Young On The Inside

I ran during lunch today. I wore my Vibrams and caught some of the trails around the Sandifur Bridge area trying to get in the right frame of mind for the River Run this Sunday. I took the Vibrams off for the trip back downtown going up Riverside. As I passed by the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture running on bare feet, a group of youths stepped out of a Central Valley school bus. One of the kids caught sight of me.

"You go, old guy!"

Old guy?

About twelve years ago I was ice skating at the downtown rink during lunch. A friend of mine, a teacher, was accompanying her students. School days at the rink make it practically impossible to get any good skating in so I was fortunate to get some rink time before they filled the place. My friend pointed me out to a couple of her students.

"You mean that old man?"

I remember when I considered people my age as old. Now here I am at that age and I feel nothing like I thought they felt when I thought they were old. I refuse to surrender to time despite the futility of doing so. It's what you do in between the beginning and end that matters. Some people waste away. Like Shaw, I want to be thoroughly used up.

So, yeah, kids. This old guy is gonna go.