At one point, the tech person, who'd noticed that my pulse rate was below 50, stopped and said, "Oh...are you an athlete?"
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| Is this where I'm headed? |
This is not the first time I've been asked this while giving a donation and it still makes me smile whenever I do get asked. You need to remember that I'm a sixty-year-old man who, long ago, stopped thinking of himself as being an athlete, if, in fact, he ever thought of himself as being an athlete.
On Monday, I was able to smile at the techy and tell her, "Well, I run 5k three or four times a week!" and this seemed to placate her. A couple of years ago when I was asked this same question at the start of another donation, I told the person that I played ball hockey several times a week and apparently this also made me an athlete. This summer, the ball hockey (and, sadly, a lot of running) has fallen victim to my struggle with PF. Although I'm now back to running pretty regularly, it's a little difficult to see tacking ball hockey on to the top of that. Running can be a pretty controlled type of sport whereas ball hockey requires sudden twisting and turning and generally doing things you might not want to be doing to a foot you're trying to rehab at the same time. This kind of tugs at my insides because I haven't missed summer ball hockey in about ten years now. I may even break down and try and find a team...
I'm happy that running makes me an athlete at sixty. Barring the unforeseen, it is something I can continue to do for many years to come. If I can include anything else, then that just seems like icing on the cake!
Happy and healthy running to you all!
I like the way you put things Brian. I will try not to say "I just ran 3 miles this morning." I will say "Hey! I ran a 5k this morning!" take that suckers! ;)
ReplyDeletelol For the first half of my life up here we did things in "miles", Suzan. For the second half of my life, we've done them in "kilometers". Imagine my confusion....
DeleteAnyway, thanks to my Garmin, I've discovered the 5k is like 3 miles and as I've been reading all these American blogs, I've finally been able to do the math! And you're quite right, 5 is WAY more than 3!
A 60 yr old athlete who looks 45, nice one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous, whoever you are although it sounds like I might know you...!
DeleteI am more of an athlete today than some earlier times in my life.
ReplyDeleteI read one of your blog posts, Mary Lou, where you talked about people who were blessed with good genes and I am certainly one of them, my Dad was active right into his mid-eighties. And I, as well, am at that point in my life where I am athletic and THINKING about it, rather than just grabbing a hockey stick and heading out the door...Judging by your pic, you seem to be doing WONDERFULLY at it! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteGAH! I am totally jealous. I am 32, eat well, in pretty good shape, & (usually) run ~40-50 miles a week plus cross-training, and my blood pressure is STILL high.
ReplyDeleteOkay, did I just read "40-50 miles a week"? There you go, Angela, now you're making ME jealous! I've worked with developmentally challenged people for years now, many of whom are in terrible, TERRIBLE shape but for whatever reason their blood pressures are FINE. I asked one of their doctors about this once and he looked at me and said "No stress." Kinda stuck with me! Thanks for the comment!
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