Aging (dis)Gracefully

The New York Road Runners have this fun little quirk when it comes to age groups. Here are some age groups:

12-19
20-29
30-39
40-44

Notice anything? The first few span 8 or 10 years each, while the last only spans 5 years. I'm new to running – started when I was 38 – and all of a sudden I was in this age category where I was being compared to people 8 years younger than me.

It was, in a word, depressing. I'd get to the end of a race, feeling pretty good about myself, and have a few hours of euphoria before the results were posted.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not that competitive. I mostly run to get some good exercise and enjoy time outdoors. I run to finish a race, not to break records.

Still... I like to check my pace afterwards, and see how I did compared to other runs I've done. Basically, to see if I'm getting better or worse. And while I look at the NYRR results, there's a little column that says "Age Place", which describes where you were in your age-and-gender category.

This was always depressing. 800-and-something. 900-and-something. Even 1000 from time to time. Ugh.

A couple of weeks ago I turned 40. And now I'm one of the Young Turks in my age group, and it's a smaller group. Today my age place was 130.

I'm not any faster, but the numbers look a lot kinder. I think I'm going to like being 40.

Today's Race

Today I ran in the Scotland Run 10K. Some details:

Distance: 10K (6.2 miles)
Location: Central Park, NYC. A full loop, clockwise, plus a smidgen.
Time: 55:13
Pace: 8:54 per mile. Pretty normal for me.
Highlight: Chatting with a lovely, tall (yum!), probably too-young woman before running.
Frustration: Not getting contact info for said lovely, tall woman. Couldn't find her after the race. (She was faster than me, which is also very attractive.)
Other highlight: "french toast" bagels at the end.
Entertainment: Scottish bands, including one called the "Red Hot Chili *Pipers*". Really.

Ran into some friends from Team in Training after the race, and rode the subway back to Brooklyn with two of them. We agreed that one of the best things about doing a road race in the morning is that you feel completely justified being a sloth for the rest of the day.

And so I was.

Just Between You and Me

Okay, so the first thing we've got to establish is that it's not an addiction. Really. It isn't. Stop looking at me that way.

Look, I can stop any time I want. I just choose to keep running.

Remember: I only started a year and a half ago. That Staten Island Half was my first half marathon. Heck, it was my first road race ever. And, yeah, I ran my eighth in February, and have lined up my ninth and tenth, but hey, I had some time on my hands. It's nothing special.

The ninth one? Oh, it's in a couple of weeks. I'm flying out to Columbus, Ohio, for the weekend. That's a perfectly natural thing to do: to fly somewhere so I can run another half. Lots of people do it. And I'm only paying a few hundred dollars to do that, all told. And... and... I'll get to visit Columbus, which is a really cool place, I think.

You're looking at me that way again.

Did I mention they'll have t-shirts? Totally makes it worth it.

Okay, okay I'll admit that not everybody thinks that running 13.1 miles (21.1 km) is a normal thing to do, but it's really fun. You get to see lots of neighborhoods, and you get this great sense of accomplishment, and... and... you get t-shirts. Really cool ones.

So I'm glad we've had this little chat. 'cause I know you've been worried about me, and you don't have to. Because I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go running for a bit.