Iran my first half marathon when I was twenty-seven. My pace was a little over twelve minutes per mile, and I was among the last finishers, but I didn’t care. I finished 13.1 miles on foot! I felt like a rock star. Thirty years (and many, many races of varying lengths) later, this last May I ran a half marathon I participate in every year. My finishing time was 1:38. My pace? 12:06/mile. I haven’t gotten any faster. But you know what? I haven’t gotten any slower either.

I like to joke that if I keep this up, maybe when I’m 80, I’ll qualify for the Boston Marathon (BTW, the qualifying time for people 80 and over is 5 hours and 20 minutes—so it's a real possibility). Slow, steady, and stubborn—that’s me.

Here’s the thing: life, like marathons, isn’t always about speeding up, getting better

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