Getting Older and Better
The Volkslaufe races have been held on July 4th in Frankenmuth, Michigan since 1976. The name “Volkslaufe” means “the people’s race” in German. Frankenmuth is my wife’s hometown so I started running the 10k after we got married in 1986 and have probably run it almost 30 times since.
The course has been the same for years. It starts on grass by the river, comes up a hill into the city, heads out into the corn fields on country roads before coming back into the city, crossing the covered bridge and finishing back in the park by the river. July 4th is usually hot and humid especially in the fields with no shade. The locals support the race and have cheering sections along the course in town.
Looking back at my finishing times from the last 15 times I ran the Volsklaufe 10k I’m pleased to see that my times haven’t slowed that much. In fact, this year’s time of 51:42 was faster than my finishing times in 2006, 2012, 2015 and 2018. It was about 2 minutes slower than 2021, 2020 and 2019 but I was training more those years. So at 66 yeas of age I’m telling myself that although I’m getting older, I’m still getting better.