going back in time

I didn't do a lot of exercise on my trip, just some pushups, squats and yoga in my hotel room, but nothing like the exercise classes I go to at the Monkey Bar Gym.  So this morning I was ready to do something.  But it was -3 degrees Fahrenheit and icy on the roads.  So I decided to run on the treadmill in our basement even though I usually think that is very boring.  Well, it turns out it is not so much more boring than running outside.  Running is kind of boring whether you do it inside or outside.  The ipod with my favorite music helps.  So anyway, with the treadmill I could set my pace.   I have this dream of running 10 minute miles.  I thought I was pretty far from that but I set the treadmill at 5.8 mph and that seemed an okay pace.  A 10 minute mile is 6 mph so I'm not far away!   I ran 3 miles.   Any more than that and I just get too bored.  I was very happy about this.  wow.  I haven't run this pace in 20 years!   I remember when I was about 20 years old, I could run 3 miles in 24 minutes.  So that's 8 minute miles.  I seriously think I will never reach that again.  But I'm surprised that I'm so close to 10 minute miles.   

So here's the explanation of the subject of my post:  going back in time.  I went vegan 3.5 years ago.  about 2 years ago I had lost 30 lbs and reached the weight I am about now.  But I broke my kneecap so had no idea that my aerobic capacity had probably improved significantly.  About 1.5 years ago I joined the Monkey Bar Gym (MBG) to build up my strength after getting significantly weaker from being unable to walk (without crutches or leg brace) for 4 months.  So about 1 year ago was when I started noticing that my aerobic capacity seemed to be much improved.  About a half year ago I started jogging, and was running better than I was 10 years ago.  And now I'm running better than I was about 20 years ago!   So it's like I'm going back in time.   And I only jog about twice a month!   That's because it is only a small part of my exercise plan.  The MBG is much harder and works on the entire body but we do a lot of sprints and jumping rope so that obviously helps my jogging.    I wonder how far this can continue.  I'm 48 years old, approaching 49.   There's no way I can get as good as I was running when I was 20, right?  That's inconceivable.  right?    And my body looks great too.  I'm frickin'  48 years old.  That is totally inconceivable.    Oh, a huge reason I can jog faster is simply that I weigh less than I did 10, 20 years ago.  I probably haven't weighed this little since I was 20 years old.   The other reason is that the healthy eating has cleared out my arteries so I don't get out of breath so easily.