Getting Better with Age

It's been quite a year so far, and every day that I go out for a run, a bike ride or swim, I'm amazed at how much I have accomplished over the past five years - and particularly over the past year.

I was in JROTC in high school, and once a year we had to do a physical fitness test. Now, I was just a scrawny little thing in my teen years - my current height of 5'6", but a mere 110 pounds max during that entire four years. For whatever reason however, I just couldn't find the ability within myself to run one mile in the time alloted - a fairly slow 13 minute pace. I recall struggling every year to get by. Now, the sit ups, pull ups, standing long jump, etc. I could pull off without a problem. I mean, how hard is it to move through a crunch with your tummy flat as a board, and to hold up the weight of little more than skin and bones on a bar for 30 seconds? Piece of cake. But it was the endurance, the cardio, and the lung capacity that always got me when it came to those "other" events. I guess I just figured that being skinny equaled being healthy, and as long as I was thin I didn't necessarily need to do any type of strength or cardio training. Nearly 20 years later however, boy was I wrong!

Don't get me wrong, I didn't spend my younger days completely inactive. While sitting on my bed making mixed tapes and fantasizing about Joey McIntire was a favorite past time, I actually did put in my time outdoors, and even had a regime of Richard Simmons "Sweatin' To The Oldies" going for quite a little bit thanks to my mothers expectation that she would herself take up excercise one day (that never did quite pan out, but I will never again listen to the song "Personality" without visions of little Dick Simmons dry humping the air). I'd go for walks around the neighborhood, complete the step-by-step instructions to excercises printed in the latest women's magazines. One wake-up call however, came around the age of 19 when I bought a bike (mountain, hybrid, whatever - it was a cheapy from Sears), and found that I could hardly ride without getting immediately winded, and that my legs were useless for the remainder of the day when I would get out and pedal. I also thought I was really doing something when I would ride from home through Bernheim Forest and back - a puny six mile round trip course. Now, the bike is hardly worth getting on if I'm going to do anything less than 15.

Almost every time I run with friends I say, "Look at how far we've come. I never thought ten years ago I would be doing this." And here I am about to complete my 15th event of the year with still another half marathon and full marathon to go, along with a 6.6 mile trail run and a possible half marathon trail run as well. And because of all this, I am now quite possibly in the best shape of my life. Sure, I will never fit into a Junior size 7 again (and to be quite honest, at 33 years old, would I really want to? How ridiculous would THAT look?) My exterior has aquired a few more flaws here and there, but the inside is nearly as healthy as it can be (I use the word "nearly" because I know that I am not training at my capacity - that I can go harder if I really pushed myself to do so). But the fact that I could once not even complete a full one mile run, and am now competing in endurance events just amazes me. I would also like to give a shout out to all of the other endurance athletes out there who know exactly what I'm talking about. Who somehow found the world of endurance sports in their late twenties or older, and have embraced the endorphins and mental highs that come with completing a race. To all the other sweatin' oldies out there - I salute you!