A resolution

Yesterday, I went running!

I haven't been running in probably two years. For many many years, from a very young age, I ran religiously. I'm naturally built for it. I even managed the transition from the flatlands of Illinois to the hills of Seattle, though it was painful and I spent a lot of energy determining which routes had the absolute least elevation change possible. But then, a foot injury and asthma and general sloth won out, and despite periodic efforts, I haven't maintained a running routine for a while. Yoga came along around then, excellently timed for when I could no longer take flexibility or bone mass for granted - but that really doesn't take care of the huffing-and-puffing type of exercise.

I am 38, soon to be 39. I do not have a problem with stating my age. As Oprah seems fond of saying, "I'm not ashamed of my age, because I own every year!" I have, by any standard, had an extremely fortunate life thus far. To deny my age would be to disrespect the people, places, plants, animals, joys, griefs, dumb luck, and mysterious forces that have combined to give me the life I've lived. It would also devalue my own accomplishments, choices, mistakes and follies. Plus, though I wouldn't call myself wise, I am just beginning to see what people mean by "getting older and wiser," the kinds of things that I was oblivious to in my 20s. I look forward to growing older and hopefully wiser - Creative Force of the Universe and my own stubborn nature willing.

So, as I approach my 39th birthday, I feel a need to treat that lead-in year heading into 40 as a special time. It's the time to set myself up for a new decade of growth and learning and life, and if I'm lucky, health and happiness. I read somewhere that our society is extremely impoverished of rites of passage. Since the dawn of our time, humans have tended to mark coming of age and other major life milestones with ritual and ceremony, and our society's lack of such rituals makes it harder for us to recognize, mark and understand the evolving stages of our lives. So I'm going to make up some of my own stuff for my 39th year, the year in which I prepare for my fifth decade.

As one of my rituals of the year-before-forty, I'm going to take my friend Monica up on the invitation/challenge to run the Victoria half-marathon in October. Unlike several of my friends, I've never been one to use big physical events like marathons or triathlons as a motivator for exercise, but the time feels right on this one. A good time to attend to the old physical plant, if you know what I mean.

I haven't figured out what else I'm going to do for my rite of passage. One older-and-wiser woman I know, in her 60s, has for a number of years gone to the dentist to get her teeth cleaned four times per year. "The older you get, you can't take your teeth for granted!" she would say. I think I'll save that ritual for a future milestone decade.