Ed Whitlock

So Ed's in the news again...

For those who may not know who he is, Ed Whitlock is a native of London, England who now lives in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a runner as a kid but then picked the sport back up in his early 40s. He's now 85 years old and he's crushing (new) age-group records as you might imagine.

He ran a 1:50 half marathon earlier this year and then a 3:56 at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this past weekend. Whitlock even ran a 2:58 as recently as 11 years ago. His training runs are three hours long and wind through his local cemetery. I am amazed by his times, his performances, and his training. Maybe I can be like him when I grow up.

As a running store employee, the thing I read that made me cringe was when I read about his 15-year old running shoes and how he didn't race in 2015 because of knee problems. It's not my place to say, since Whitlock's been running longer distances for much, much longer than I have. But it's possible there's a connection. Although he's back and seemingly better than ever this year. Who can say.

Whatever the case may be, I hope Ed keeps on keeping on.

On the homefront, October has been an up and down month. I'd stayed off the road trying to heal a head cold, and then as I played catch up (never a good idea) I noticed my left calf try to seize up very early during a second run of the day. No running for six days.

Weekly mileages were down to 16 and 14 before last week's 26, which included an eight-miler on Saturday. Man it's nice to run at noon when it's 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

There's even an outside chance I can make my monthly goal of 90 miles. I'm feeling really good out there these days.