Betty - The Perfect Storm

There are many things that happen to everyone throughout the passing of the years that indicate you are no longer the spring chicken you once were. A child you used to babysit is now in college or (gasp!) just got married, the music on popular radio is no longer of interest and the commercials on some of your TV shows are clearly marketing to a different target audience. I, as possibly most of you, take these indications of aging quite gracefully because we all know, it's not about how old you are, but about how old you feel.
Clearly the brain child that thought up that load of bull shit never trained for a marathon.

Since I started training for this marathon, i have never felt so old in my life. The aches, stiffness and joint cracking are starting to make me think that the Hoveround (so cleverly advertised during The Price is Right) is looking like a great thing to have around the house. But nothing comes close to the overwhelming dread of age as what i experienced last week in the span of only 7 small days.

Last Sunday I had a birthday. Now I'll admit that ever since having kids I tend not to make that big a deal out of my birthday - because honestly, when you get to a certain age in your life you have to actually start planning your own birthday celebrations and sometimes it's just too much to think about, so going out to dinner usually amounts to a "fantastic birthday, thank you very much". Well, now that I have these fantastic Mama's in my life, they refused to let this excuse for a celebration go past without recognition.
Enter the wine.
We all got together for a casual evening of drinks and dinner. It all started simple enough until I forgot the fact that i am no longer 23 years old and decided that drinking 2 bottles of wine BY MYSELF was a grand idea. I had a really great evening with friends, laughing and sharing great stories and then...the morning came along and slapped me up against the back of the head. At least it wasn't bad enough to make me utter the traditional chant of "i'll never drink again" because really, who am i kidding.

Then the following Saturday on our long run with the Team, I was taken out of the game by my IT band. If you don't know what that is and don't care, all you need to know is that it hurts like a Mo Fo in my hip and knee. For those of you who want to know, it's called Google - look it up.
I think i caught it early enough so that I won't be out for too long, but it will require PT and multiple stretches and strength training (ie: weights) for my future.

Then just to top off the evening, I attended my 20 year High School reunion.
Enter the Beer.
I genuinely had a good time and enjoyed seeing lots of people who I had forgotten how much I liked. However, there really is nothing like a reunion of that status (20 YEARS!) that doesn't give you pause to realize that no, you are no longer in High School (thank god) you are not even close to college age anymore. You are just old. You could be older, but if you were you might not care so much because somewhere out there I hear there is a wave of peace that swaddles and warms you and protects the self from even giving a shit. I will let you know when that happens, but until then, I will just eat my chocolate, watch re-runs of Melrose Place and live in my own little world of thinking i'm still young.