Choosing the “comfortable” option.
A bunch of us were planning on going camping last month. As the date got closer, the forecasts all said hot, sticky and a thunderstorm. We decided that camping wasn’t worth the discomfort. So we went for BBQ and a winery visit instead. When we were 20, we would have all gone camping any way.
When I was 18, I ran a 50.1 second quarter mile in High School.
On almost every birthday since, I’ve found a running track and ran a quarter mile to see how much I was slowing down. (I’ve continued to run my whole life.)
I’m 65 now and the best I could do was a 77 second quarter mile a few months back, so I’ve lost about 27 seconds. Getting older sucks!
I saw my best friend from highschool recently. Boy she looked old. I went home and looked at myself. I deduced i looked 10 times better. Then I bent down to flip my long lovely blond ( tiny bit of grey) hair and pulled my effing neck. It still hurts. I gotta go to the chiropractor. It’s funny how my week moves around doctor appointments and picking up prescriptions. Ugh.
Get off my lawn!!
70 now, starting in my middle 40’s loss of jumping ability and the ability to make sudden stops and turns as we do in sports started to become very noticeable. I still had good running speed up into my late 50’s but not much control other than straight. After I retired at 63 my strength started plummeting. My significant other recently passed away and my sex drive has gone to zero, I don’t feel like it is going to come back this time. I have no interest at all in sex. Eating habits started changing in my 40’s smaller portions, they seemed to have leveled off pretty quick though. The mental part is what bothers me most, this started in my early 60’s. I have trouble recalling words when I write that I don’t use in my everyday vocabulary. A lot of them are very common words so it has made writing frustrating. I still don’t wear bi focal s unless I am doing very fine work but I can tell I am getting very close to start using them more.
Could you post a record of your speeds over the years if you kept one. Maybe once every 5 years would be good. I was a track runner also but I don’t remember my times in that race. 50 seems like good time. I think I was like 1:24 in the 660 which is a bit slower than yours and it was pretty good. Short dashes were my specialty.
That’s impressive. My 400m time in high school was 1:05. I probably couldn’t do it now unless I had a car. 1:17 at age 65 is very impressive.
All the kids prefer Snapchat and Instagram DMs to communicate with people. What happened to good ole text messages?
I’m 73 and nothing has changed. I can drink all day and have sex all night. I just ran a 20k marathon competing with teens last week and came in 1st place. I experience no health problems whatsoever and I haven’t aged a day if the past 50 years. My only issue is, I now lie about everything.
Yep, I tell folks I may not look my age but I sure as heck feel it. And when I first get up in the morning I move like I’m older until my joints loosen up.
… and family.
This past year I have made an effort to get out and meet new people. I do have more friends now, but I miss having a multi-decade history with folks, I guess I just have to wait a few years to acquire that with my new friends.
also, pets. I’ve now had quite a lot of pets and have outlived several who lived long lives for their species.
I’m 72, and recovering from knee replacement surgery. And soon I’ll be getting a spinal stimulator for the pain caused by spinal stenosis. I take a handful of pills every day, just to stay alive.
But the one thing keeping me alive and young is my husband, who’s 52.
Bifocals.
And I’m in the Dead Parents Society. Yup, both my parents are dead. Now, I was younger than a lot of people when I lost them-- 30 when I lost my father and 50 when I lost my mother. I have a co-worker who is 10 years older than I am who has both parents living.
Still, it does make you feel old. And aware of your mortality.
I was getting the bad back and the stiff knees, but a PT actually helped with a lot of it. My back is perfect know, and my knees are almost perfect. I recently lost 10lbs., and that has helped too. I actually feel better physically right now at 51 than I did five years ago. 5 years ago, I thought age was really settling into my body, but then I decided I wanted to feel better, and now I do.
As far as I know, my mom and 2 or 3 of her cousins are the last of that generation alive. All of my aunts and uncles are gone. My generation is next, and I’ve already lost one cousin, tho she had health problems for a lot of years. My oldest cousin just turned 75, and the youngest is nearly 50.
For me, the aches are the worst part of being older - I’m dealing with some weird pains around one knee - muscular, not skeletal. Having trifocals is pretty bad, too, when I’m trying to look at something that’s in an odd place - like reading a label on the back of a computer that I can’t turn to face me. And we’ll not mention memory.
On the other hand, I’m not going gray yet - I got Dad’s genes and he was barely gray when he died. The hair may be thinning, but it’s still brown. And my teeth are all my own, as are my hips. All in all, it could be worse.
Not only are my parents dead, but they were each only children. I have two younger siblings, but I’m the oldest. I have zero living relatives older than me!
Dereknocue67 takes care of his body above all else. Diet, exercise, supplements, positive thinking. Scientists believe that the first human being who will live 150 years has already been born. Dereknocue67 is that human being.
My report card at age 64:
- Can still climb trees to some extent, but it doesn’t feel natural anymore.
- Can’t swim very far.
- Tent camping is right out: even with a pad or air mattress underneath me, sleeping on the ground just doesn’t work for me anymore.
The first two are mostly because I didn’t swim or climb trees for a long time, though. And it’s not like I’m going to want to do much of either one in the future, so no point in working on it.
On the whole, this body of mine keeps on cruising along. When people say, “getting old is a bitch,” my response is always, “that’s why I refuse to have anything to do with it.” And for the most part, I’ve managed.
ETA: It amuses me that people are listing bifocals as a sign of age. I’ve been wearing bifocals since I was 7.
More things I do these days have sound effects.
Getting out of bed requires grunting and groaning.
Standing up and walking now comes with joints that snap, crackle and pops.
Eating a meal has stomach grumblings after.
This. And having people of what I consider adult age calling me “sir”. Both of those started 25 years ago for me. :smack:
