Wednesday morning, I did a one hour workout with a group of women, most of whom were in their 80s. Wednesday evening, I did a half-marathon training run with a group mostly in their 20s. Despite being at opposite ends of the demographic scale, the similarities between the two groups were more striking than the differences.

Challenging coaches. Salli Benedict has been leading Salli’s Senior Workout for Chapel Hill Parks & Rec since 1987. Based on my 60 minutes with her, the popularity likely has to do with the fact that she puts all 60 minutes to use. Her class, a mix of yoga, aerobics, and toning exercises that she continues to tweak after 23 years, is just a kind of boot camp in that it is varied, demanding, rewarding. Lots of encouragement, no coddling. The same could be said of the afternoon workout. After our second 1,000-meter run, coach/mentor Keith Ferguson asked, “Are you good with this pace, or would you like to pick it up a little?”

Social element. One thing I’ve noticed in the various classes I take and sit in on is that the social element is almost as important as the physical. People who sweat together tend to like to share together as well. Thus, a good coach for adults doesn’t discourage the chance to build CO2 capacity during a workout. Topics in the morning session ranged from a recent luncheon to a weekend yard sale that raised $41,000 for a local charity to a health update on a member who left the group last year (she’s 94). In the running group the talk was of upcoming races and, these being largely single 20somethings, a weekend party.

Goals. The evening run consisted of a mile warm-up, five 1,000-meter runs at race pace, a half-mile cool down. I ran the 1,000-meter runs with Ferguson, a mentor (an experienced runner who helps us with pacing and offers advice). Ferguson, who is 26, ran track and cross-country and Northern Nash High School, but injuries left him with some unfinished business. By year’s end, he hopes to: Break 5 minutes in the mile (his H.S. PR is 5:12), run an 18-minute 5K (he recently ran a 19:12), qualify for the Boston Marathon. After the morning session, Stell, a retired PE teacher who retired to Chapel Hill with her husband in 1984 and has had both hips replaced (one twice), came up to me and said, “This is serious. It keeps my body moving.”

Support. Immediately after the morning workout, three classmates wanted to know if I enjoyed myself, one asked if I’d be back. My running coaches and mentors are always good to push, quick to praise. After a particularly brisk 8-mile run Saturday, mentors Meghan and Rita were quick to praise me for pushing the pace — despite the fact I was running behind them.

No whining. Rather than kvetch about the heat in the workout room, the morning group elected to wait until the air was turned on, then comment on how nice the cool air felt. The evening group was effusive in its thanks for the first sub-90 degree evening workout of the summer.

Glad to be done. Despite the nice sub-90 degree evening whether, the evening group nevertheless declined the coaches’ offer to do another 1,000 meters. Unaccustomed to some of the yoga moves in the morning session, my taxed body assumed at one point that we had to be close to done. I glanced at the clock: 10:01.

We had another half hour to go.

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Photo: Salli’s Seniors (that’s Salli Benedict, second from right) warm up with a group neck massage.

I’ll write more about Salli Benedict and her long-lived Salli’s Senior Workout next week.