Birthday

Wish me happy birthday; I turn 45 today.

From an aging runner's perspective, each birthday means you get a little more time taken off of the age-graded charts for your race times, and this time around I also move up into another age bracket. That means I have a few more minutes cushion for a Boston qualifying time, and I'll have a bit of an easier time getting age-group shwag at local races.

All this is done so that us older folks can remain competitive, it let's us say this is what we could have done were we still 33... or 27... or whatever. That is a particular thing about this society, cultures traditionally venerate age and younger persons can't wait to become older, and to share in the wisdom and respect that that affords. Then again, I doubt that Black Elk or Confucious ever were seen in running shorts.

I did get the gift of a beautiful, brisk Spring morning, and made the best of it by heading out for what used to be 8 miles before they closed the South Street Bridge, but now has been shortened to 7 3/4 miles on this route. The sun was bright and the flowers in bloom, including the yellow wall of forsythias I made a point to run by outside of Penn's ice rink. I felt fast, and I felt alive, and the world was good. Looking forward to 45 more years of this.

Haven't blogged in over a week as I haven't run much. One of those spells where I was really crunched with work deadlines and classes and staying up late and sleeping instead of running. For the record, I ran 5 1/2 around Warrington Ave a week before Sunday, 8 1/2 with PR on Saturday, and 7 1/2 in Tinicum on Sunday. Each of these runs is a story in itself that will, unfortunately, be mostly lost in the quicksand of my memory.

That is why I blog.