Here We Go!

At the age of 45 - 13 and a half years ago - I weighed 300 pounds and was a certified couch potato. At 5'11", my BMI was almost as high as my age. Then I discovered cross country skiing.

My first attempt, on a local golf course, was a little frustrating, more than a little humiliating - and, in the end, liberating. But that's a story for another time. It lead to 11 wonderful years of skiing, mostly at Lapland Lake, which may be as close to heaven as I ever get (http://laplandlake.com/).

I began to lose weight and started to feel better and at the end of the season, looked for something I could continue to do. After a brief flirtation with the idea of roller skis, I decided on biking. That led me to Plaine's ( http://plaines.com/index.cfm ) a Giant brand "Acapulco" mountain bike with fat tires, and the discovery of the by-products of regular vigorous exercise, good and bad, including stronger muscles, better endurance - and a sore butt. More importantly, it led me to Duane, my wonderful 73 yr old neighbor: diminutive, fit, talented, bright and one of the nicest people I have ever met. He had been riding solo all over the Capitol District ( http://www.albanyny.org/home.aspx) for many years, and he became my guide, companion and friend.

We rode regularly for 4 years, and I saw places I never imagined were in the Capitol District - did you know there is a buffalo farm just off Rt 9 south of Albany? ( http://www.gemfarmsbuffalo.com/ ) - and I got fit enough to ride a "Century" ( http://webmhcc.org/rn/index.php ) - 100 miles in under 12 hours.

My journey has included 7 years of Step Aerobics ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_aerobics ), climbing all the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks ( http://www.adk46r.org/ ), sprint triathlons - forget Hawaii and the Kona - that's an Ironman Tri, the epitome of the sport and way, way beyond me - sprints are much more manageable ( http://www.ehow.com/how_3507_measure-triathlon.html ), and most recently, running 5K's. To be honest, I have been participating in 5K's, running is an overstatement at this time - and more or less using the Couch to 5K plan of jog/walk ( http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml ) so I can eventually run the entire distance.

Along the way, I have learned two things about exercise: 1.) It has to be something I like; 2.) I have to be doing it with people I like. Although I am thinner and a lot more fit than when I started all this, I am still overweight and very, very slow. I am never going to win any medals or awards - age group or not - so I look for something other than glory in all this, and believe me, as slow a I am, I have a lot of time to look!

So, I am a Social Athlete - thanks to my friend and training partner Dorie for coining the term. I like the activities and the events, and I like (mostly) the training and the challenges. I like setting tough goals - seems I'm not happy if I don't have a "Project". But what I really like is meeting and interacting with all the people along the way - that's the best part. Running became a whole lot more fun when I got fit enough to be able to talk with my friends while I was jogging - this makes Long Slow Distance workouts my favorites.

Which brings me around to this blog. One of the requirements of becoming a 46er is that you write regularly to an assigned "correspondent" about your hikes and experiences. The idea is to get you to pay attention and focus on your experiences while you are hiking and to avoid rushing through just to "bag" the peaks. In the course of doing this, I discovered the joys of writing again. As an English major in college, I kept journals at various times, and I enjoyed the experience, but had gotten away from it. The 46ers got me back into it, and I have continued to write about my experiences with triathlons and 5K's.

Because I am very, very slow, I have lots of time while I am out on the course to observe and remember things. Because I will talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time about anything, I get to meet a lot of nice and interesting people - a surprising number of them talk to me about all kinds of things. I have a pretty good memory, and after a while, all these things get distilled and filtered by time and I write them down.

Until now, I have shared my pieces, mostly with my training partners and companions, but also with my family and friends, through emails. From the feedback I get, I know that I've been able to bring a smile or laugh to people, and every now and the descriptions of my experiences spark memories or reactions in them, too.

But many people these days are in email jail - and don't have the time to read an entire email, especially a detailed one, even if they would like to. So - I am going to continue to write about my experiences and to share them with my friends, family and partners - but I will do it here. I will send a simple email notification after I post - and they can choose to come over and read about what I've been up to when they have the time and inclination. Maybe they will even stop by if they are curious, and maybe they will post a comment or two while they are here.

I hope you are one of them. r.