I'm getting older and I don't care!

My birthday is coming up and for the first time in many, many years...I DON'T CARE!

I spent many years claiming to be 29, but then I outgrew it...not by choice, it just became painfully obvious I was lying. Then I clung to 39. But now I proudly proclaim I am going to be 46!

Yes, I have wrinkles. Yes, I have spotted a white hair or two...but I have finally accepted that age is just a number. I may be 10 pounds heavier but I am in better shape physically (and mentally) than I was in my 20's. I feel great. I am happy. So what if I now see 50 in the horizon...big deal!

Getting older used to scare me...hell I thought 40 was old. Now, here in the Coachella Valley, I am surrounded by truly old people. There are so many people in the late 80's, 90's and yes even 100's. We see people in their upper 70's hiking, and sometimes doing it faster than us! I have finally figured out that getting old isn't the problem...being unfit is! We will do everything in our power to be those old hikers!

So when you read about how many miles I have run or how many hours I workout...do not think I am bragging, I am trying to inspire....I want to inspire people to feel the way I do. When you make it a habit, it becomes a part of you. I need to workout the same way I need to sleep or to eat. My body craves it. And the reward is knowing I can do pretty much whatever I want physically. I don't question anything. I know my body won't let me down! Even the most strenuous hike (we did a hike with nearly a 1000 feet elevation gain in less than a mile!) didn't tire me. I know I could hike the Cactus to Clouds Hike...It's roughly an 8 hour hike. The only thing stopping me? My poor sense of direction and inability to follow a fairly decently marked trail and this one is considered not marked well....while I think I could survive lost on the mountain, I have no desire to find out!

While I don't care about revealing my age, I am still in no hurry to get to 50...I am enjoying life too much to want it go by any faster, but when that day comes, I will shout it from the rooftops! "I'M FIFTY!! And I feel great!!)  (knock on wood!)