Still Running at 75

Those of us of a certain vintage may recall, albeit fleetingly, the 1967 film ‘The Dirty Dozen’, starring such Hollywood luminaries as Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Donald Sutherland. This group of military sociopaths earned their moniker when, as a result of persistent insubordination, all of their washing and shaving kits were withheld. They eventually went on to complete their pre-D-Day mission with only one survivor.

Fast forward to the present where the Shropshire Shufflers has its very own ‘Slightly Scruffy Dozen’ (SSD). There are no known sociopaths in the group and all seem to have access to modern-day washing facilities! The SSD are united by two factors viz a love of running and a 75+ year profile.

As part of my research for this article I invited each of them to complete a simple questionnaire along the lines of ‘How long have you been running’ and ‘What advice would you give your younger self?’. Analysis of the replies showed that the vast majority of the SSD have been running for at least 35 years. As someone who is in the early stages of my fifth year, I was very impressed. The range of runs and venues was equally eye-opening: Marathons in London, Manchester, Paris and New York with ½ Marathons (San Francisco) and 10Ks sprinkled over the globe.

All of the above begs the question – why keep running? You won’t be surprised to learn that enjoyment and camaraderie feature heavily, with a love of competition not far behind. One particular reply caught my attention; ‘Nobody told me to stop’. There was also a high degree of commonality in the advice given to the younger self viz ‘If you haven’t already started, get some running shoes and go!’. Oh how I wish I had listened all those years ago!

This got me thinking about the main character in one of my favourite novels ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ – a World War 1 tale of the German soldier, Peter Baumer who, towards the end of the novel, is killed by a sniper. The sniper angle linked me to a poem written by very young army officer, Charles Hamilton Sorley, when he was 19. The poem is called ‘The Song of the Ungirt Runner’. Like the fictional Peter Baumer, Sorley was killed by sniper fire in 1915 when he was 20. For me the concluding lines of his poem sum up why we do what we do

‘and we run because we like it

Through the broad bright land’

My particular thanks go to Alan Morris, Brian Morris, Iain Day, Ian Prior, Des Lee and Patrick Lewis for their insightful contributions. As the old saying goes ’I couldn’t have done it without you’.

Mark Leahy