Growing Old Disgracefully

I went out for a little run today - the first in what seems like forever (okay it was only 6 days but it felt like forever) Can you forget how to run in such a short time?

I started off and my legs felt like I'd borrowed them from a wino who'd been hitting the sauce pretty hard. They felt wobbly - and not in a I've-piled-on-the-pounds-and-got-massive-cellulity-thighs kind of way. They just didn't feel quite normal. But they did warm up quickly and my lungs behaved themselves perfectly well. And apart from an unscheduled toilet stop (what the? I'd gone before I'd left home and this was only 2.5k in) it turned out to be not too bad a run. I am, however, expecting tomorrow's speed session to be challenging.

One of the reasons why I enjoyed my run today (apart from the fact that I've been incapable for a week)was because of the inspiration I got from a story that my sister told me yesterday. My sister, Julie is a rower and has been competing at the master's championships down in Tasmania. Tasmania is our southern-most state and is definitely our coldest. They were competing on Lake Barrington where the water temperature is 2C. One unfortunate 75 year old lady ended up taking an unexpected dip just before her race was to start. It took a while to fish her out but once she was out she didn't retire to a nice warm spot to prevent hypothermia. She got herself back into her scull - wet clothes and all - and waited for the starters horn. She won her 1000m race by 20 seconds but she wasn't done yet. She got out of her scull ran over to a pontoon where her teammates were waiting for her and proceeded to race in a quad scull. She won that one too.

Most 75 year olds I know are starting to get old. They might already be in retirement villages - not her. This woman was a testament to the importance of keeping active and having a never-say-die attitude. I really want to be like her when I grow up.