About a year and a half ago I went to my doctor about my laundry list of aches and pains, she did point out that I am getting to THAT age…

I drift off….
Me: But Doctor, I am only 28
Doc: Your Date of Birth puts you around 44
…back to reality

Throughout my life I was active and kept a constant weight around 180 pounds but somewhere in my 30’s, I stepped on a scale and found myself upwards near 250lbs. It was a long road but for the last 5 years or so I have remained under 200 and even made it down to 179 thanks to eating right and starting to get active again. I trained for a 32 mile hike which got me on a running kick. I was never a long distance runner but after a few 5K’s and 10K’s I got the runners bug and decided to run longer distances. I trained for a half marathon and I ran it at a pretty good clip. My next goal was to run a marathon. I left plenty of time to train and gradually ran longer distances. I’ve had many aches and pains during the years I ran, I always worked through it or dropped my mileage. The day after I ran my first 16 mile run, I noticed some new and different pains but by the next long distance run they had disappeared so I went for an 18 mile run and about a mile from home, the pain(s) came back wit vengeance. I rested and kept my runs shorter but the pains remained. I stopped running and the pains lingered, never really going away. I had hip issues, pain in my butt, pain in one of my knees and my foot felt like it was broken… enter doctor above. I won’t bore you with my list of ailments but I have to realize, I’m not “28” anymore.

I love Baseball. As kids and through my early adult life I would be playing Baseball, Softball, Stickball, and Wiffleball, I have a love for the game. The fact of the matter, even as I got older, I still wanted to play but my abilities eroded.

I love going on Adventures! in fact, I belong to the South Bend Adventure Club, We have gone camping, hiking, cross country skiing and on many other adventures but with my schedule and sometimes due to limitations, I haven’t gone on as many adventures this year.

I’ve spent much of the last year “recouping” and trying to work out the kinks. I think the roughest part is that I have the mind of a “28” year old and the body that seems to be of a 60 year old person, lol. Somewhere within that conflicting body, I have to accept the fact that I am 45 years old. I have to accept my limitations and find the middle ground.

The Middle Ground
At this point I have to accept some suffering, I have to accept my limitations, I can still do the things I love but with limitations. I can still run, I can still play some ball, can still go on adventures but with all these activities, limitations. I won’t say that I will never run a marathon, I will leave that option open but I will detach myself from the goal. I’m not so sure any major league baseball team is looking for a 45 year old pitcher but I can still watch and evaluate the young minor leaguers. Spring is right around the corner and there is a hiking trail a mile from my house, 2 miles into the hike is the perfect spot to sit and watch the creek as it babbles (does a creek babble or just a brook? lol) and bends through the woods. I can’t wait until it is warm enough to do this while sitting in the sun.

Have a great day.

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