Recognition to Old Lady runner here. Don't know if I've ever read a comment on the LR Board from this demographic and I've been on these boards for 12 years now. If you're getting out, running, enjoying life, then you're doing something right now matter how fast you're moving.
Old Lady 25+ minute 5k runner wrote:
60+ yrs old. Fastest ever was 22 (in my 40s), but not coming near that now, even with training. Once took for granted a sub-25. In that I train fairly regularly (long runs, track workouts, strength training, etc.), I'd say I'm a reasonably serious runner by comparison to someone who, say, runs a few miles a few times a week, but by LR standards, I'm not even a shadow of "serious."
But I'm not much for labels. If someone says I'm serious, or if they say I'm not, they're right--it's all relative. Bottom line: it's not that important to me how others, including LR or RW, view my training. What's important is that I make my own best effort in workouts and races, set goals that are enough of a challenge to be worth shooting for, yet realistic enough for me to have at least a chance of reaching. No magazine has to hold my hand and tell me how serious I am for reaching any particular goal.
To RW's credit, they do aim at readers for whom 30 or 25 minutes are more realistic than 20 or 15 minutes. And people have to start from where they are, not from where they wish they were. I would like to see them focus less on music listening gear, though, and I didn't get that piece on races with eating contests--like we really need to encourage more calorie consumption? But useful stuff on going gluten free, and sometimes interesting pieces on elite runners. Which all shows that yes, I do read RW which probably marks me as not serious. C'est la vie!