Embrace the brace

Yes, I have passed the age of being routinely carded for alcohol.

Yes, I have a marriage, a mortgage and a career.

But, most days, (through frequent engagement in heavy drinking and toilet humor) I remain solidly in denial of my adulthood. So, coming to terms with my aging body is not something I do voluntarily. Funny how running 9 miles brings exactly this sort of unpleasantry into sharp focus.

As I had suspected, the knee pain has ceased being intermittent and now seems to be here to stay. Soooo, I bought a brace. And I wear the brace when I run. And it does what braces are supposed to do - it prevents the kind of pain I felt after my last two long runs. What it does not do, however, is allow me to indulge in my fantasy-life as a 31 year old teenager. I may be in the best shape of my life, but in my efforts to build and maintain this shape, I am continually reminded that it is now a downhill slide toward middle age and beyond.

What is a 30 something to do? Well, this 30 something combats the creeping creakiness by accompanying my runs with more silly tv (I've moved from LA Ink to Weeds) and an ipod playlist that includes most of the bands I listened to at 15 - plus some that today's 15-year-olds listen to.

Now, if I could just find ways to associate poop jokes with my mortgage and cartoons with my PhD study, I could make the regression complete!