Reaching the This-Is-When-My-Body-Starts-To-Fall-Apart Age

Yup I turned 30.  About two days ago in fact.  Most of my twenties, I was told that 30 is right about when your body declares mutiny and things start going haywire.  I've heard that your metabolism drastically changes.  That your skin looses it's elasticity at an accelerated rate.  That you're at higher risk for pretty much any known and unknown aliment.  30, apparently, is like this giant bomb that goes off in your body and you have to hope you'll survive the proverbial nuclear winter that results.

30 may be this magical number in the eternites that marks the beginning of the end, but 30 has never met me before.  My body may start to act completely different then just two days ago, but I'll be danged (yes, I'm a molly mormon) if I'm going to let it get me down.  I think more and more these days, what with everyone being more aware of how to be healthy, that no one age gets to really define when all heck breaks loose.  Some say that 40 is the new 30 or that 50 is the new 30.  Meaning that the horrible effects of turning 30 aren't showing up until later.  I say, why should they show up at all?!

I may have been more energetic 10 or 15 years ago and had a metabolism that let me eat fast food everyday and actually lose weight, but nowadays, I'm more motivated to stay in shape and be healthy then I ever was back in high school or even college.  With age, does come a tidbit of wisdom and, hopefully, some maturity.  Those two things, I think, make me a better athlete and that, my friends, is what I'm counting on to help me sail through as many ages at the universe wants to throw at me.

My grandfather is in his mid-eighties.  The guy is an animal.  Only recently has his doctor pleaded with him to stop running his five miles a day so that he doesn't run his joints into the ground.  I'm not sure whether grandpa is obeying him or not.  If he has stopped running, he'll keep cycling and he'll keep eating that oh-so-crazy healthy diet he's concocted.  I'll think if the world ended and all that was left were berries and nuts, he wouldn't notice a change in the status-quo at all.  That's who I want to be.  I don't want to give up on my body simply because I'm getting older.  I can't control the fact that with every passing minute, I'm gaining in age, but I can control how I treat those years. 

I'd like to think that my best years are still to come.  I also like to think that if I can keep my committment to maintain my runner status, that I'll get to enjoy all the good stuff that's coming.  My husband works with a gal whose pushing 60.  Wanna know what she's up to right now?  She's training for the Boston Marathon.  That's the good stuff that's coming.

30 is young.  40 is young.  Heck, when should "young" ever stop?    I feel better right now then I did ten years ago. So how do you measure what "young" is?  My plan is just to keep running.  Let the years pile up, that's okay.    I think I'll probably start to feel old someday, maybe when my doctor tells me to stop running.  But maybe as long as I can move and be active, that day will never come. 

Here's to 30 and every age I'll meet in the years to come!