Why it sucks to be a 20 year old runner

Disclaimer #1: Running is great at any age. Whether you're 8 or 78, the physical and mental health benefits of running are indisputable, so do it.

But as I was saying, being a 20 year old runner just sucks, period, if you're of average quality.

If you didn't know better, you'd think I was a fast runner.

Why? Until January 22nd, 2011, I was lumped in with the 19 and unders or the 14-19ers. But now I'm with the 20-29ers. I no longer have the pleasure of competing against children for age group awards. As a 19 year old, I won 6 medals, a trophy, a beer mug, some gift certificates, and a free pair of $145 New Balance shoes. Not a bad year. In the process, I ran my "real-world" 5k PR (I'll explain what I mean by that in a future post) and my 5 mile PR. Other race times were pretty mediocre, but I was able to delude myself into thinking I was talented because I walked away with hardware around my neck.

Now, not so much. In the Bradford Valentine 5 miler, the top three in my age group were coincidentally the top three female finishers overall. In the Frozen Shamrock 3 miler, I was about 30 seconds away from placing third in my age group. However, I was about 15 seconds away from winning the age group that I just grew out of. In the Claddagh 4 miler, which I wrote about yesterday, I would have come in third in the 19 and under group, but I was about 3 minutes too slow to place in my own age group. You and I both know what this means: in order to place from now on, I have to actually get faster. To an extent, this is already happening; I ran my 5 mile training run today faster than I raced Bradford less than a month ago. But Dad and I want me to be in the mid 7s or below for races, which will take some work.

I know what you're thinking. I'm lucky that I'm even physically capable of running. It's not always about winning medals. I know these things perfectly well because 1) my body was broken for 8 months straight and during that time, I cried about not being able to run and 2) I'm the one who used to run 11:30 pace for a 5k and who used to routinely finish last in track races, remember? Trust me, I'm very blessed to be able to do what I do. Do you want a real reason why it sucks to be 20 when running road races?

I can't have any of the free beer that's included in my registration fee. I'm currently in the middle of an Irish race series sponsored by local Irish bars. After my hard effort, my dad uses my drink ticket and imbibes my free beer as I sit and watch and cry on the inside. Disclaimer #2: I am not a heavy drinker and you don't need to be concerned about my well-being. All I want is my free beer after nearly killing myself first in a blizzard and second on Mt. Claddagh. Is that too much to ask?

On a similar booze-related note, I'm seriously considering signing up for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon depending on how my inaugural half goes in Middlebury in less than 2 months (gosh golly geez, is it really that soon?!) but as Andrew conveniently pointed out, I won't be able to wine at the Wine and Dine Half and should wait until next year when I can do so. But the food at the festival is so good, you don't even really need to have any of the wine to be satisfied, and the Wine and Dine is run at NIGHT, which is pretty freaking epic. Thoughts?

Disclaimer #3: Running is one of the most stable aspects of my life right now, and while I may complain about some things, it's all in good fun. You will find this to be a trend in this blog, I think.