36

Monday - swim & spin class, Tuesday - lift & run, Wednesday - swim & run, Thursday - lift & run, Friday - swim, Saturday - run & lift, Sunday - yoga. Every week. Every month. And then one morning you wake up and you're 36. 36? Really. So usually I'm excited and ready to celebrate. This year is different. This year I'm noticing that I can't do as much as I used to be able to do. Can't stay out as late. Can't run as many days. Can't drink as much. Can't eat as much salty food without swelling up and I swear I'm having hot flashes!

My times this year have also been off from last year. I ran the Polk 5K yesterday and finished in 26:04. Last year I ran a 25:41. I did manage to take 2nd in my age group this year. Yeah, there weren't too many in my age group there! It was a good race though. I always forget how many hills there are on this course. I ran into a guy from the running club, it was his first race. Before the race, I told him it was a great race with few hills. When I got into mile two, I knew he was cursing my name.

The race does start out flat. For the first mile it's flat and I ran about an 8:06 mile. In the second mile there's a large, long hill. It's probably in the top 5 highest I've seen. I managed to get to the 2 mile marker at 16:34. The third mile has a hill that's pretty close in steepness to the first hill, but not nearly as long. The last half mile is completely flat, but I had no energy left to kick it in.

The prize for 2nd in my age group was a nice aluminum water bottle. It's pretty cool and I'm glad they're finally giving out things we can actually use. Though I do love my little trophies!