I have been a competitive runner for more than 70 years and, as more years go by, I keep finding more good reasons to keep running. The latest, totally unexpected, is that it puts you in peak shape for surgery.
Not your problem? You’re 100 percent healthy? Symptom free? Regular medical checks showing all clear? Super-fit for running? So was I.
The simple reality is that serious medical problems, and in some cases surgery, are an increasing hazard as you move through your sixties, seventies, and eighties. We are, it seems, mortal, although I don’t recall ever agreeing to that arrangement. In my case, the out-of-the-blue diagnosis was the early detection of lung cancer.
I’m not writing to make a drama from that all-too-common experience, which was, in my case, skillfully and successfully dealt with. I want to pass on the main lesson I learned from the last six months: that being a runner in good shape made the whole process smoother, safer, faster, and less damaging long-term.
Full disclosure: I have no medical qualifications, nor special knowledge other than as a thoughtful lifelong runner. The remarks that…
