31 vs. 13

“Now he’s gettin’ a tattoo, yeah, he’s gettin’ ink done/ He asked for a thirteen, but they drew a thirty-one”

Last year I hit what I think of as the last big milestone before the descent into old age. Though folks live longer than they once did, our bodies I think really do level off in their 30s, before descending.

If you look at the NBA and NFL, the average age for both is ~26, for MLB it’s 29. If you look at the Olympics, that mean number lines up pretty well (27 for men and 26 for women). 99% are younger than 40. I think that lines up with the leveling off I’m describing, which is really about physical performance.

But I’m not a professional athlete; my only athletic feats are surviving Spartan races and going for runs/ working on grip and upper body strength. Though I have come a long way from the boy I was.

A Heavier Me in the Mirror

Me, circa 2006 (13)

I was a heavy kid before puberty. I was sedentary and had turned away from all sports activities (didn’t like the sparring in Karate, shied away from soccer and baseball, terrible runner).

I don’t really have much in the way of photos back then, but I have some digitized videos I…