Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me...

...when I'm 64...which I am this very day!

Drove up to Santa Rosa this morning with four of my teammates to run the 18th Annual Phil Widener Empire Open, a PAUSATF cross-country race. (Below is a photo of the men's Masters start--couldn't take a picture of the women's Open start because I was too busy starting!)


I had a wonderful time today. Driving my little Honda full of chattering women to Santa Rosa, racing with them (they sang Happy Birthday to me when I crossed the finish line), and having breakfast afterward at the Cafe Azul made my day. It reminded me of being in high school and tooling around in my parents' car with all my girlfriends, everybody talking at once, our happy energy fizzing and sparking until the whole car glowed.

I came across a couple of lovely sentences yesterday when I was finishing up A Three Dog Life, by Abigail Thomas: "The past is not as interesting to me now as it was when I was young.... There's nothing I want to relive--certainly not youth--and as for what's to come, I'm in no hurry."

I can't say I always have the feeling these sentences describe, but for today they are accurate. I was perfectly happy this morning being exactly where I am in my life, neither regretting what's been lost nor longing for what might come. Who could ask for a better birthday present than that?

Comments

Liz said…
Happy Birthday! I'm glad to hear you've had such a wonderful day and I wish you many more to come.
6:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trying to Make Lemonade

Image
What am I meant to learn from the challenges being thrown at me these days? That I am strong. That I am loved. That life goes on and can be good. My favorite nephew congratulated me for making lemonade when I'd been handed lemons--not sure his belief about me is justified, but I deeply appreciate the notion. Plus, I have an actual lemon tree in front of the house, so I've been practicing my tangy-beverage making. My ribs have healed up well. I'd say I'm at about 95%. I'm glad my minor medical matter is clearing up so I can turn my energy to a more major one: Z is scheduled for big-time surgery on March 31. He is calm; I am calm. Aaaaaaack! Oops, I meant of course I'm serene. The procedure he faces, which involves patching up some crucial circulatory parts, is a common one, and the success rate is high. But still. Send good vibes our way, if you'd be so kind. In other matters, I did run 10 miles Saturday. The run itself went well--I went down to the Bay Trai...
Read more

That Z Man

Image
Yesterday was Z's birthday, and I was thinking about how the story of us is at its heart a running story. About eleven and a half years ago, I was working the registration table at my running club's Fourth Sunday Run , and a guy came up to the table to register for the race. I asked him if he was a club member, and he said "No, but I'm going to change that right now," so I gave him a membership form to fill out. What happened after that is a story that has often been mis-told by others, but I'm here to give you the correct version--after all, I was there. I was running the 10K that week. The race started, and it wasn't long (maybe half a mile?) before I noticed that up ahead of me two of the club's most talented and winsome older women runners were schlepping along with the new guy (who was stylishly attired in purple sweatpants), chatting up a storm. "Those two," I thought. They always talk to the cutest guys." I ran along behind them f...
Read more

Dog-Day Running

Image
Still getting out frequently and doing the old left-right, although the experience has changed a bit over the years. Sometimes I still go back to the Bay Area and run-walk with my running peeps, but most days you'll find me run-walking in my West Sacramento neighborhood with a small black buddy. We're not the speediest pair, but we have our fun! This morning, before the heat set in, Charlie and I covered 1.42 miles. Woo hoo! I'm pushing her gradually to get up to two miles per outing. I'm ashamed to tell you that I love talking doggie baby talk with little Charlie--after all, she only weight 11 pounds, which is kind of baby-sized, right? If it takes talking about "walkies" and "sniffies" with her to give me incentive to get out the door, I'm in. Sometimes I sing little songs to Charlie when nobody else is around. Like the old favorite,  D-d-d doggie, beautiful doggie, you're the only d-d-dogie I adore; When the m- moon shines over the cowshed...
Read more