Rapidly Approaching 38

I am very close now to my 38th birthday.  My birthdays have historically been when I am in life-evaluation mode; rather than new year's resolutions I tend to set goals for the next year around my birthday.

So where am I at 38?  Struggling in some areas, coasting in others, and loving still others.  A lot is different at 38 than it was at 30 -- I have new hobbies, new responsibilities. 

38 is a tricky age.  With two years to 40, there's plenty of time to change a lot.  But it's also the case that my adult life has had plenty of time to harden.  A lot of "who I am" has a lot of intertia at this point.  I am unlikely to suddenly become an excellent craftsman who has no fear of putting in his own windows or building his own deck, let's say.  If I haven't acquired a taste for red wine by now, I probably won't.  Same with olives.  Sorry.  Nor am I likely to stop watching football, or drinking beer.  Or drinking beer while watching football.  So it goes.

But there's also a tipping point here -- I can do a lot in the next two years to define how I look back on my 30s, and set a real stage for my 40s and beyond.  It's never too late to start something great.

And that's why today, I ran the 9th workout of the 27-workout couch-to-5k program.  It's the best program I know of to get me back on my feet.  That's why I have set a goal, and am telling people about it, of running in the Hot Chocolate run this year, in early December.

Just reviewing my recent posts here tells me a lot about my love/hate relationship with fitness.  But the thread that runs through it all is running.  Ever since my first 30-minute run, I've never felt "right" when I couldn't do them at will.  So it's time to remind myself how it feels.