The Lord permitting, I will celebrate my 71st birthday on June 9. To "toast" (figuratively) this milestone, I've signed up for two races, the first being this Saturday down in the great city of Durham, NC. I will take this 5-mile race slow and easy. I will ENJOY it.
A week later I'll be participating in the first of three triathlons I hope to do this summer (Lord willing!). Can I podium? Stay tuned ....
I don't know about you, but I plan on running till I die. I just read over at Let's Run about a 96-year old Canadian woman who set a new world record in the 5K, running it in 51 minutes and 9 seconds. I don't think there's any doubt that activity can improve, maybe not the length of your life, but at least the quality of it. I mean, seriously, who would NOT want that? There's no way to lose a race. Every single person who runs one wins. Just because I finished the Bolder Boulder slower than about one third of the field doesn't mean that I didn't win the race because I did. My philosophy has always been that despite the risks of running, running is a gift and is far better than being inactive. As long as you don't beat up your body and give it TLC in the form of rest and recovery time, do what you love to do, be it jumping out of airplanes or skiing down a slope or photographing mountain peaks. I think aging gets a bad rap. It doesn't mean losing your edge or giving up on living. Running a race -- at any distance -- gives you a crash course in gratitude, patience, perseverance, and the feeling of knowing you've set goals for yourself. I'm not a gifted athlete but I am a tenacious one, and in sports that can take you a long way. So celebrating my birthday by participating in a couple of easy races seems like just the right thing to do.