DAMIEN> I started running roughly 15 years ago. Cause I didn't get to do it when I was younger. I, a lot of people say, well, they were in high school, but they ran in college.

I didn't get to do that, I was working by the time I was in high school, so I didn't start to run again until about 15 years ago when I discovered Masters Track and Field.

DAN> And what was the trigger for getting you into the masters?

I was coaching kids. Okay. I was coaching kids, and I went to what they call an all-comers meet.

Yep. And I saw older people running and I was. Whoa, wait, what about, Hey, yeah. What about me? I can, I can still do that. Right? And so they said, “Well join Masters Track and Field. And I went, ah, you mean we get another shot at this? We get to do it more again. Yeah. They said, sure. And I went in two weeks later I was running in my first meeting.

DAN> Awesome. And what advice do you give masters athletes?

Right now that we have a spirit of 16 and an age of maybe 76 or 66 or 56, what advice would you give us to keep that spirit in check and not get injured?

DAMIEN> Well, the main thing is to keep in mind that you are 76. Okay? You're not 16 anymore. 16-year-olds, they're invincible.

You are not. Note to self. You are not invincible. What you have to do is, is be consistent. Don't try and do too much. Listen to your body. Okay? When it says something to you, pay attention. It will tell you. Don't act like you're 16 and ignore it.

Even if it's a twitch, pay attention to it because as I said, 16, 17, you think you're invincible. It doesn't matter what you do. So you have to make sure that you're paying attention and, where you are and know the difference between pain and injury. You know, pain doesn't mean you're hurt so much, it just means this is uncomfortable.

Right. If your body starts to say, okay, this is now an injury. Yep. That's it. Stop. Wait until you heal.

DAN> And I want you to think about this before you answer it but give the Masters Track audience and the others in the New Heart for Life world in one word; “What does Masters Track mean to you.

Persistence - that would have to be the word.

Because that's what it takes. Don’t let yourself be discouraged and be persistent. And that's what I mean earlier when I said; Take your time, get yourself in shape. Move slowly. Don't try and do it all at once. Don't try and think all of a sudden, I can still do what I did.

Baby steps. Be persistent about it. Be persistent. You do a little bit today, a little bit tomorrow. I often talk to some of my friends. They say, well, what do I need to do? I say,

This is what you do. You haven't walked in a long time. You haven't been doing this.

What you need to do is a little bit. Give me 10 minutes every night, 10 minutes of something, some exercise every night for 10 minutes.

Persistence is power, persistence, and just keep at it. Keep at it.

And, you'll find that your body starts to respond accordingly.

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