8K Run Makes Me Old

I’m turning 24 in a month (b-day party at Flatbranch!!!) and I’ve never felt old. On the contrary I’ve been accused of being young–12 to be exact-lol. Just kidding, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. I’m always getting carded and Spanish Fly kept shouting out the 18-20 year old price range. I’m cool with it. Better to be young then act 40 when I’m in my 20s. Maybe I’ll live longer–or at least LOOK better when I’m actually older.

Anyway, today was the annual Jeff Shickles Memorial 8K run/walk (my yearly physical exertion). The weather was nicer than ever before. It was not hot and humid like it has been the past 3 years, it was warm with a nice breeze. I just wanna say that 8K is 5-ish miles and the course is crazy hills! The Nifong cliff will kill ya. Also, I really don’t do anything physical anymore. I don’t run, go to the gym, or anything. The extent of my exercise is walking dogs and I went swimming on Memorial Day–that’s it.

I want to mention how crazy it is that I do nothing. All through school I was super active. I was a competition clogger 8 or 9 years practicing for at LEAST 4 hours a week. I did volleyball for 3 years, was a cheerleader for 6 seasons, and did 8 years of track. I did 3 sports a year in high school, and I was in awesome shape. As a matter of fact I weighed 120 lbs my senior year of high school. I was always concerned I wouldn’t weigh under my pole. Sidenote: I was a pole vaulter and for safety reasons they label each pole with a certain weight and you have to weigh under that to jump with it. Back on track (no pun intended): Now I weigh 15-20 lbs (depending on the day) less that that–just because I lost so much muscle.

That said–the 8K gets harder each time I do it. I still finished in 60 minutes, which was my time the 2^nd year I ran (the 1^st year was terrible and last year I was actually in the 40-50 min. range) but it HURT. No pain in the limbs or anything, I’m just really out of shape. Maybe I’ll start running–or maybe I’ll just rent another movie 😉