Getting Older

[Phaedrus]

What the heck happened to you? Were you a pro wrestler?

In the great "Phaedrus List of Jobs", I used to work horses. (My whole family has done this for generations) I "specialized" in retraining green broke horses that were allowed to languish by their owners. Basically, lots of folks buy a two-year old, get them trained to saddle, and then don't have time to ride them, so a couple years later, they need to be rebroke and retrained to be sellable for something besides meat.

These horses are sometimes mean as crap, because they are smart from being trained once before. Not always, but just often enough to be rough on a guy.

And the partially disassociated leg was from my lifetime fascination with high explosives. 17 years of work to fix it, and it has never been completely right. But lots of chicks dig scars, so it worked for me....

[Phaedrus]

So you're saying you don't look like Nick Nolte?

I'll find a "real" picture of me that doesn't violate PERSEC and post it later, if I can find the time.

[scubapohl1]

As a 44 year old and having recently returned to the active duty Air Force (from the guard), I had a bit of struggle with the physical side of things. Unlike to old AF I was in, the new AF PT's 3 times a week and is very focused on running. It took me a few months to get used to it but I'm back in the groove and lost 30 pounds.

I guess the biggest thing about getting older I've notived is how quick the time seems to fly. The older you get, the quicker it seems to get away from you. The teens and 20's were golden and seemed to last forever. The 30's seemed to go by in a flash and it seems like just yesterday I turned 40.

Point is, enjoy the time you have because before you konw it, its gone.

[Cy Heavy]

Vaguely on topic: I read an article after the NBA finals about how his team's play in the Finals will tarnish Kobe's 'legacy.' For me (age 30) it was odd hearing people talk about someone, who's a year younger than me, and their 'legacy' while I'm in my longest tenured job at four years...

Oh yeah, I also agree with have fun while young. I used to roll my eyes at alumni that came back and said to 'live it up' while you were young. I swear to God I blinked and suddenly my 20's were over and I was married with a toddler.

[Wesley]

At 42, I'd decided to just give up, and get fat and lazy.

Then, I moved here, and started running into some of the world's military elite troops. Some of them are 40s-50s and in marvelous shape. Then, I started working out at their gym.

Now, at 44, I'm in nearly the best shape of my life, and I was a college athlete.

Resting heart rate of 41. BP of 117 over 48. 2 mile run time of around 13:30. Weight at 5'9" of 170, down from 234.

And all of this with an untreated fractured vertebrate, that impinges on my sciatic nerve, a partially traumatically-disassociated (and later reattached/rebuilt) left leg, and both collar bones broken, but untreated from years ago.

One of my reasons for dumping all the weight and getting in shape, is that my beautiful wife of 20 years deserves a nice hard body to tussle with, and I wanted it to be mine. Just two years of hard work and discipline (none of it was really THAT hard, either) and except for the glasses and the balding head, I could pose for Harlequin book covers....

So you are Fabio's brother without the hair. Good for you. Sounds like a good life move.

[cyson]

I didn't notice much if any physical decline until approximately 35 or 36 years of age. I work out pretty hard but can't shake the beer gut. Where you get into trouble in my opinion is the loss of muscle mass as you age with no reduction in consumption. My goal now is to stay in good enough shape that I can be physically active and travel when I retire. Gotta go ride the bike.