Slower and Slower

Looking at photos of Sunday's race reminded me that, although I took first place in my age group, my finish time was the slowest I have ever run at this particular race.  It was almost a minute slower than last year,  At this rate I will be running 10 minutes slower when I turn 75, if (God willing) I should be that fortunate person who is still running at the age of 75!

Still, looking back over my race times with a little bit of despondency, I noticed another interesting statistic:  in the last nine races I have run (since June 1, 2003), I have placed in my age group in seven of them,  In four of them, I took First Place.  And the only two races I did not place in were marathons.  From this data I can draw several conclusions:

• If I continue to run races, I will simply outlive other runners!
• As slow as I think I am, there is always someone slower (or more injured) than I am.
• I should give up running marathons
• I should not be so hard on myself.

I am reminded of what George Sheehan, running's great philosopher, said many years ago:

"My times became slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged:  each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others."