Read on: danhwilliams.com

Read time: 2 minutes

At the end of 2016 three of us set up Trelissick parkrun* in the heart of beautiful Cornwall. Since then it's powered to:

One of those finishers, and a regular volunteer was Ken (*name changed) an 85 year old gent.. 

And he's not alone on the Run Britain rankings 👏👏

The clues run through these Newsletters..

AND particularly the links in last week's Christmas Newsletter...

The thought of running for another 30 years ❤️

Let's work backwards..

If you're well aligned then you're off to a head start. An anatomical bonus that avoids loading through one side of your knee or the other. 

John + Dai told us that story. If your alignment is off central, does that mean you can't run..?

No, absolutely not..

Different condition, but malalignment didn't stop Usain Bolt..

Knees (and hips) don't just wear out but fracture, ligament injury or infection are accelerators of OA 

Obviously there's an element of luck here, but..

Again, not 'no, no's' but you need to focus in on the rest of Ken's list..

Cut out Boom + bust, avoid lunging movements, deep hip flexion and be inspired by Jackie here..

This was the key lesson that parkrunner Ken taught me. I was parkrun co-ordinator one Saturday..

KEN: Can I volunteer near the start line?

ME: Sure.

KEN: I'm running a 10k race tomorrow. 

ME: Ah, you don't want to walk out into the field then..?

KEN: Yeah, any roles near the start?

ME: Sure. Fancy timekeeping..?

That stuck with me. At the age of 85, Ken was still running. BUT he had zero tolerance of Boom + Bust.

Enough said (and written) about the force of bodyweight 👊

Suffice to write.. can you picture how Ken's was built..?!

Here I listen to my old man..

..I always listen to my father. Well, when it comes to running at least 😁

By doing all these things Ken had kept going. 

He'd stayed strong. He'd kept on keeping on..

Yeah, sure, with a dose of anatomical + injury luck.

If you're well aligned and avoid injury..

And, importantly, stick to Ken's key principles.

Stay strong. Keep moving. And good luck for 2026 👊

I'll let you know how the upgrade of the www.lifetimehip.com website is going. 

If I go quiet you know I've got distracted. Remind me, keep me honest to our aims..

Let's take a look at the New Year ahead 👊

..cover these principle and more, in more depth, with proven actions to do more with less pain..