“That old belief that you shouldn’t run as you get older, it’s an old tale.”
At 64, Health First Clinical Documentation Specialist Seher Swenson, and Associate Chaplain Robert Sielski, 80, agree that getting older may have slowed their pace but not their running.
Both got into running later in life. Sielski was an avid swimmer who took up jogging in his 40s because his pool closed for a time. Swenson said she got into running when her daughter left for college and suddenly the day-to-day of transportation and parenting events evaporated.
“I was feeling so lonely, I started joining some friends from Cardiac Rehab who were walking across the causeway.”
Walking led to 5Ks that led to half marathons (typically, 13.1-mile distances). It also led to a rich social life. She’s a member of the Space Coast Sole Sisters and a pacer – someone in a race who is clearly marked and who will run a specific and consistent speed throughout the race – for the Space Coast Runners Club.
“Being out there alone, running alone, can be dangerous, but if you are with somebody, it is much safer, and wherever you live, you can find a meet. You never have to run alone.”
Sielski and Swenson are emblems of the Health First slogan, the future is well.
Their advice for beginning race runners is to take their training slowly, building up to avoid injury, and “enjoy every mile."
READ the full story that appeared in Space Coast Daily HERE.