My Life On the Run: Q+A with Henriette Lazaridis, Novelist and Ultra Runner

On her athletic and life dreams, and what growing older means for both

A quick note: I’m really excited to introduce a new interview series here at The Half Marathoner, in which I talk with members of our community on what running means to them (and has meant to them throughout their lives), how they’re doing it differently as they age — and, I should add, it’s inspired by

Oldster Magazine

, a Substack I’ve fallen in love with over the past year. You can see their full archive of questionnaires here.

I’m excited that

Henriette Lazaridis

, the author of the Substack

The Entropy Hotel

, volunteered to be our first interview, as she’s been such a wonderful contributor to our community here that I knew she’d be fascinating to talk with. She’s the author of the novels The Clover House and Terra Nova, and her work as appeared in publications ranging from Elle magazine to The New York Times. You can learn much more about her at her website, and I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. — Terrell

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How old are you?

63.

What do you love to do with your body as an athlete? (What activities do you love the most — running, rowing, hiking, climbing, etc.?)

I think I love skiing the most, and that means, too, that my favorite part of running is going downhill while trail running, which feels like the closest thing to skiing on dry land. I’m also a rower, which is not just a physical activity but a kind of mindset. Though I’ve cut my rowing back lately to allow for more running, I still identify as a rower.

Do you feel old for your age, young for your age, or ‘just right’? Why?

I feel young for my age — though it’s hard to really gauge what “my age” really is supposed to feel like. I’m surrounded by lots of older athletes who — I have to remind myself — are not the norm for the general population. I’d say I feel young still because I can still do a lot with my physicality, and I still feel pretty strong.

What gives you a sense of satisfaction and fun in the body you’re in, whatever that means to you?

Moving through space with your body is such a gift. To me, it feels like a form of creative expression. I love being able to occupy space in a dynamic way, and to feel my lungs and muscles working well.

What accomplishments as an athlete are you most proud of in your life? What do you look back on and give yourself a high-five for?

Most recently, I’d have to say that the Vermont 50 (km) that I ran two years ago was very satisfying. I remember feeling good the whole time, and managing my foods and hydration really well, and finishing strong. When I think back over my running career, such as it is, I realize that the one time I did the NYC marathon, I did really well! It was a crazy hot day, and this was before chips, and I remember it took seven minutes to cross the start line, and I still was well under four hours. So I’m proud of that now, more than I was at the time.

Maybe my favorite, though, is the Zagori Mountain Running 44km race that’s two days from now, as I sit answering these questions. It’s a bear of a race, with 8,000 feet of elevation gain, tough footing, and blazing heat with no shade for the entire second half. And I did okay (for my age group, I won), and hung in there, and plugged along. I’m proud of that.

What was your upbringing like, in terms of being encouraged to participate in sports, or go for your dreams?

Both my parents were athletic, especially my mother, who had competed at a high level in swimming in Greece (where they were both from). It wouldn’t have been that unexpected for two Greek parents to expect their only child, a daughter, not to engage in sports–and I do remember my father worrying that I would have legs “like soda bottles” if I played too much soccer. But on the contrary, they encouraged me and, rather, behaved like it was not only the most normal thing in the world to want to do sports but also desirable, an important part of being a balanced person.

What do you like most about what you do athletically? What do you like most about this point in your life?

What I find most exhilarating is any movement that involves a sensation of g-forces (at a very small scale, of course!). That’s why skiing or running downhill make me so happy. To work with gravity and speed and to feel the torque within your body is just the best. A swooping wide giant-slalom-style turn on skis is the most exciting feeling I can imagine in all of the sports that I do. Really, any time I have skis on my feet is the best time.

At this point in my life, I’m really happy that I’ve actually gained more confidence as an athlete, more relative strength and endurance for my age. And I’m actually a better skier than I was in my thirties, partly because I train through other sports, but largely because I know how to push myself to try, say, even steeper trails and still ski them well.

What’s difficult about running, hiking, climbing, etc., for you right now? How has that changed as you’ve gotten older?

I wish so much that I had discovered serious trail running twenty years ago. I watch clips of the best in the sport and I marvel at the way they move so quickly uphill, and then I realize that I just can’t do that. Though I’m strong for my age, I’m aware of that limitation. The other thing is that, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more acutely aware that if I want to do various sports, I can’t specialize in any one of them. For two decades, I focused almost entirely on rowing, and it paid off in competition results. Now, though, I don’t want to get to, say, eighty and not have had time to do these other things like run or hike or cycle or ski or do ski mountaineering. Without meaning to be dramatic about it, when you’re 63, you’re counting down a little, so might as well get all the things in now!

What has the age you are now given you — as an athlete, and as a person? What do you like about your ‘right now’?

I am happy to have arrived at a certain level of confidence about what I’m capable of, while at the same time still being willing to try for more. I’m interested in distance — how far could I run without everything becoming miserable? Right now, I like that I do a lot of different athletic pursuits, and I like scouting for new adventures. I feel like now is the time when my obligations — with adult children — are a bit lower, my physical abilities are still strong, and I have the time to try new things out there in the natural world.

How has what you can do athletically affected your sense of yourself, or your identity?

In some ways, I’ve always identified as an athlete. When I was a kid, there was an element of fantasy to it — pretending I was on an Olympic team as I raced home from a friend’s house on my bike, or skied down a trail. In adulthood, it’s been an important part of that balance I mentioned earlier.

I identify as someone who can be capable intellectually and physically, and it means a lot to me to not be defeated by my surroundings. It’s a simple thing, but it matters to me to know that, say, if I have a heavy object to move, I can do it. If I have to climb something, I can. If I have to run somewhere, I can do that too.

What are some of the biggest milestones you’ve celebrated, and are there ones you’re looking forward to?

I’d say the biggest milestone, by external measure, would be hiking Kilimanjaro and spending a night in the crater at 18,800 feet. About 19,300 feet is the highest I’ve been (and might well remain the highest). But I might be most proud of a recent ski trip to Taos where I skied chutes I had been too timid to ski when last there in my thirties. And they didn’t faze me, which is something I carry beyond skiing as a reminder of how to use your confidence. I’m looking forward to the Athens Marathon this November. It’ll be my first road marathon in thirty years, and in my family’s home country, and I know it will be so moving to me to run the last miles into the center of the city I’ve spent summers in my whole life.

Is there someone who has made growing up and growing older inspiring to you, either as a runner/athlete or as a person? How has their example been a model for you?

We are almost exactly the same age, but my best friend Kelley is an inspiration and a model for me in how to be confident and strong and determined. Many of my first competitions as a rower took place with her sitting right behind me, and it’s through that teamwork and friendship that I learned what it is to really push yourself. Even though we haven’t competed together for a few years, she still serves as the reminder and the ally in that kind of strength.

How has the sport you love inspired you in the rest of your life? Have you achieved more, or been bolder — whatever that might mean to you — as a result of your athletic life?

Rowing taught me to push myself for the first time, when I was in my mid-thirties and first learning the sport. I had never really sprinted the way a kind of rowing race requires you to sprint. I’d never understood how you could push your body to nearly the point of fainting but still stay with it. Skiing — as I’ve gotten older — has taught me confidence. Standing at the top of a steep pitch, I now have the confidence to just go, and know that I can ski it fine. That confidence, combined with the knowledge of how I can push my physical limits, has helped me in running and all the other things I do, including in my professional life as a writer.

What adjustments have you made to your age — athletically, in terms of what you can accomplish and what you know your body can do?

Ah, speed. Or, rather, the lack thereof. It’s chastening to see the large gaps between what I’d now consider a good marathon time and what was my good marathon time when I was 32. And in trail running, I know that I just can’t power up an incline the way the younger people do. But on the other hand, I feel like I can endure with the best of them. That’s where age is much less of a factor — if not an actual benefit somehow. As long as my mental game is strong — and, thanks to the lessons I’ve listed in these answers, it is — I feel like I can just keep going, steady and strong, for a long time.

Who inspires you? What do you want to be when you ‘grow up’?

Is it silly to say that runners like Kilian Jornet and Courtney Dauwalter and Emelie Forsberg inspire me? Aren’t we all inspired by them?! Still, they’re the ones I look to and, perhaps irrationally, try to emulate. I look to what they do, and how they do it, and I dilute it for age 63, and then go from there. When I “grow up” I want to be able to keep going out and up into the mountains (and down them on skis). And whenever running and the hard knocks of trails become too much, I can ramp up my rowing again and get back into more serious competition in a sport that’s less stressful and dangerous in many ways.

— Henriette Lazaridis

P.S.: Interested in being part of this series? Let me know, either in the comments or in reply back. — Terrell

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🏃 Run with us in Richmond

In case you missed the announcement a couple of weeks ago, I’m planning on getting us together to run in person for the first time ever, at this November’s Richmond Half Marathon in Richmond, Va., scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 11.

I hope you can make it, as this is something we’ve long discussed here within the THM community, and are finally making a reality. If you can’t, I totally understand! But if you can, visit the official race website to sign up:

In the meantime, we’re following a 16-week half marathon training plan I put together, which you can see here:

I’ll also include our week-by-week training schedule in our Monday newsletter — this week’s miles are right here:

• Tuesday, Aug. 1 — 3 miles

• Wednesday, Aug. 2 — off (or cross-train)

• Thursday, Aug. 3 — 3 miles

• Friday, Aug. 4 — off (or cross-train)

• Saturday, Aug. 5 — 5 miles

• Sunday, Aug. 6 — 3 miles

Have an awesome, awesome run out there! 😃