Birfday Status and A/G Analysis

Ok, so we're over the halfway point of the day and no major catastrophes have occured so far (knock on wood!!! Cross fingers, good luck dance). See my last post if you don't know why I'm afraid of my own birthday. I've had one close call. I wore "birthday heels" which have a little bit of a platform front. Well the shoe slipped and got caught on the clutch of my car so I couldn't depress it. I did not panic and managed to get it out without and accident-- then I promptly took my shoes off and drove barefoot. PHEWWWW

In keeping with the positive spirit and hoping the birthday gods stay on my side, I'm listing the many reasons why THIS is a good birthday....

1) Birthday Drink! This past weekend D made me a special birthday drink and it was AMAZING!! Bad news-- somebody spilled it while opening the fridgerator when I had only partaken in 2 cups. Good news... The 2 cups was more than enough-- if I had more I probably would have ended up over the toilet.

2) Birthday Watch! I already posted about my new birthday watch from Kyle. Want to see it again??? Ok twist my arm...

3) Birthday Pictured Cookies?? I came home last night and had a package sent from MB to my house that said "perishable" on it. --uh oh-- When I opened it I found these...

Yeah, that would be a giant chocolate cookie and a dozen chocolate pops with pictures of me printed into the chocolate. Ok settle down-- I know you want one!! But unfortunately there are not enough to share.

4) See analysis below... I've decided: 25 means that I'm getting faster!

F <25 and 25-29 Age Group Analysis...

This morning MB wrote on my facebook wall... "NEW AGE GROUP FOR RUNNING 25-29!!!" as if it was a good thing. I replied with "Uggg that is NOT good in my case." Then MB replied "No its good. you ger rid of all those college kids." ... I guess MB has a point there. But, I always though the sub-25 goup was slower because most people don't start running marathons til their late 20's. Also, running is the one sport that, for many reasons, we actually peak at later in life-- 30's and sometime in our 40's. So being the finance dork that I am, I did an analysis pulling data from the last 4 big marathons I was in (females 20-29 only) and compared the age groups. Results....

Overall the 25-29 group kicks serious butt on the youngsters. Even when the under 25 group does better on average, the top contenders in the 25-29 group KILL the top runners in the <25 group. Basically, there are more 25-29 year olds, dragging the average down, but they have also gotten a LOT faster.

There are 3 ways to interpret these numbers....
A) We are truely getting faster as we get older. We're improving, growing, and muscle memory is kicking in.
B) The newbie runners are friggen fast!!! Most people don't marathon til their later 20's, 30's or even later in life. Most young 20-something are busy going to college, finding jobs, starting their lives. Well when they start in their late 20's, they're fast and their good.
C) We drop out! As we get into our later 20's, the slower runners drop out. Unlikely!

Going against the econometrician inside, I'm going to create a cause-effect relationship and say... Option A--we get faster as we get older!! :) So, that means I'm going to get faster! Phew-- good thing too because I have some sub-3:30 marathon goal times in mind ;)

That's it for now kiddies. I'll update ya when I fall off a cliff. :)

-Stephanie