Happy Birthday... to YOU!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday my USAT friends... Happy Birthday to you!

That's right! Today you're a year older! At least where the USAT is concerned! If you compete in a USAT-sanctioned event in 2014, you will fall under the following USAT Competetive Rule:

3.2 Age Group Competition.
a. All age group athletes must participate and compete in the age group division corresponding to the athlete’s age on December 31 of the year of the event.

I actually got to race on my birthday! This little message
garnered LOTS of on-course support and made my special
day even MORE special!

So even though you might think of yourself as your age on race day, you better write your age as of December 31, 2014 on your left calf muscle! That age is the what will determine the age group you are competing in.


Writing that number there is a bigger deal for my wife than it is me. It becomes an even bigger deal when she is writing a number that is one bigger than her actual age. This becomes particularly painful with birthdays later in the year. If you turn 49 on December 29, 2013, you get to rock "50" for the entire race season, even though you won't actually be 50 at any race (Not too many late December races!)!

Don't sweat it! Rock that number! Plato had it figured out all those years ago...

"He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden." -Plato (427-346 B.C.)

So, here's to being calm and happy in 2014! Happy New Year and Happy USAT Birthday, my friends!!!

Happy New Year!!!