I probably wouldn’t be obsessing over numbers like I am if I hadn’t read all about August being Justine’s birthday month over Here Where I Have Landed.  Then, it dawned on me that my birthday month is next month.

I have always been a numbers person.  Math is one of my things.  In high school I was taking calculus in twelfth grade.  The state trigonometry test in my 11th grade year was tough and many of my good friends did not do well on it.  I had a high 90 on it.  Math is probably one of my best subjects – right up there with science, writing, oh heck!  I guess I should just admit I am a geek.

I have never been a big numbers person as far as my blog is concerned.  I don’t worry if I get 500 viewers one day and only 15 the next day.  Those 15 have probably been reading my blog from its inception almost five years ago.  I write when I want to and when something strikes me as either important or if my thoughts on it are crowding my head.  If what I post is not what you want to read, I do not mind if you just don’t bother to come by.

As a diligent parent, I have fretted over numbers where my children’s grades are concerned.  I was particularly annoyed the two times my youngest had English grades below 50 but Spanish grades above 90.  No, my house is not a truly bilingual one though I do have a couple books around in Spanish that are slightly more complicated than the Spot books in Spanish.

I fret as I have taught my children to drive over the number on the speedometer.  I try to explain that the speed limit is that – a limit.  I also try to explain that new drivers, especially if they should have a distraction in the vehicle such as music or other people, could stand to go a little under that limit as they do not have experience to call on for reactions to various situations.

I pay particular attention to numbers in relationship to my running and training.  I have run over 700 miles this year so far.  I ran 131 miles in July.  I am going to run 26.2 miles in a race in one day in October.  Yes, that means I am running a marathon in October.  But, bigger than the 26.2 miles is the other number that will occupy my mind.

Anyway, back to my original numbers thought from reading Justine’s post Monday…  You see, I never ran until three years ago this fall.  When I started running I was 46 but not for long.  I will run my first marathon three weeks after my 49th birthday.  I am having a real issue with that number.  I don’t normally tell people how old I am.  I have been today, trying hard to reconcile with my own thoughts and actions, that I am actually that old.