Growing old as a runner is like changing residences. Your body is no longer a youthful temple; it has transformed into what Realtors call a "fixer-upper" and you are the handyman constantly attending to stiff muscles, sore tendons, achy joints and dull pains.

If you heed the advice "listen to your body," you may actually hear clicks and squeaks in your knees and ankles as you walk downstairs first thing in the morning. But changes are going on elsewhere too.

Age tends to level the competitive playing field. Guys who 20 years ago trained fanatically, logging 100 miles a week, may not be able to run 50 now. However, if you used to run 40 miles a week at a comfortable pace in the 1980s, it is likely you can still do so. Those tortoises, who routinely got beat by the hares in their youth, may now find themselves passing those one-time speedsters.

And those Johnny-come-latelies who didn't even start running until they were in their forties may now be racing past the ancient tortoises and hares.

Racing Tips for Aging Runners

If you are patient and use the wisdom that allegedly comes with age, you can still be a healthy and happy competitor. You just have to look at things differently.

Let's start with shoes. Most old runners have logged tens of thousands of miles over several decades. Our foot suspension is not light and springy anymore; our arches have likely flattened and x-rays may reveal spidery bone lines of old injuries.

Ditch the racing flats. Wear training shoes for your races. Furthermore, buy new shoes every 400 to 500 miles, even if your current ones still look nice and have good rubber left on the heels. You can't see it, but the mid-sole of those old shoes has lost its cushioning.

Warm-ups are key for the older runner. You wake up stiff in the morning, even after days you don't run. If you start your day with a run, first shuffle, then jog, and finally -- sometimes a couple miles later -- run. Even then, some days you may just never loosen up.

All training programs emphasize easing back on workouts as you taper before a race. With older runners, the taper is a flat line -- no running at all for the last two or three days before a race. In this way, you may actually arrive at the start with no muscle stiffness.

Don't be deceived. No matter what your brain tells you, you're still as old as the Rolling Stones and this race will not mark your return to the good old days.

As you near the starting line, do a couple run-outs to make sure you can hold a reasonable race pace; but realize once the gun fires, a good chunk of the field will still pull away from you.

That includes women. Banish all thoughts of, "No woman is gonna beat me" -- they can and will.

Racing is Tough on Everyone

Racing is painful for everyone. If you're running hard, no matter how old you are, it still hurts plenty.

Senior runners find that their leg muscles tire before their lungs do. When our aching quads won't push us any faster, our wind allows us to talk with other runners. Thus, as racers pass me, I often cheerily wish them "good luck" or tell them they're "looking good."

One might observe philosophically that because older runners take more time to complete the race distance, they are getting more for their entry fee.

The home stretch is no longer a venue for heroic sprints. If you haven't been practicing sprinting, don't try it now or your hamstrings are apt to split open like the skin of bratwurst on a hot grill. Just quicken your turnover and gamely short-stride it to the line.

Seconds after crossing, expect to have a race official hover next to you asking, "Are you OK?" Yeah, we probably do look awful and feel terrible, but no worse than when in our thirties.

The difference is that where everyone expects young runners to recover, we old guys have faces that look like ones in obituaries. Race officials fear we might expire right there in the chute.

Good News for Senior Runners

Recent studies by David Costill, Stephen Blair and Ralph Paffenberger indicate people who exercise regularly can expect to live two to seven years longer than people who don't -- and those should be healthy years as well. The down side is exercisers are more likely to die during or just after working out.

That sounds good to me. I'd rather live longer and die quickly on a trail run, where no one would be there to drag me into a hospital and run tubes up my arms.

Though I've often heard scoffers say we are out of our minds to be running, a recent Seattle-based study tells otherwise. Tests of more than 1,700 men and women who were 65 or older and exercised at least three times a week, showed them 32 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's or dementia. I can't think of a better reason to be out there running.

It is easier running when young, no doubt. But if we listen to our bodies, we older runners can stay away from most injuries. In addition, those daily runs burn up calories, so we can still stay trim and eat better than our sedentary peers.

Although sometimes our bodies ache a little, most days it feels good to be out and running. Plus, if the science is correct, we are going to enjoy longer, healthier lives.

Where I once wondered what it would feel like to be still running as a senior citizen, I now know. It feels pretty good. MR

Dave Foley, retired Michigan Runner Editor and Cadillac High School coach and teacher, has hardly retired from being active. But at age 59, he takes things a step at a time, he says.