Jonathan Beverly is editor in chief of Running Times magazine, but he wasn’t fully on board the masters bandwagon until Orono nationals last summer. That did the trick. In the March issue, a wonderful article by Jon chronicles his conversion. Headlined “Embracing time” (which you can read here), Jon’s gem begins: “I have to confess that I used to think masters competitors were a bit pathetic. Not older runners keeping in shape . . . but those serious competitors wearing flashy racing flats and singlets designed for speedsters half their age, grimacing and sprinting as they finished in the middle of the pack. I thought they were in denial: refusing to accept that they really couldn’t compete anymore.”

The article — beautifully illustrated with shots of stars like Jim Sutton, Brian Pope and Kathy Martin — goes on to tell the stories of Pope, Martin, Alisa Harvey and quite a few others. It ends thusly:

In the end, I’ve come to the conclusion that I used to be 180 degrees wrong about masters competitors. We (I can say “we” now) aren’t denying our age. We are reminded, every time we race, nearly every time we run, that we’re slower, and that it isn’t a matter of being out of shape: We’re not going to get back to those fast times ever again.
We know for certain that five years from now, 10 years from now,we will be even slower. We are reminded, every day, that we’ve started down the slope that ends in death. No, competing isn’t denial. Hanging up our flats and believing we are the same we were a decade ago, or that we could run as fast as we used to in a fictional reality — if we had time to train more, if we weren’t injured, if the conditions were better — that would be denial.
Masters are too old to believe those fantasies any more. We know clearly that all the should’ves, could’ves and would’ves are make believe. The “perfect” day when we are at the top of our form and all the stars align never has come in the past, and we don’t have time to wait for it anymore. Today is the only day we’ve got, and we’ll seize it with more passion than a teenager. In attitude, emotions and motivation, masters are little different than we were 10, 20, 30 years ago.
“The only time I know I’m old is when I look in the mirror,” says white-haired (Doug) Goodhue, at 65. Even at 43, looking in the mirror, I can tell I’m getting older: My beard has more grey than brown and the wrinkles on my face are permanent. Considering the cohort I am now a part of, however, the group of healthy, competitive men and women fearlessly embracing time in Orono, I don’t mind.
I’m proud to be a young old runner. I hope I’ll be grimacing toward a finish line at 90, and, you know what? I don’t care what anyone thinks about that.

Jon gets it. And his eloquent writing is infused with truth as well as beauty. He writes in the tradition of the late Dr. George Sheehan, the running philosopher.
Associated with the March focus on masters training is an audio interview by Scott Douglas with Coach Greg McMillan “in which they address many of the particulars that make training different for masters runners from the training advice often found in books for the more general public.”
Here is the page with the 13-minute podcast.
Jon’s a big fan of masters now. I’ve become a big fan of Jon’s.