Racing at sixty

I am a novice at this. I am not racing against other sixty-year-olds yet. I am racing the version of me that could not stand up. Every start line is a receipt. The goal for the year I turn sixty is simple: podium in my age group at a Cougar Mountain 5K.

The 2026 calendar

Everything points at the Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park in Newcastle, WA. The 2026 races with a 5K: June 13, July 11, August 8, and the series finale on October 31. I turn 60 on June 28, so June 13 is the warm-up two weeks before the birthday. July 11 is the target, my first race at sixty, the one the whole rebuild points at. August and October keep the season honest. I’ll post a short report here after each one.

Where I’ve been

One race, one data point. My first race back was the Spring Run for Fun 5K at Bridle Trails State Park in Kirkland, March 28, 2026. I signed up as a test: could the body that spent four years getting rebuilt show up at a start line and finish. The answer was yes. Nothing broke, nothing flared, and the next morning I was back in the routine like any other week. That is the foundation this whole season is built on.

How I train

Three short runs a week, usually a 5K each, around thirty-six miles in a strong month and less when life gets in the way. I do not chase volume. Volume is what puts a sixty-year-old spine back on the floor. The running stays simple so the strength work, the PT, and the recovery can do their jobs. The full picture of the week is on the Training page.

The goals behind the goals

Podium or no podium, what I actually want is durability, to still be standing at a start line five and ten years from now. So each race gets judged on two axes. Did I run it well: pace it honestly, finish strong. And did I recover well: did my back hold, can I train again next week. A race that scores on both is a win, regardless of the clock. A race that blows me up for a month is a failure, no matter what the result says. At sixty, the prize is the next race, and the one after that.