As I Grow Older

I took up running just after my 28th birthday in 1978. This was just before

the mass running boom of the 1980s when people used to point and stare at
runners in the streets of Edinburgh. Now they don't seem to bat an eyelid.
They just stand transfixed like sheep as you motor on towards them just to
dodge the same way as you at the last minute.

I was told that people tend to take up sports when they turn 30 to "fend
off middle age". I decided I need a head start of two years (incidently it
didn't work). We called it "The Ferranti Un-Athletic Club" since twice a
week a few of us went to Saughton Park from Ferranti at Robertson Avenue.
The Ferranti Athletic Club itself at the time comprised of giants in
Scottish Athletics such as Bob Coburn and Alex Jackson.
We did a couple of laps of the old shale track, followed by physical jerks
(no comments please), then a lap of the track to finish. That was me wasted

until the next time. We all ran in Plimsoles -none of your £80 a shot
trainers. I also remember we got the track and changing for 10p a head !

I blame Evan Cameron, a former marathon champion for getting me mixed up in

"proper" running . He joined Ferranti about the same time and decided that
he could do something with us. He persuaded us that we might get on better
if we trained harder, and entered a team for the now defunct Ferranti
inter-departmental cross country race. "Training harder" meant running at
least three days a week and a lot further (3 miles). The race day came and
the team won. I was well down the field.

I was not put off. Rather than stop training, I continued and Evan
persuaded me to join ESH. He told me that the CC League Races were fairly
easy and had a low standard (compared to him !). My first cross-country
race was at Hawick - Wilton Park, which was a mere jog compared with the
horrors of some of the later courses (I still have nightmares about the
National). I could not believe the speed that the field set off at -no fun
runners here. I finished about 4th last. Major Webb-Bowen, if anyone
remembers him, was last - but he was an inspiration - if he wasn't
embarrassed then neither was I. I think the next race was the XC relay at
Hawick Race Course -by then I'd got over the shock.

Initially I only gave my running career a couple of years, but here I am
over 20 years on and still at it. Admittedly the running boom helped as
there was a sudden injection into the sport of very slow runners, so it
felt as though I was improving more than I really was.

In the early days I improved steadily and probably peaked in about 1988
when I discovered injuries. After that no matter how hard I trained, I
could not improve. As the years have gone on I now find that I have to
train hard just to keep the decline at a manageable level. I now realise
why so many runners gave up before veteran athletics took off. Now with all

the age categories it does not seem so bad, although I am still being
cuffed by over-55s. Also with fewer giving up, the standards in the age
groups are improving so even veteran athletics is getting harder.

I've now decided I am just going to keep running -If Bert McFall and Sandy
Cameron can do it -so can I. Today I ran the 25th Aniversary Cauldstane
Slap Race. It had barely gone four years when I started -my aim now is to
win the 50th.