‘Train Don't Strain!’

All bodies age. Some more gracefully than others. Understanding the inevitabilities of the ageing process can help us manage our expectations as time passes but also enables us to pass on knowledge to future generations whether they be younger familial relations or athletes involved in mentored and structured training programmes. The habitual understanding of the ageing running body can be a valuable tool in these pedagogical moments. In this chapter, I will explore my ageing running body through a self-ethnographic lens, in particular focusing on how I manage moving my congenital impairment. Born with hemiplegia cerebral palsy, which impacts upon the functioning of the right hemisphere of my body, I have lived an active life by anyone's standards. From engaging in mainstream physical education to success on the international stage as a Paralympic middle-distance runner that has now transformed into a life of kinetic retirement, I continue to move and importantly run. Throughout my life, I have consciously reminded myself of the great New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard's call for confidence, intelligence and patience in training for the pursuit of running excellence, for which he used the slogan Train Don’t Strain . As time passes and my body becomes more frail and injuries take their toll, the lessons I have learned shape me but also enable me to be more reflexive in decimation of my knowledges of the running lifecourse to aid those still in the prime of life.