on sashaying

Somewhere a scat queen is on this thread jerking off.

The sick crowd waits with bated breath for the next exploding fire hydrant. There’s your shitshow, HAPPY!

Here's another angle of the same guy in R25 to show just how much shit was splattered on his thighs. Aparently the guy received the nickname "Poop Man" in his Swedish hometown due to his internet fame.

Btw, when you think about it, there's literally only four kinds of people who would shit themselves in public: toddlers, profoundly physically disabled people, the mentally ill, and drug addicts.

Runners aren't toddlers or physically disabled, which means they must fall into one of the other two categories...

Vomiting is also a fairly common occurrence during long distance races

R48 for the love of god

There goes breakfast.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I get Runner’s high from 5k’s. I did a half once and it was fucking horrible

She’s got runner’s face!

It's a cult. But they did some good in the 2012 election when Paul Ryan tried to burnish his marathon times. They came at him like roaches.

I tend to be very happy for those who have completed their first marathon, and passively steer clear of those that make marathons a priority in their life.

But that goes for any extreme activity that isn't overtly productive, and even then I'm concerned for work addiction etc.

I'm already noticing at 30 that while I could use a better diet and time in a gym, those I knew who were heavy heavy physical actors in their 20s either slowed down (maybe too much), found a balance, or ... aged 10+ years in less than 5. You have to know your limits.

Runners have no limits. That high they get must be like crack because running around with poop streaming down your legs is manic behavior.

Recent pic of Poop Man from (the pic in R25 is from 2008, when he was 19).

Marathoners look so ghoulish.

Btw, after the race where he famously shit himself, a reporter asked why he didn't stop to wipe it off. His response:

[quote]"No, I'd lose time," he explained, "If you quit once, it's easy to do it again and again and again. It becomes a habit."

...he finished in 21st place.

What's the point of even 1 marathon?

I've never heard of such an idiotic goal in my life. So you've worked like hell to run 26 miles. Like anybody should give a shit.

Yeah, but runners don't tend to get injured doing what they're doing--except for maybe shin splints--which are horrible but temporary.

Those Crossfit people are always getting surgery for ripped/torn muscles. Once you fuck up your back, it's for life.

I didn't know this until recently but Jackie O often had back pain from being thrown from horses when she was young. That must be miserable. I briefly had back pain once but what an ordeal it must be dealing with it throughout your life.

Marathon runners will say we're just jealous of them because we're fat and lazy.

Pain and injuries are a matter of pride. Like religious cultists who take joy in self inflicted physical torture.

No pain no righteousness.

"Bloody Nipples" would be an awesome name for a punk rock band!

This reminded me of someone I hadn’t seen in a while - a middle-aged man. Asked a mutual acquaintance if he was sick because he looked emaciated and stringy and gray-skinned. He had that hollowing out of the neck that exposes the tendons, and his cheekbones looked very sharp, sunken eye sockets.

He was not sick; he was training for the marathon.

It’s all a matter of balance. I’ve run off and on for decades. A while back I did a few half-marathons. People said, “oh, you’ll want to do a full marathon then.” I said, absolutely not. I never once finished any on those half marathons and thought, “oh, I’d like to run another 13.1 miles — right now.” I now do a few ten-milers, but nothing greater than that.

Cardiovascular fitness is a great thing — but trying to get too much of a good thing is not. I think the same will be true of the insane cross-fit zealots. Weight training is wonderful for your body as you age if you do it properly. The excesses that the cross-fitters go to will likely prove to inflict long-term and long-lasting damage on many of the most ardent adherents.

I've always been struck by Curt Sandoval's face--prime example to me of premature marathon aging; I'm quite sure he's a great guy/father, etc., but HD is definitely not his friend . . . my last manager was a marathon runner; the first time I met him I was extremely repulsed, one of those primal reactions that portended extreme chaos/abuse/disaster in my career. It wasn't just his very bald/shiny head, his myriad eccentricities that further polarized him, or even his extreme OCD about the most minute details of anything--when times were good he always took credit, when down, of course it was all my fault and he always let me know in no uncertain terms how that was attributable to my intrinsic failure as a male . . . needless to say, I left with a six-figure settlement; I understand he's still hanging out on the boulevard in hopes of snagging more young meat . . .

Another thing, marathon, and distance runners, in general, are all showoffs.

[quote]It's a cult. But they did some good in the 2012 election when Paul Ryan tried to burnish his marathon times. They came at him like roaches.

I remember this. It also came out that Sarah Palin's personal best time is faster than his, and boy did they rub his face in it. It was hilarious.

Two back surgeries on my lower back, L4 and L5, and while no further surgeries, I still do have trouble with pains during damp cold weather.