Movin on up (to a new age bracket)

I don’t do a lot of races anymore, but last weekend I finished the first race of the year. It’s the annual Mother Of All Races held the day before Mothers Day as a fund raiser for the town’s Rotary Club. I’ve been doing this race for a few years now since it’s a charity race, it’s finally spring (shorts and t-shirt, yay), it’s close to home and, most importantly, it’s fairly flat (I hate hills!).

In addition to being the first race of the year, the race this year was notable in one important respect in that I now have moved up to the next age bracket. Now when someone says they are moving up, it usually has the connotation that this is a good thing. i.e. “moving up in the world”.  In the business world, you get promotions, you advance, you “move up in the world”, your parents are so proud. But no matter how far you move up, ultimately the time will come when you are asked to “move out”. I.E. “retire” and be put out to pasture.

In the running world, there is no such thing as “retire”, you just move up into a new age bracket. You don’t get put out to pasture, now you get to run around the pasture. Moving up is not so much a good thing. Inevitable, but not enviable. Of course, you can look at this in a positive sense. There are a couple of benefits:

1. The herd has thinned out considerably.
2. Less competition means the odds of placing within the top three of your age bracket have gone up.
3. If it’s a run/walk race (as mine was) then, as a runner, you can beat the walkers so you won’t finish last.
4. Compared to the general population, long time runners are physiologically 14 years younger than their actual age.
5. You can brag to your kids!

In my case, at least this year, while I did move up, I didn’t move out! I came in first place in my new age group!