Turning Forty

I turned forty on the first of September, and was happy to do so.

The celebrations ended up being spread over some days; it was a veritable birthday festival! On the day, I enjoyed a special "high tea" with one of my sisters and my newest niece, and a lovely night out with my husband. We had lunch with my stepsons two days later, and I'd already caught up with my parents when they'd visited some weeks earlier. Oh - and I ran my first half marathon.

"Hold on a minute," regular readers may wonder, "weren't you training for the Melbourne half marathon event on the ninth of October?" Yes, I was; but when I went to register, two days before my birthday, it was completely booked out. So I decided to do the run on my birthday. After all, it's a much better story! "I ran my first half marathon on my fortieth birthday ..."

You can't Google the event, and it didn't appear in any newspapers; it was my own personal half marathon, run in two loops - north and south - with a hydration pit stop at home halfway through. I had such fun doing that run! The day itself hadn't been ideal preparation: a high-calorie, luxury morning tea with my sister, and the obligatory few hours spent in Melbourne traffic. But I was well-rested, well-trained, and despite experiencing the expected challenges of running a half ("I am in so much pain!" "I want to throw up!" "I want to GIVE UP!") I ran with a huge grin on my face. I entered serious "running zen state" during the seventeenth kilometre: I heard my GPS announce I'd completed the sixteenth, started playing Vivaldi in my head, and before I knew it I'd reached the seventeen kilometre mark. It was all pretty easy from there, except for a brief panicked moment when I was about to turn into my street, looked at my GPS and thought I had to find an extra kilometre to run. I was wrong; in my fatigue, I'd mis-read the numbers.

Everyone wants to know how I feel about turning forty. I feel great about it! There's a real sense of my life opening up; I'm fitter than I've ever been, stronger, and more resilient. My professional life is opening up, likewise my academic presence (I'm presenting my first conference paper next weekend). I believe that the next ten years are going to be among the best, most productive and happiest of my life - so far!