. . . but in my case it's still a really big one!
Actress Bette Davis first said, "Getting old is not for sissies," which has been repeated many times, by many commentators, in many circumstances. And, now you're gonna hear it from me. Getting old is definitely NOT for sissies. I should know. It's kicking my butt this week!
It's not that I wish I was young, because I don't want to relive those awkward, mistake-filled, crazy days of yore. Wisdom and experience are wonderful gifts. However, it is true that youth is wasted on the young (thank you George Bernard Shaw for that nugget!). If I knew then what I know now . . . Unfortunately my time machine is missing a few parts and I can't whiz back to 1983 and buy that Microsoft stock. And, it's wasted effort pining over what might have been. You can't change the past.
Experience is a wonderful teacher, and, unless we're insane, it keeps us from making the same mistakes over and over. However, it sure would be nice if some of my newfound limits related to aging weren't part of my personal equation.
Am I back in midlife crisis mode? Not really. What's got me down this week is my hernia. Yuck! That sounds like an old man's malady. Can you even say the word "truss" without seeing visions of hobbling old gentlemen? In my case, I didn't actually tear anything or experience pain. My hernia came on after I started swimming seriously this fall. After one particularly grueling workout, while in the shower, I looked down and said to myself, "that doesn't look right." My physician confirmed it wasn't right and scheduled me to go under the knife for a little repair work. Six weeks of no exercise, too. Other than having my wisdom teeth removed at age 17, I've never been under the knife before.
Is this the dreaded slippery slope? Have I now, on the cusp of 50 years old, become the old man who talks incessantly about his ailments, puts pills in a daily pill counter, wears sansabell shorts, and scans the paper for earlybird dinner specials? Say it ain't so!
Hear's another good quote--if it's true that youth is wasted on the young, perhaps medication is wasted on the old. That's funny. It made me laugh.
Truth is that time marches on. There is no fountain of youth. We must make the best of our days whether we are young or old or somewhere in between. We all have limits--it's just some of us are more aware of those limits than others.
Sure with hard work, a good attitude, God's grace and a little luck, we can accomplish great things at any age. It's just that on some days, it's more difficult to shine with sunny optimism . . . especially when you have a surgeon waiting to slice you open in a few days.
He said I'll be back, though, better than ever. That is, of course, assuming there are no complications. Now that's the spirit! Ha ha.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year/New Gear
It took me a while, but I'm rapidly upgrading my athletic gear. Some of these items I bought, other new, cool duds and gadgets came to me from friends and family. Don't worry, I have not gone overboard here--athletes can be suckers for every new fad and fashion. And, in the same way I resist being the middle aged guy in the sports car (such a sad cliche), I don't want to be the old guy trying to look young and flashy in my workout clothes.
Up until recently, "young" and "flashy" were two words no seeing person would ever use to describe my workout attire. My sweat pants were gray, cotton and oversized (like those favored by Marky Mark in The Fighter). My shorts were mostly rejects from the sale bin at Steve and Barry's (yeah they went out of business two years ago). And my T-Shirts were give aways from various promotions (e.g. a bunch of Dwayne Wade Nike T's), hand me downs from my kids (most either involving baseball tournaments or Greek functions), or artifacts from long ago family trips (did we actually ever visit Nantucket?). I even engaged in a little cross dressing when a pair of Jacklyn Smith shorts appeared in my drawer. And no, I did not give them back to their rightful owner!
For most of 2010 I relished my shabby athletic attire, insisting it was my workout efforts that mattered, not the expense of my gear. One exception to my low budget style, however, has been my footwear. I've been wearing Asics sneakers for years, dutifully changing them every six months. No way I'm risking an injury by wearing cheap shoes!
In the summer, however, I made my first changes. For my first triathlon in July, I decided to purchase actual running shorts, some moisture wicking socks, and a well-ventilated running shirt. I'm wearing that getup in the picture attached to my blog homepage. It's one thing to work out privately in shabby clothes--but in public, I felt I needed to look better. I also discovered that better gear does have its advantages other than visual appeal.
For one thing, cotton is not the best fabric to wear during heavy duty workouts, especially if you sweat as heavily as I do! Since cotton absorbs liquids well, my gear gets very wet, very fast. While that's not so bad in the summer, when you aren't wearing much in the first place, in a race every little bit of extra weight is baggage you don't need. So "moisture wicking" is the key.
Fabrics with moisture wicking properties pull sweat away from the body and then sends it off into the atmosphere. Interestingly the favored "moisture wicking" fabric among athletic gear makers is that old, widely lampooned 70's fabric, polyester. Yep, polyester is back--now hip, expensive and hightech. With leisure suits and shiny shirts a distant memory, polyester has made a remarkable recovery with a whole new category of consumers. And I will admit I paid top dollar for polyester!
Late in the summer, I added some additional "moisture wicking" shirts to my athletic gear drawer. Hey, they were on sale at Dicks. I couldn't resist.
Finally, with late fall and early winter came my birthday and Christmas. And, thoughtful friends and family, who probably were sick of seeing me look so dreadful in the gym and jogging around town, conspired to purchase more new stuff. Very thoughtful gifts, actually. And, with the cold weather, I was grateful. I'm still exercising outside with a running group. And yes, I looked pitiful in an ancient windbreaker and those old school sweat pants. What's worse, wet clothes are a nightmare in cold weather. All those cold, wet garments were gonna make me sick! Without new stuff I certainly was on the road to a case of double pnemonia! I needed an intervention and my friends and family came to the rescue.
So now when you see me running around town, pedaling on my bike and huffing and puffing in the gym, I won't look like Rocky Balboa's poor relation. I will be styling big time. Baby it's a new year--and I have new gear!
Up until recently, "young" and "flashy" were two words no seeing person would ever use to describe my workout attire. My sweat pants were gray, cotton and oversized (like those favored by Marky Mark in The Fighter). My shorts were mostly rejects from the sale bin at Steve and Barry's (yeah they went out of business two years ago). And my T-Shirts were give aways from various promotions (e.g. a bunch of Dwayne Wade Nike T's), hand me downs from my kids (most either involving baseball tournaments or Greek functions), or artifacts from long ago family trips (did we actually ever visit Nantucket?). I even engaged in a little cross dressing when a pair of Jacklyn Smith shorts appeared in my drawer. And no, I did not give them back to their rightful owner!
For most of 2010 I relished my shabby athletic attire, insisting it was my workout efforts that mattered, not the expense of my gear. One exception to my low budget style, however, has been my footwear. I've been wearing Asics sneakers for years, dutifully changing them every six months. No way I'm risking an injury by wearing cheap shoes!
In the summer, however, I made my first changes. For my first triathlon in July, I decided to purchase actual running shorts, some moisture wicking socks, and a well-ventilated running shirt. I'm wearing that getup in the picture attached to my blog homepage. It's one thing to work out privately in shabby clothes--but in public, I felt I needed to look better. I also discovered that better gear does have its advantages other than visual appeal.
For one thing, cotton is not the best fabric to wear during heavy duty workouts, especially if you sweat as heavily as I do! Since cotton absorbs liquids well, my gear gets very wet, very fast. While that's not so bad in the summer, when you aren't wearing much in the first place, in a race every little bit of extra weight is baggage you don't need. So "moisture wicking" is the key.
Fabrics with moisture wicking properties pull sweat away from the body and then sends it off into the atmosphere. Interestingly the favored "moisture wicking" fabric among athletic gear makers is that old, widely lampooned 70's fabric, polyester. Yep, polyester is back--now hip, expensive and hightech. With leisure suits and shiny shirts a distant memory, polyester has made a remarkable recovery with a whole new category of consumers. And I will admit I paid top dollar for polyester!
Late in the summer, I added some additional "moisture wicking" shirts to my athletic gear drawer. Hey, they were on sale at Dicks. I couldn't resist.
Finally, with late fall and early winter came my birthday and Christmas. And, thoughtful friends and family, who probably were sick of seeing me look so dreadful in the gym and jogging around town, conspired to purchase more new stuff. Very thoughtful gifts, actually. And, with the cold weather, I was grateful. I'm still exercising outside with a running group. And yes, I looked pitiful in an ancient windbreaker and those old school sweat pants. What's worse, wet clothes are a nightmare in cold weather. All those cold, wet garments were gonna make me sick! Without new stuff I certainly was on the road to a case of double pnemonia! I needed an intervention and my friends and family came to the rescue.
So now when you see me running around town, pedaling on my bike and huffing and puffing in the gym, I won't look like Rocky Balboa's poor relation. I will be styling big time. Baby it's a new year--and I have new gear!
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