Thursday, August 06, 2009

Age Is NO Excuse

It's been awhile since I've been blogging on my personal blog. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I've been so involved in establishing a running group and blog. I've been preoccupied but one thing always leads to another. I find that my personal blog is a place where I can be a bit more candid. Today my new found running experience is foder for personal reflection and thus here I am...

First if you don't know about RC3, the running club I helped start you can see that HERE. Currently we are very close to becoming a non profit organization and a member of the RRCA (Road Runners Club of America). The incorporation paperwork is at the Corporation Commission and we're just waiting on approval notification. And we are now introducing NEW women into our running group on a weekly basis. We are growing like crazy. Which brings me to today's post.

I can no longer use age as an excuse...
Today, a new runner joined us for our Thursday track workout. I make it a habit to run with the new people to get to know them and make them feel comfortable. Today it was the other way around. Our new runner, Susie Kramer (who just moved to Cave Creek a week ago from Pennsylvania) made me feel more comfortable. Susie and I ran around the track and I discovered—at a much slower pace than she is used to. I found out that Susie has been running all her life and runs 4 marathons a year. Typically in the sub 3 hour time range. She is my new inspiration. She ran without effort and talked to me and spoke encouraging words the entire time... even when I wasn't sure I could talk. I found that we had a lot in common in our personal lives. She is just a really good runner and I am still struggling to improve. Maybe it might have been easier to accept if she was younger than me. I've always found it convenient to use my age as an excuse when I wasn't running that great or was working through various aches and pains. Most of the girls I run with are 3+ years younger than I am. But not Susie. She is older and she runs like I hope to run someday. She has quite a few years of running behind her and I've only been running for a year. That gives me hope that you can get better EVEN as you get older. Now I have a whole new mindset. I'm never going to use my age as an excuse and I am going to keep running and get better. I look forward to the day where Susie isn't doing all the talking and I converse with her without being winded. I may never do a sub 3 hour marathon, but I'm not going to rule it out.
Thank you Susie!