Monday, February 23, 2009

Aging Should Not Mean Slowing Down

I had every intention of training for the 31st Annual Firecracker Run in Chinatown held a couple weeks ago but work, family and the weather made it virtually impossible to get any decent preparation run, treadmill or road. I think my last run was before Xmas so the fact that it poured really hard at 5am that Sunday morning made me breathe a sigh of relief. Until of course an hour later, when it was as clear and the road dried. Doh! Bottom line, I could still do a 5K without any training -- finished in 32+ minutes but sad thing is I ran my last 10K in '99 in 49 minutes. During the run, kids who look like 12 or 13 and older runners who could be over 65 were passing me. Aging is never an issue but slowing down is.
(Caveat: The last 10K I did was at the Rose Bowl and it was a relatively flat course. Anyone who's been in Chinatown know how hilly the area is. So I don't think I've really slowed down that much. Still, my old boss, who's at least 55 completed the hilly Firecracker 10K in under 53 min AFTER doing a half marathon in Catalina the day before. He's the best boss to work for but sometimes he really just makes me sick.)

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