ChornyRuns! on his Birthday

Today I am 33 years old (my twins sister is, too). It's taken me a while to accept the fact that I'm getting older. I used to make people guess my age, but I'm owning up to it much more often now. In fact I'm proud of being this old and looking so much younger. One thing that has helped me stay young is my running. I just finished off another 70 mile week on Saturday. That makes 6 of the last 8 weeks at 70, and a whole slew of 60 mile weeks before that. I haven't raced that much since May of 2008, and that is a long time to not race. This fall, however, I raced in a cross country race at Indiana University, it was the Sam Bell Invitational 8K. My time for the race was 25:16, and the crazy thing is that in 1999 at the first Sam Bell Invitational, on the same course, I ran 25:16. So, I'm thinking, have I really aged at all? AND, if that 1999/2000 season was any indication of how I will do this coming year, then I am looking forward to it.

It was great to see Sam Bell, who was my college coach for my first 3 years at Indiana University. When I see him it always reminds me of the goals and dreams that I have always had with my running. I haven't accomplished them all yet, so there are no plans to slow down. I've started coaching at Indiana University (volunteer) and it gives me a new perspective on my own training. I realize that I was the kind of athlete that may have frustrated a coach because I have a lot of talent but I never really knew what it meant to be consistent. I might still be figuring out some of it, but it's much better now.

So, today for my birthday, I get to watch some of the athletes that I help coach race at the NCAA Finals in Terre Haute. Should be a great show, and I can't wait to see how they do. I have big goals for them this year and I can't wait to line up on the track this year to go after some of my goals again.

Gotta run...

-Chorny-