The pros and cons of age 25

I've 25 now and that means lots of new things, some of which are:

1. Cheaper car insurance. I really worked the system this month and knocked $100 off my premium through sheer genius negotiating. I don't know if this is necessarily a matter of age, but we'll just chalk it up to wisdom from years of experience.

2. Mechanic at shop makes me consider never again leaving the house without putting on mascara by asking me randomly "Do you have class today?" while I'm waiting for my car to get an oil change. Guess he took my "just rolled out of bed and schlepped over here, and I don't care what I look like because this is my day off" appearance for that of a college student. Great. Just great.

3. I'm increasingly having to make room in my budget for gifts for friends who are getting married, and the proper attire to attend these matrimonial ceremonies. [Decided not to insert inappropriate comment here. Foot remains outside of mouth.]

4. I'm getting nervous about continuing to use my SUNY Brockport ID card to get discounts when buying stuff. The photo is now more than seven years old...

5. But most importantly, what 25 really means is that I've moved into a new age group division in running races. Instead of being the oldest in my bracket, women 20-24, I'm the youngest in the 25-29 division. Which means my chances are better for placing in my division.

Yesterday, I placed 3rd out of 8 in my new age group in the 5K Saratoga National Cross Country Classic. Too bad I didn't stick around long enough after the race to hear about it first-hand. A pancake breakfast was calling my name. But it was still super exciting.

My time of about 26:18 was my personal record in an official race, just a few seconds faster than the Fasig Tipton 5K in August. But if it weren't for those winding, gravel-covered hills in the Ferndell area of the state park, I think I would have shaved off 20 seconds and hit my goal, which was to finish under 26 minutes.

Ah well. Mile two was a killer, and I stopped to walk once after the hill. That's what got me.

Overall, it was the most enjoyable race I've done out of the six I've ran since April.

Everything came together: the weather was perfect, I was dressed exactly right so as to be not too warm or too cold, I ate breakfast and was hydrated, I wasn't really nervous because I had trained appropriately, I wasn't tired because I took off work the night before, I had time to warm up because I actually got to the park early and I had the great support of AB to park the car, hold my bag of essentials while I raced and catch me at the finish:

What a guy!

Alas, all wonderful 3-day weekends must come to an end. I'm icing my hurting knee in preparation for what will hopefully be a solid, sunny week of running in preparation for Saturday's Great Pumpkin Challenge.