My running has been a big part of my life for the past 29 years. Not only do I enjoy the exercise part of it, I also enjoy the competitive part of it (I've competed in over 800 races).

I'm 77 years old now and still training hard for races, but I simply can't compete with 70 year olds. When I'm running in a race where the five- year age groups stop at 70 I feel like I'm not even part of that race. I feel like I don't even belong there.

Recently I took second to a man who just turned 70 years old. He beat me by one minute in a four-mile race. After looking up my times from when I was 70, I found that my time for a four-mile race was about five minutes faster than they are now. If I were still 70 I would have won the race by four minutes! When you start getting older is when you really need the five-year age groups.

If I could simply stop aging that would solve the whole problem. But as we know, that's not possible. Or I could just sit back and remember the "good old days." But that seems kind of silly when I'm still able to train and compete to the best of my age ability.

I encourage race directors to continue five-year age groups higher so that everyone who has trained hard has a fair chance to win their age group.

If the older generation is to be welcomed and included in the world we live in, I would hope Race Directors would take this matter into consideration when planning the next race.