The returning runner…

The returning runner

Act 43 – Guest Blog with Dan King (World Champion, 8 American Records)

High School and College

I grew up in a running family but I chose wrestling as my first high school sport. At the conclusion of my junior season I realized I was likely going to be relegated to JV my senior year because I was growing and the guys who were established in the heavier weight classes were all better wrestlers than me. So I gave track a try in the spring of my junior year. I gravitated to the longer distances, especially the 2-mile run, because I had no speed but I had decent endurance and I was willing to work hard. I had a good initial season and became one of the better H.S. distance runners in CO through my senior year after a year of training. That gave me the confidence to walk on to the cross country and track teams at the Univ. of CO in Boulder. We had great distance runners at CU even back then. Eventually I earned my way onto the varsity traveling teams for both XC and track. It was a pretty cool sport to do at the Division 1 level in college, I made lots of great friendships and memories. My college running ended inauspiciously at the start of my senior year. I had ramped up my training volume leading into my final year and developed plantar fasciitis (PF) on my right heel. I tried to train and race through this injury in XC but it blew up on me and led to my retirement from collegiate running.

Training, Cross Training, and Fitness

As an adult I’ve always valued fitness and got back into some competitive running in my 30s and 40s. I would occasionally have PF setbacks but time off running would usually take care of it. But once I reached my masters years I could never string together any meaningful blocks of running because of the recurring nature of this injury. That’s when I made the decision to add other endurance activities to my training routine. I valued fitness and still believe it’s key to aging well, so I started cycling and doing the elliptical machines to stay fit. Then I took masters swim classes and added that activity as well. This adaptation became the seed for how I currently train. I realized I could run at a very high level while getting by on much lower running mileage so long as I did adequate endurance training via cross training. Case in point: in 2015 I won my M55 age group at US Cross Country, US Club Cross Country and I got bronze in the 5000m run at WMA, all of this on a grand total of 500 miles of running for the calendar year, complemented by a huge amount of cycling and elliptical training.

My sister Laurie Bruess has been a big motivator in my master’s journey. She recruited me to join her local running club’s team for some of the national XC championships when I was in my early 50s. Plus I got to see how much fun she and her husband Rick were having with masters running and some record chasing. And my wife Monika has been a huge supporter of me chasing my running goals even though her primary competitive sport is tennis.

Dealing with Injuries (mentally and physically)

Plantar fasciitis is by far the worst injury I’ve ever dealt with. I think my chronic problems were a result of trying to run through it initially and then at some point my body laid down a lot of scar tissue over the course of recurrences. It was so frustrating because it could shut my running down for months at a time. I had a lot of dark moments where I considered giving up running, thinking my physiology just wouldn’t support it any more. In my late fifties I had a medical procedure called Tenex to remove some of the accumulated scar tissue. My Dr. also noticed that I had partially ruptured my plantar fascia tendon somewhat recently and he suggested that actually might help with my condition post-surgery. He was right, I’ve been pretty symptom free ever since. But I always worry it will come raging back some day.

I’ve also noticed it’s so much easier to get soft tissue injuries as a 60+ year old runner, especially when I focus on middle distance training. My hamstring and calf muscles are particularly vulnerable to strains, and over the last two years I’ve had to deal with some tendon injuries too. In 2023 I had to take many months off running thanks to my posterior tibialis tendon, and then most recently I injured my proximal hamstring tendon at Club XC this past December. Both were challenging to resolve. A good rehab plan and the discipline to stick with it was key. I think the lesson for me is just how important it is to try and stay consistent with the amount of stress I put on my body through running and then get on good rehab programs right away when I have setbacks. It’s just part of the overall challenge of trying to run at the highest levels in my mid-sixties.

Injuries are the most frustrating when they interrupt preparation for keys races. It’s psychologically excruciating to have a setback that might cost me an “A” race or competition, especially when I know my fitness is really good. This happened to me leading up to WMA in Sweden. I injured my hamstring shortly after turning 65 and kept trying to shortcut my rehab back to healthy running. I managed to turn what should have been a two-week setback into a two-month setback thanks to my anxiety and impatience. Fortunately I got it healed up just before the competition and all the early racing and heats set me up for a strong finish.

As frustrating as PF has been over my adult life, in a weird way I also really appreciate it. I think my forced adaptation to a training approach based on low running mileage has served me well as I age and I also feel like I understand my own training much better based on all the different things I’ve experimented with over the years.

When I look forward, my biggest concern about my longevity in this sport is probably some arthritis I’ve developed in my big toes. The carbon shoe technology has really helped me with this over the past 8 years or so, but at some point I will have to explore surgical options and who knows what my running might look like after that. But I still have some time before I get to that crossroads. In the meantime, I’ll just keep having fun!

65+ Racing and Looking Ahead

I’ve been on a great roll since turning 65. As mentioned, by the end of the WMA competition I managed to win three gold medals: two golds in XC (individual and team honors) and I had one of my best finishes ever in winning gold in the 1500m run. And there were some really great runners in those fields.

Since WMA, I took a shot at some of the American T&F distance records for the M65 age group. As of last week, I have eight pending M65 records: Three in Indoor Track (1500m, 1 mile, and 3000m) and five in Outdoor Track (1500m, 1 mile, 3000m, 5000m and 10000m). Some of these records, like the 1500m and 3000m indoors happened in WMA events. Many of the others were just efforts to see how fast I could go at this age. I’m actually a little surprised how many I lowered because some of them were quite outstanding. In addition to the records, I won my age group in the last 4 cross country championships that I’ve competed in plus two Grand Prix national championship road races. Of all the stuff I run, XC is still tops for me.

While the records have been a fun pursuit, I realize that my favorite aspect of this sport is still being able to go toe-to-toe with the best runners from the US and internationally.  We’re super fortunate to have USATF Masters and World Masters Athletics organize these competitions for us masters athletes, especially now that I’m well into my sixties. And the comradery with like-minded athletes is really special. I’ve met so many great people through this sport and I really hope I can continue to do it for a long time.

Photo: March, 2025 – Dan King dueling Great Britain’s David Clarke in the World Master’s Indoor Championships, Gainesville, Florida (American Indoor Record for Dan – 4:48).