They say life begins at 50.
Well, I think 'they' may be
right. Since I hit 50 two years ago (!!), I have been having the time
of my life - at least for the running part of my life. Which has become
the biggest part.
Take a look at all the bucket list items, and other accomplishments from the last few years:
Fastest times in over 10 years at every distance
Fastest marathon in 17 years to qualify for Boston
Ran Boston!!!
Joined a trail running group
Ran Dipsea! (Double)(Twice)
Ran my first Ultra! (50K)
Became a coach (for 1 person, but hey)
And now this year I have four more big bucket list items ready to go down:
First time pacing at an ultra - Running Mild Sauce through some late miles at the epic Western States 100!
8 weeks later...
First Relay Race! The grand-daddy of all relays, Hood to Coast, with the most awesome team ever assembled from Loop Superstars!
5 weeks later...
Grand Canyon, Rim to Rim Run! 21 miles of nature's majesty, with a fun group of mountain goats!
5 weeks later...
New York City Marathon!
Yes, I got in through the lottery yesterday, and will be doing my first NYCM. I'm very excited!!!!
I
have to think that maybe the good karma I earned from volunteering at
races and hosting loopfests helped get me this golden ticket. Now I just
need to stay healthy for an epic Autumn!
So what is left
on the bucket list? Not a whole lot after all that. I plan to reach my
lifetime mileage milestone of running the equator (24,901 miles) in
about two months. I kind of would like to do a Half-Ironman some day -
probably after retirement. Maybe get involved with coaching kids on a
cross country team or something.
Basically, just enjoy
everything. Lots of loopfests. Lots of trail races. You youngsters have a
lot to look forward to. Getting old ain't so bad. I'm just glad I am
now able to afford to do all this stuff, and am healthy enough too.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Running
update - The foot is still getting better. I have seen significant
improvement the last week, even with increased mileage. Yesterday I ran
without my heel pads for the first time, and the post-run PF pain
continues to diminish. I am going to keep increasing miles cautiously.
Plenty of time to get ready. I want to make sure I get to all these
races in fine fettle!
Life is good!
There's a lot on here I should have known, but didn't! Mild sauce did WSER and you paced her? You are faster now than 10 years ago? Man.. I hope that happens to me.
ReplyDeleteGood to read that the foot is still improving.. my feet are still not 100%, but getting back into speed work means extra stretching and no slacking off on the strength.
Congrats on getting in!
The WSER pacing will be THIS year (June 28). I didn't fully realize my potential between age 22 and 47... Wait until the kids are gone!
ReplyDelete