Crossing the Rubicon

Finally I have crossed another Rubicon in my body's reaction to the increased physical training. No I am not training as much as many do normally.  The measure of one's training is rather subjective, it has much to do with the years of increased training. It has only been since 2007 when I entered my first race, the Olympic Standard Triathlon in Farmington, NM, that I began to believe that I could become and athlete.  One obviously does not need to be fast, but simply enjoy the process.

I did not live in a household of athletes, and though my father likely would be an athlete if he were of my generation, my father did not allow himself to indulge.  I have a pair of wooden skis which belonged to him and I have an image, perhaps incorrectly, that he took part in the military training during World War II in Leadville, Co. My father was not in the military for he was working for the telephone company around White Sands, New Mexico. He did not understand the significance that work played in the war, he was young and knew the country side and what was taking place in the mountains of Colorado.

A 62 year old body which has not been involved in sports for most of the first six decades needs time to become tweeked, see "Younger Next Year".  Our cultural concept is that the body changes most dramatically in the aging population.  Do you not remember the changes which we see daily in a baby, then there is the toddler, the growing child with a new body each week or at least each quarter.  The teenager suffers from growing pains and in our twenties and thirties, we are getting used to our now matured body which is new to us and has the strangest demands because there is so much of the world and human behavior to learn about and yes, the passions of the sexual hormones.  Feeling the need to burn the candle at both ends to enjoy all the passion for life that one witnesses in the twenties, that could be termed a change in the body.  So you see the body does not really quit changing.  Our culture conceives that the changes appear to be most dramatic as one moves into the 60's and 70's but these changes are not as rapid as for the child.  Look what happens to a child in their first decade and then again in their second decade.  The changes for one in their 60's and 70's is not so dramatic, really. Thirty somethings feel a change in their bodies and for the women who give birth to one or more children experience massive changes in their body.  Yes, "nothing endures but change," Heraclitus.

Throughout the ages people have hoped to come across a magical potion to regain youth but it's also the case that the wise ones have known for eons that movement, exercise of the body, mind, spirit and heart (read emotion), provides the magic.

 

Domestic Violence

We have the image, the hope, that we live in a peaceful, mythical world, but many in our country live in a violent environment, a violent home where anger is acted out upon another human being.  The figures are astounding: in 2002 there were 17,397 Domestic Violence incidents identified by New Mexico law enforcement. In 2003 New Mexico's First Lady, Barbara Richardson, sited 1 in 7 Domestic Violence incidents are reported with 25,000 calls which came into law enforcement for the year.  That translates into 175,000 estimated Domestic Violence actions against another human being.

     A woman is beaten every nine seconds in the United Sates.  On average, more that three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in this country every day.  Approximately 17% of pregnant women report having been battered.  

Why?

see: http://www.taoscav.org/domestic_violence/statistics.php

Mood changes with increased workouts

The mood changes with these increased workouts makes one wonder at times just how stable the world is.  Where is the research about the changes within the body of a 60's plus woman who has begun to exercise more?  Not more than the gym crowd nor more than many sports involved persons but just more than the general population.  Yes, there are many days in which I can feel my body creating more cells to  make up for the ones which have been used up.  In the book"Younger Next Year" the physiology is well advanced but the mood swings are a kicker.

Winter does not help, too many grey skies and I live in the land of Enchantment where we are supposedly expecting 350 days or so of sunshine each year.  We love the moisture for the spring will be grand.  It is just the seasonal disorder that takes one down plus changing one's direction.  That changed direction,of course, is leaving one's teaching job and massage therapy practice and B&B business in order to raise funds for a women's transitional shelter.

Once again we have had snow today.  At least there is the master's swimming group 2000 yds or 40 laps today, to keep in shape and the college gym, but my body does not seem to have the energy to keep up well with this each day, just now.  I have begun for three days now to take spirulina which helps and am eating well. Need a massage too, am sure, so will have one tomorrow.  I Plan to take a massage each week now before we leave.

Yesterday, I purchased some warm tops for colder weather which I may very well encounter in the mountains east of San Diego or even in Silver City or Las Curces, New Mexico.  When we arrive in Phoenix on the way to San Diego, I will look for biking shoes for you see it was last Wednesday that I found that my yellow, biking shoes are misplaced.  Is this a symbolic gesture?

A week ago on Sunday, December 28 we made the decision that we must make our departure date another week or two into the future.  Originally we planned to leave Farmington on January 14, but it will not work so realistically it looks like we will leave January 27 or 28, 2009.

It is snowing now again, always here just light snow but cold temperatures for us at least.  Our family in Sterling Alasks is looking at  20 or 15 degrees below zero so everything is relative.