This past weekend the national cross country championships were held for Open runners, Masters 40+ and 60+, to name a few. A former Luther College teammate named Dan Johnson, about whom I’ve written on a couple occasions, finished sixth overall in a per-mile pace of 6:06. That’s a really wonderful accomplishment. 

Dan’s team Run N Fun placed second overall in the men’s 60+ category. Nice job fellows. 

The guy who won the 60+ individual title is named Joe Sheeran. He’s a product of Illinois where I live. He competed for Eastern Illinois University back in the day and led their team to a national championship if I recall correctly.

Joe was a terror on the roads as well in the early 1980s, winning big races and competing at a national level for a number of years. Over the last 10 years, he’s won a number of masters championships on the roads and in cross country. 

At last weekend’s national XC championships, Sheeran averaged 5:49 per mile on a 8K cross country course. He’s 61 years old and thus seems ageless in many respects. Dan and Joe are examples to all of us who want to keep running as fast as we can for as long as we can in this race we call life. 

It goes to show there’s no excuse for not running hard if you can. So go out and run harder today or these “old guys” like these will keep on kicking your ass. I know there’s nothing I like better than passing people with ages much younger than mine written on their calf or arms. Kicking ass if fun at any age. 

Go out and kick some of your own.