Why is this happening anyway?

Why now?    Why did I  decide  to run a  13 mile race, train for several months, challenging myself physically  at the season in my life  when a yoga, pilates, or even doubles tennis is more the norm?  I certainly don’t feel my age, and  maybe this is my  attempt to  deny that.   Could also  be a delayed  response from a book I read a couple years ago, Younger Next Year by Chris  Crowley and Harry Lodge. Inspiring and informative, they advocate  you truly can turn back your biological clock.     So here I am, grabbing the hands on my  clock of life and flinging them backwards!   Why not?

Throughout our lives, many, many times we ask “why is this happening?”  Especially when things aren’t going so well.  I find it interesting we seldom ask it when we’re in the midst of  those delightful, fun, and positive times in our lives.  Unless we happen to be one of those rare  individuals  who does live an examined life, this question is most often  raised when things are lousy.  I assume these days  it’s being asked quite  often by many who, prior to last fall’s economic meltdown, never considered the question.   Perhaps we should ask it more often, the answers would be quite enlightening and it may provide  a  provocative    perspective on  our own personal accountability.   We get  here, there or anywhere,  as a result of the choices we make.  But I digress….

Over the past week,  I ran  6 miles  on Sunday,    Tuesday did some  speed exercises at the Club on the treadmill (more about    treadmill vs outdoors  later), and added  elevations on Thursday.   Saturday morning found me running  7 miles along the Creek Trail, beautiful day, perfect 70 degrees and comfortable pace.   I am training on my own, with the help of the Runners World free online training coach tool.

Forgot to mention,  the race  is   The Jungle Run in Los Gatos   on July 19th.