Getting Older and Running…

Other then the occasional run for fun and sport, I did not pick up a real love for running until I was 36.  And it was not love at first step, but over time what started off as a chore to rid a few extra pounds turned into a hobby then into a life-style.  Getting and feeling old…well that came along for the ride.

This past fall I turned middle aged, and although both my parents are still around, it hit me that any unexpected phone call from my home town area code could be bad, bad news.  And what also hit me was that in the normal course of life…that meant, TAG, I (our generation) was next.  Good Grief, Charlie Brown I don’t feel old enough to be the “next” generation on the Grim Reaper’s Rolodex.

But I refuse to be old.  I refuse to feel old.  Heck I refuse and double dog dare myself NOT to live old.  The calendar may tell a different story but my life will be youthful.   

For the aches and pains of getting out of bed…I will run farther.  For the new found hair growing out of my back…I will run faster.  And for all the short term memory loss…I’ll run another marathon.  Yes, I will take on old age and if I can not win the war, I’ll win each battle, each engagement by engagement.

At 45+ I’m really in the best shape of my life.  I eat better today then I ever have.  My aerobic capacity is better today then at any point in my life. But I do need a few extra steps to get rolling after sitting for a long time…So I’ll go for a 20 plus mile run once a month just to remind myself I can.

In the past year I have logged some of the best “quality” running miles of my career.  I’ve run longer races, run more long runs over shorter periods of time and really came into my own as a endurance runner.  But yet, the first few steps in the morning my bones are telling me just how old I am…So I’ll do another 24 hour run!

This year I ran my 6th full marathon, and although my finishing time was not what I wanted, I was in control of the run the entire race.  My body performed as it was trained, and then I capped off last year with my first 50K race.  I could not have imagined doing this 25 years ago.  Yet my feet hurt when walking during the cold hours of a winter morning…So I’ll run 3 marathons this year, running only two in a year is for old people!

Getting old sucks…and I plan to fight it every step of the way.  I’ve got to fight it…the songs says so “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys-R-US Marathon Running kid.”

Really I’m okay with growing old, God has a plan for my life, and I’m running to be with him.