. a decade of racing

last night i ran in the nike+human race 10k and it just dawned on me that this marks my 10th year of racing. that's not to say that i have raced steadily for 10 years; it is to say that i took up racing 10 years ago, went away for a while and have been back at it for a few years now.

for the most part i think i'm holding up pretty well, although i'm disgusted with my performance last night. the race took me 1:00:04 and i feel like it should have taken me 54 minutes. so i'll have to do this race again next year. friday night i did a race where i did sub 8 min/mi's. two days later i did 10 min/mi's.

i do feel a decade older. this is getting harder. i feel like i'm working harder and smarter in order to maintain what just came naturally a decade ago. interestingly enough the body feels great. i don't have near the aches and pains i remember from 10 years ago. it's the mind that feels like it's being taxed so much more.

perhaps i'm using my age as an excuse to be a bit soft on myself. perhaps being a bit more soft on myself is what's keeping me separate from injury and that's the trade off. either way, today i'm glad to be here and to have my head and my heart still in the game and still strong as i begin a second decade of this madness.