Active In Retirement

Hiccup in Activity My active lifestyle has been through a bit of a hiccup. My 89-year-old mother moved in with me. She cannot be alone so I spent most of my time at home. I stopped hiking. Stopped going to Planet Fitness. Started waking up several times a night to help mom get to the bathroom. I spent a lot of time on the couch resting from lack of sleep. But all journeys end somewhere. After six months of living with me Mom went into the hospital for an impacted colon. She is now living at a skilled nursing facility. She receives 24-hour care from very nice people. I can sleep all night and all morning if I chose. I went back to Planet Fitness this week and realized how fast fitness vanishes. A twenty-minute walk on a treadmill got me up to 10,000 steps for the day. The long-range plan is to run a 5K by New Years.   With the help of a Couch to 5K app and an air-conditioned Planet Fitness with dozens of treadmills, it seems doable. Maybe not a 10-minute mile, but something ...

Hike #15 at Moss Rock Preserve on October 14, 2017. 2.75 miles,  2 hours 16 minutes. Today’s hike began at 7am on a cool morning. I traveled the white trail beside a stream then uphill for a mile. I turned off the white trail onto a cut through to the green trail, also called the power line trail. The green trail is a slim path through tall grass underneath very high power lines.  I took the green trail to avoid the rocky stream beds of the blue trail. Little did I know the green trail had two ravines of rock covered streams. After hiking the green trail for ½ mile the path ahead seem to drop straight down out of site. It dropped down about 10 feet to several big rocks with a small stream running through. I slowly made my way down the hill and stepped onto the first rock, then stepped on the second 4x4 foot rock only to lose my balance and fall backwards onto the rock. I struggled to get my feet back on the ground. Then I continued by crawling across the remaining roc...

I am a 58 year old single woman, who is looking forward to an active retirement. However, I have become a couch potato. I was spending hours watching Big Bang Theory, news channels, and HGTV. Mowing the yard was my only exercise. I have watched my 87 year old mother’s health decline as she spends hours sitting in her recliner. I want a different future for myself. The change began when my company offered $50 to any employee willing to buy a fit bit and begin tracking steps. I accepted, soon realizing how sedentary my life was. Days I work from home I walked around 3,000 steps. Not even close to the recommended 10,000 steps a day. So I joined Planet Fitness and began walking on the treadmill 2 days a week. At first it was slow and exhausting. But slowly I increase my time and speed. Currently I am walking 45 minutes at 3.0 to get a comfortable 10,000+ steps 2 days a week.    But I needed more. Not more Planet Fitness, but another goal, something to get my physical juices...