Today marks a special day. Not one I'd normally make a big deal of. Quite the opposite actually. I'm a wallflower, one who doesn't like the attention (which I realise is opposite of people who write blogs but I do this for accountability & history for myself more than promotion) of what a birthday usually gives you. But it's special because I've now entered into a new age group category for my races.
As of 12:51 pm and the publishing of this post, I'm 30. Now I'll be the youngest in the age group but that doesn't mean anything. Women in the 60's can totally trump my times in every possible distance.
But it's funny how I think of my age in terms of running/racing. The girl that beat me by one second a few weeks ago? She won't be in my age group next year at the race. And now that I'm 30, will I notice a difference in my running? Will I get faster? Or a tad slower? They say that runner's reach their peak in their 30's. I'm hoping that's the case with me. My body aches a bit more in the morning than it used to 5 years ago. My waist is not as defined. My stomach is a bit softer. I understand that, it's just the way the cookie crumbles unfortunately.
I'm not too worried about my timeline otherwise; getting married, having babies, buying a house, etc. I don't hear the biological clock ticking. I'm comfortable where I am. I'm happy with my life and where it's going. My job that I have, my close family though they are physically far from me, the great friends that have put up with me. The only thing that has really thrown me off this year has been my mother's cancer and then my father's health problems later. With me getting older, it means my parents are getting older as well. And that my friends, scares me. So much so I've scheduled myself to have the BRAC test to determine if I carry the gene for breast or ovarian cancer (which my grandmother had and my mother). Doesn't mean I'll actually get the cancer but better to be safe than sorry.
Anyway, so I'll have to remember to check a new box when I register for races. Luckily, I've had a bit of time to get used to it. Normally from my father's birthday on Nov 7, I start saying I'm the next year older. But since June, when I help a friend celebrate his new decade, I've considered myself 30 as well. So the mind is already there.
As of 12:51 pm and the publishing of this post, I'm 30. Now I'll be the youngest in the age group but that doesn't mean anything. Women in the 60's can totally trump my times in every possible distance.
But it's funny how I think of my age in terms of running/racing. The girl that beat me by one second a few weeks ago? She won't be in my age group next year at the race. And now that I'm 30, will I notice a difference in my running? Will I get faster? Or a tad slower? They say that runner's reach their peak in their 30's. I'm hoping that's the case with me. My body aches a bit more in the morning than it used to 5 years ago. My waist is not as defined. My stomach is a bit softer. I understand that, it's just the way the cookie crumbles unfortunately.
I'm not too worried about my timeline otherwise; getting married, having babies, buying a house, etc. I don't hear the biological clock ticking. I'm comfortable where I am. I'm happy with my life and where it's going. My job that I have, my close family though they are physically far from me, the great friends that have put up with me. The only thing that has really thrown me off this year has been my mother's cancer and then my father's health problems later. With me getting older, it means my parents are getting older as well. And that my friends, scares me. So much so I've scheduled myself to have the BRAC test to determine if I carry the gene for breast or ovarian cancer (which my grandmother had and my mother). Doesn't mean I'll actually get the cancer but better to be safe than sorry.
Anyway, so I'll have to remember to check a new box when I register for races. Luckily, I've had a bit of time to get used to it. Normally from my father's birthday on Nov 7, I start saying I'm the next year older. But since June, when I help a friend celebrate his new decade, I've considered myself 30 as well. So the mind is already there.
I made red velvet cupcakes Monday night for work & bowling peeps so no running for me. I got the recipe from Runner's World a while ago but alas I can't find it on their site to link to here. But it's like the cake but in cupcake form. I tell people that it's in my running magazine so it has to be healthy right? :-)
Also, no running or swimming this week but bowling on Tuesday and rock climbing on Thursday.
2 comments:
Something that my dad and I both noticed is that, in our area at least, there are more age groupers in some of the older groups. We might not be slowing down, but there's more competition at the higher ages with those larger groups.
I placed, once, in the 25-29 group. That same race in the 30-24 group I wouldn't have been close.
That all sucks more than if it was just me getting slower... that's my problem, but I have no control over how many others are in my group.
Happy birthday!
I worry about my family's health as I get older too. It seems like some of them are not taking care of themselves, when they should. This isn't the case with your family, of course, but... it just scares me.
Post a Comment