How To Age 15 Years in 45 Minutes--or--She Only Looks Her Actual Age Just-After a Tough Race.

After the Groton Road Race I went to the website to see pictures from the race. I noticed from browsing the pictures that there was one of me from the start of the race in addition to the usual finish-line picture. While browsing around I saw that there was a shot of a group of young women who had gathered just in front of my group. This got me thinking: I never saw any of them again and yet don't remember passing any of them. Just out of curiosity, I punched one of their bib numbers into the results page and got a huge shock!

1. # 258 finished 9 seconds ahead of me! Well, that would account for why I never saw her again.
2. OMG! She is 39 years old--I would have thought maybe 25 from the starting line picture.

3. It was easy to find her finish-line picture since it was evidently on the same page as mine. Okay, she sort of looks like she could be her actual age based on her finish-line picture.
4. But, if running makes you look 14 years younger than your actual age--except for a few minutes just after running--then this is a very nice feature of running.
5. On the other hand. The genetic endowment which gave our 39 year-old the ability to out- run all but about a dozen of around 200 women in the race, could also account for resistance to the ravages of age.
6. Hey, it is a theory. I think I look just as old and decrepit at the start as at the finish--maybe I didn't push my self as hard or I just have the genetics to finish in the top 1/3 of the guys while our 39 year old is in about the top 1/20 of the ladies.

dbp

No wonder I never saw her again. She finished two places ahead of me.  

I noticed a group of young women standing just ahead of us. I didn't remember passing them or seeing them again once the race began. 

Here I am at the start talking up how great my Nike Free shoes feel, sockless. Note: I am not especially suseptible to blisters, but had massive ones on both feet (in my arches) by about mile three. To say the least, the final three miles involved "some discomfort".

Just finishing the Groton Road Race (10 K). This year's time: 46:31. This is about 3 minutes faster than last year.