By David Summerfield

Let’s be honest here—how many of those who read this Mature Runner article (you loyal BSWD’ers) are out there running, walking, biking—doing whatever the body can handle, and all that just to live longer? I challenge everyone to be ruthlessly honest. We all know we are physically active because it makes us feel good…and we all love living an active lifestyle…but what part of that reasoning also includes that little nagging thought, “This will help me live as long as I can” or rather “I want to keep running as long as the ‘ole bod will allow it”?

Now that that’s settled, what if you found out modern science has suddenly come out with an anti-aging discovery that makes dying highly unlikely? (See my series of articles (Sept, Oct, Nov 2020) about Dr. David Sinclair and his Harvard Medical School research which predicts we’ll be living at least until 120 in good health). Living forever? How does that sound? And it only includes moderate exercise with plenty of rest and good food! (I suppose consuming such good foods as donuts and ice cream isn’t on the list…but who knows?). Something tells me this is more “just around the corner” than we think!

While doing some research on what’s called the technological singularity, I’ve opened up a real Pandora’s Box! Quantum scientists have been studying black holes (no, those aren’t chocolate donut holes) and how matter gets sucked up into them. (Many excuses to the real scientists in the running club, Rob Maher! I know I’m oversimplifying here…). Now these scientists think the vast majority of what constitutes the Universe is mostly made up of black holes. And in the process of this work, they have developed highly advanced computers, which I’ve learned is just another name for artificial intelligence, or let’s just say it—robots. And they are being programmed to be “smarter” than humans. This has opened up a whole new branch of science dealing with the singularity—the term for what happens to celestial objects (suns, galaxies, etc…like donuts) which gain infinite weight as their mass becomes infinitesimal, thus reaching what’s called the “event horizon.” Telescopes have watched this happen, and these objects just disappear into the black hole (along with my promise of fewer doughnuts).

Anyway, these supercomputers, while still being willing to help humanity solve its problems (instead of just getting rid of us), they are figuring out the whole aging process and how to reverse/stop it. One scientist who really stood out (Ray Kurzweil) has come up with the year 2045 as the year humanity will be at its own “event horizon.” This implies the technology will have accelerated so much, we will have reached the land of “no more dying.” I even found a more recent estimate of our singularity as being between 2027 and 2029. They are serious enough to advise financial planners to change their calculations on their clients’ longevity. This means to make sure cash is available for living way past 100 – and in good health. And something tells me it will include cutting back on extreme endurance sports, extreme eating, but who knows?

Even more chilling is the possibility that this technology has already been developed, but is being kept from the general public since it would completely upend civilization as we know it. There are well-thought-out articles on solving the problem of over-populating the world if no one ever dies, and they are convincing—to me, at least. I know when I spent those three months trying to explain Dr. Sinclair’s work in the Wind Drinker, I was fairly light-hearted about it all. But now I see this is much more serious stuff. Ray Kurzweil’s articles and books are so darn convincing. He’s not a “mad scientist”, which you’ll see if you look up his credentials. He has been called the modern Thomas Edison—inventing all sorts of advanced tech stuff. So, it’s natural for him to encourage the general public to approve the joining of AI (artificial intelligence) with the human…which means infusing our bodies with chips and whatnot so we can interface seamlessly with our computers or with ICC (Intelligence Central Command – I made that up, I hope). I’m still trying to keep a straight face while typing this article out. And I keep assuming in my rational brain that all this will never happen….until I read that a robot named Sophia had just been made a citizen of Saudi Arabia!

How does that grab you? I watched her interview, which was straight out of a scifi movie. So, this is happening now 🙂 Where do we go from here? All I can come up with is to follow the science and be informed. I’m still trying to eat good food, exercise as usual, be happy and not stressed, sleep well, and yes, eat the donuts I come across.

Confession: Stacy and I have been on a 2-week trip to New Mexico, and in a little out-of-the-way grocery store we found a box of mini cinnamon donuts, $4.99. Boy did I snatch that up quickly! But then while the box dwindled away, I felt bad about not eating “good food” and left the remaining 3. Today, I found the box with 3 rock-hard mini-donuts in it. Could I throw them away? NO WAY. I nearly broke a tooth trying to bite into them, but with a little help of a cup of coffee, I got them down. Donuts rule – if it kills me 🙂

By Gary Hellenga

In my time as a Wind Drinker, I’ve come to recognize those who I consider “core” members – regular attendees at our Fun Runs and races. Some I see at pretty much every summer fun run I attend, others might be “missing” a couple of weeks (“where’s [insert name here] tonight?”), until I’m told they are on a family trip or out of town for a race. And then, there’s Leonard …

Those who’ve attended one of our weekly Fun Runs have probably noticed Leonard Baluski there, because … well, he’s always there! Leonard sets the standard for participation in our Fun Runs and I’m sure he has at least one of every type of BSWD swag we’ve ever offered over the years as Participation Awards.

Longtime members of the club may remember Tim Dumas. He was a great runner, he was also a talented sports reporter for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Back in 2008, Tim profiled Leonard and his numerous running streaks – at the time, he’d run 21 straight Governor’s Cup 5Ks, and the same number of consecutive Sweet Pea races. He’d done Bloomsday 18 times in a row, and he’d also done 188 straight Wind Drinker Fun Runs! Tim’s article is still available to read here. (I hope it’s not behind a paywall for those who don’t subscribe).

In a summer where I myself was a most inconsistent Fun Run runner, I managed to make it out to our Sept. 15 Fun Run at Kirk Hill. It was a most unusual run (but an excellent set of courses, masterminded by our VP Neal Rainey!) it was super smoky, though it started with “Good” air quality, It got dark early, and a number of runners finished by headlamp. It was also pretty lightly attended (maybe for the aforementioned reasons). But Leonard was there. In fact, this run marked the 500th straight Fun Run that Leonard has attended! In honor of the occasion, a group of our members, led by Andrea Abrahamson, organized a small celebration of Leonard’s accomplishment, including a cake that was gladly consumed by the attendees at the end of the runs!

I’ve been running a long time – now 60, I started as a high school sophomore, so I’ve been doing it for more than 45 years. But though I’ve actually been running longer than Leonard has, I can’t come anywhere close to matching ANY of his running streaks – not even on the races that are only held annually!  I wish Leonard the best, and hope he continues to extend these streaks for many years yet to come.