Getting old, needed a physical challenge...

Some of you might have noticed that I have been a bit scarce of late (or not, who knows? :p).

I'm up for tenure this coming spring and I have done just about everything that could reasonably be done to get a positive outcome. Last year was an absolutely slave driven period. But I got my research done, presentations made in Detroit, and got a chance to catch my breath. Nothing to do but wait it out now. The die is cast but the dice aren't finished rolling yet.

So after all of that stress I felt like I needed a physical challenge.

I have wanted to run a trail half-marathon at the local state park since it first came out in 2005. MOF I trained for it for two years straight back in 2010 and 2011.... and I got injured two years straight and never made it to the starting line. This is the same park I learned to swim in, the one I hiked as a teenager, the one I visited almost every time I had a vacation while working all over the country, the one I married my lovely wife in. It has a lot of meaning for me. It is a park that if someone asked to see what southern WV was like before being settled? I'd send them there.

https://gristmillgrinder.com/

So I started training a few months ago. Not just running a few miles to stay in shape, real training. Man have things changed since I started trail running 20 years ago! Gawd. The road over the mountain I live on are perfect for training on hills.... but trying to get enuf flat ground to run an easy run is difficult to impossible. Everything redlines your heart. I don't recover as quickly as I used to. I'm terrified of getting injured again. But I have to train hard enough to make a respectable showing this coming April.

Here's some numbers: 12.5 miles on dirt and rock. 2100' of vertical gain. 57 years of age. 236 pounds. 1 completely severed Achilles tendon in my history which has made me terribly injury prone in my right leg.... I live with a calf and hamstring just waiting for an excuse to get strained.

Can it be done? I really don't know. I ran half of it a few weeks ago... took over an hour and a half. It was tough.

I'll keep you updated over the next few months and let you know how it is going.

Will

Good luck with your training! I’ll bet that hammy and calf will be a memory by the timenext April rolls around.

And that looks like the WV that John denver wrote about.

BKB

Yeah, they might very well be. And not in a good way! :)

The ageing process is something entirely different than what I imagined. You always know that you are going to get old, you just don't think of the things that will be taken away from you.... hair, stamina, strength, durability. You name it.

But after the nasal surgery in March I realized that something had been given back: I could breathe freely again. And so I started running for real. And then this crazy idea about the trail half popped into my head. In the end it might come down to whether I have gained enough wisdom thru the years to push myself hard enough to run it without pushing hard enough to injure myself. That was NOT true of the me of 12 years ago.

Ah well, it has given me a chance to get a new toy or two. I wanted to train by heart rate and so I ended up getting a gps watch. I don't use 90% of the features but the 10% I do use rocks. Man those things are cool! And I have to say that running shoes are a LOT better than even a few years ago.

Will

Good luck on the training! That is not something that I would even dream of attempting. My knees are so shot that my orthopedist told me specifically NOT to run for exercise because my knees would not be able to take the pounding with the amount of cartilage that I have left in them.

That is beautiful country. We rafted the New River Gorge several years ago.

Congrats on the possible job security! I'd have to think that would be a lot of weight off your shoulders. Presentations made in Detroit? What persactly does that mean? Regardless, good luck with all of it!

Good luck on the run, but as for getting old? Ha! You only mention loss of hair, stamina, strength and durability. Wait 'til your willy (ha ha ha, pun intended) starts doing things you DON'T want it to do and refuses to do the things you DO want it to do. THEN you know you're officially old. :crybaby

Running? 13 Miles? 57 years old?

All this time I thought you were one of the smartest fellas I knew, Don'tcha just hate it when your hero's turn out to be mere mortals?

Between my back, knees and hips ... I can barely make it to the mailbox and back, :oldfart

Barry: It is beautiful. I can't think of a place I'd rather live.

DD: Yep the gorge is a bit west and/or south of Babcock. I actually live a couple miles from the national park boundary. The gorge is pretty but you gotta be part mountain goat to do much in it.

Jim: I presented a couple papers at the SAE congress this past spring. I got a chance to see some really good friends that I hadn't seen in years.... and eat some really good Italian style chicken wings. And I got to see the little chapel from Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Its a pretty little church.

QA: I'm dumb as a sled track, don't let anyone tell you differently. :)

Will