If I could turn back time...

Pardon the swear. Can I say that word? I got called out a few years ago for saying "OMG". Some nasty woman told me I was "a little old" to say that. 

My husband had to restrain me.

Is it no wonder that I struggled mightily with turning 50?

It's not that I felt old. Three years later, I still don't feel old.

But it's the whole idea of being 50. What comes to mind when you think of a woman in her 50s? 60s? 70s? 

A marathoner? 

I didn't think so.

I do a lot to maintain my facade of youth. To keep myself fit and relatively injury free, I continue to work with my CrossFit coach as I have been for the past 2 1/2 years. That weight training has made me believe I've found some fountain of youth. I'm running as fast as I did in my 30s. Considering that the number of women in the 50-54 age group is substantially less than the 45-49 age group, my continued success on the road makes me feel great.

I do feel good. Great, in fact!

Sadly, society doesn't view a woman in her 50s as youthful. When I ran this year's Chicago marathon, a coworker told me I did well for "someone my age". Heck, I came in the top 36% of all women who ran the marathon! 

Any excuse to share a picture from this year's marathon, right?

Good for someone my age? Thanks for reminding me that I'm "old". 

A few weeks before the marathon, I received an email from Nike asking me to apply to be a Chicago marathon blogger. I was so excited about this potential opportunity until I read the criteria. Nike was looking for bloggers preferably in their 30s, although they would consider "others". FitFluential asks campaign applicants for their date of birth. When I wrote about ageism in social media, a couple fellow bloggers who are in their 50s commented that the only campaigns they were getting were for Poise pads. 

Yeah, because all of us old ladies are incontinent of urine. 

Not really. 

But besides the ageism that permeates our society, there is one other very large reality that is looming over me. No matter how young I feel and how well I'm running, I have to ask: how much longer am I going to be able to do this? Let's face it. I have 25 years of running on these legs. Can I continue to run marathons? Because I still have a lot of races on my bucket list! 

I'm hoping with continued smart training with Becky, incorporating weight training along with low mileage, that I'll be able to do at least one marathon per year. For how long? Who knows. But I need to make sure that I don't overdo it, like I so wanted to this fall after I ran Chicago. Instead, I took a week off to rest and recover, and have kept my miles low for the last 4 weeks. I've started running some longer runs on the weekends again, and hopefully get back to the box and work with Becky soon. I miss it and I need it!

July this year. Who's old?

I've still got Boston in my sights, although there won't be a BQ at Big Sur. That one is all about the experience. NYCM? Maybe. Another Chicago? AOG? Marcia? 

You know what scares me the most? There's still so much I want to do. 

And so little time.

How do you feel about getting older? Do you want to run races as you get older? Have you changed your training as a result of getting older? Pulled back on goals because of your age?

I'm linking this post up with DebRuns--she hosts Wednesday Word and this week's word is ageless. I like to think that I'm ageless, but I know better...I'm doing my best tho! How about you?