From yesterday’s early morning run (this time, I only ran 14 km!)

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a beautiful weekend and you’re now ready to put on your sneakers and get your butt out the door too. :)

For me running is the ultimate expression of human freedom. And it makes me feel alive and connects me with who I am.

I’m so excited to go running that I almost count the minutes until next time I lace up and hit the road. I absolutely love it!

However, I got to the conclusion that no matter how much I love running, it takes a little of effort from me to keep the LOVE fresh. So if you also want to make progress but keep it fun too, then variety is very important.

Mix strength training into a run

What I love to do is, for example, every 5 km I stop for a few seconds and do 15 incline pushups …

20 squats

15 triceps bench

and finishing with at least 15 pushups.

And REPEAT until it hurts. And when it hurts, get going and keep running!

And NOW on with today’s story

Meet Bill Benson, 96-year-old, who last week became the oldest runner to ever complete the Fifth Avenue Mile, New York City. Benson has won his age group 13 times at the Fifth Avenue Mile and held the mile world record in the 85-year-old division at 9:18. The funny story is that he took up running again and serious when he was 60. Since then, he’s run 19.781 miles and competed in 941 races. His goal is to reach 20.000 miles and 1.000 races.

Read his story here – 96-Year-Old Becomes Oldest Finisher of the 2015 Fifth Avenue Mile