Nine miles in the cold on the canal at 10:30 min/mile pace on a Wed morning! About a minute per mile slower than I could do about a year ago. About a minute and a half per mile slower than I could do it five years ago, if we go back 10 years, there might have been a week or two in there that I could do it at a whopping 2 min per mile faster. It’s OK, getting older and slower. Does it feel the same? In many ways yes, it doesn’t matter what the long pace is at you can get that worn out feeling that comes from physical labor in the sun and cold, but in other ways, you can’t get it back. Back in the day, sometimes – probably 1 out of 10 runs – you could feel yourself almost flying – like leaping through the strides. Now, I can feel like I’m almost feeling it. Does this make any sense? Good enough. I used to eagerly show up at the canal in the cold and the dark if my days were full and run the workout before other people got out of bed, I’m much, much, much less willing to do that now, if the day is too full, I’ll let the workout go and it’ll be OK. I’m grateful for sure, nothing hurts. Mostly. My joints are stiff when I wake up in the morning – a new thing that started happening this year. I inexplicably slightly dislocated my thumb this week while I was sleeping (!) – I noticed it at 2am, but it had popped back into alignment by the time that I has really woken up at 6 am. It’s still sore about 48 hours later. This old body of mine, grateful for you, please carry me through. I’ll try to take care of you and I hope you’ll take care of me.
