Recovery and Communion

Wednesday was recovery day after the 15 miles on Tuesday. I walked to our local grocery store to get food for dinner. That was a mile there and a mile back. I also went an hour easy on the elliptical in the fitness room. Thursday, I went out for an easy 6 miles with some strides thrown in. I didn't think I would be able to do it when I started out. I was hurting. But three miles into the run (yes, three miles of "warmup"), I began to loosen up and was able to do six 30-second controlled strides.

Getting old isn't fun. Turning 50 was terribly difficult for me--menopause (Ohmigosh!) and all sorts of health issues that seemed to come out of nowhere. But now, as I am heading toward 60, it seems to all be getting a little easier, a little gentler, and more... joyous! Instead of fighting it, I am learning to accept, and enjoy, the process. I am settling in to being a middle-aged woman, who is healthy and, yes, happy.

In the running world, getting older means slowing down--slower race times, more recovery time and longer warmups needed. But all your running friends are getting older too, so the slowing down doesn't really matter. The road racing community devised a pretty neat thing when it started providing recognition for age groups. Motivation for staying in the game! We now realize that "competition" means helping each other be the best we can be. It brings us together. And that's what it's all about, isn't it?