For Runners, Older Is Not (Much) Slower

“Age for me is just a number.” So says Haile Gebrselassie, the 38-year-old holder of world records for many fastest marathon times. In this case, there is science to back up bravado. Tom Sims reports in the New York Times that when researchers at the German Sports University Cologne took a close look at the finishing times of 400,000 marathon and half-marathon runners between the ages of 20 and 79, they found no relevant differences in the finishing times of people between the ages of 20 and 50. And the times for runners between 50 and 69 slowed only by 2.6 to 4.4 percent per decade. The numbers please: Sims reports that in 1980, the median age for a marathon runner was 34 for men and 31 for women. By last year, the age had risen to 40 for men and 35 for women. People over 40 now comprise 46 percent of finishers, up from 26 percent in 1980. Want to see how Haile Gebrselassie trains? Watch the video below.