Last Sunday i contested the sri chinmoy 1/2 marathon cross country race in centennial park . I had a solid race finishing in 1hr 38m 23s, was i happy no i was run down for 3rd in the over 50s in the last 800 metres by a guy I've beaten before ,i was left feeling very frustrated because this winter has been one setback after another .After thinking I'd gotten over the recent flu it came back to sucker punch me 6 days before the race .What has been more frustrating is illness and injuries caused me to have to back off training, my biggest week in the last 5 weeks has only been 49 km not exactly long race mileage .
Where am i going with this you might ask ? well as i prepare to enter my 42nd year of running I've realised i have to take a step back and be thankful that i can still run and compete at all, i have to realise that at age 54 my best competitive days are behind me and whether i like it or not these not a lot of difference between my training pace and my racing pace these days ,a running friend offered me the following ,when your in your fifties your not running for time your running against father time .
And isn't that what its all about as you get older keeping the body healthy and moving, to remember why you started running in the first place, because it made you feel good , it made you feel like someone special' it gave you a feeling no one could take off you a feeling non runners could never understand .
I will still race but i won't get myself so worked up and frustrated by results i will be thankful that after all these years i am still able to keep going. Its hard to find the motivation and the drive sometimes but when you find yourself laughing in the middle of a great training run saying to yourself how good is this its all worth it .
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