I finally figured it out..... (12)

Horse racing. Have you ever been to the race track and watched those horses come thundering around the last curve headed for the finish line? It was always the thundering of the hooves that gave me a rush. Those horses were bred for it, young, proud, strong and quite capable of going for the long haul when it was demanded. All that power....

Living in the Cariboo which is ranching country, I get to see a lot of these magnificent animals on a fairly regular basis. Granted, the horses around here are not the ones bred for speed....but hey, they can still do a fairly good clip around the Williams Lake Stampede track. Now I know a guy, out west who has himself a couple of old work horse. They can't run worth hell, but they are good dependable work horses. Big, old and slow. That is how I sort of see myself these days. I may not have the speed anymore, but I can still pull my load when demanded of me. After all, I work in a mine and shovelling and packing rock for 12 hours does take a bit of doing. But big, slow and getting up there it is.

I went to the doctor and he said to me that I needed to lose a chunk of weight. I either do that or I risk serious health troubles. I want to get rid of these blood pressure meds as well.....and to do that, I need to make some changes. I started a few months back and have been working on it ever since....I quit smoking, lowered sodium intake and it is showing results. Today, I made another step....I bought a pass to the gym in the arena. Good for me. I bought some new shiny walking shoes, some cool Nike basketball trunks and a 1 month pass. Get ready extra tonnage, I will be showing you the door.

I get down to the training room at the arena, head on over to the treadmill. I have to play with it for a bit to figure it out...this is sort of new to me. Anyway, I get on this thing and start my pace. I got it set for a nice brisk walk, not too fast, not too slow. Got some tunes on the Ipod...hey, I am good to go...do some serious calorie burning here. I am just a walking away for about half an hour and a young girl comes up, steps on the treadmill beside me, punches in some stuff with the buttons on the treadmills computer and presses the pace button and she is off...just like in the horse races. Now even though I wouldn't admit that I was watching what she was doing, just being cool and minding my own business, secretly I was. I had to compare...see what kind of stuff she had. See how this old work horse stood up against this young filly. She had the pace set at 3 and I had mine at 2. Okay, I'm 55, she is about 20. I'd expect that. But I was ahead for sure...been doing this for a half hour already. I got some serious fat burned here.

She stayed at about 3 for about 2 minutes before she cranked it up to 6. 6? Nobody can do 6. That is insane. They lock you up in nut houses for cranking it up to 6. I mean this young filly is at a jog for god's sake. She surely wasn't going to stay at that pace for long, let me tell ya. Hell with that, I cranked my pace up to 2.5. I mean I am going with the " The race doesn't go to the swiftest, it goes to the one who can hold out the longest."

Well let me tell ya, I was pretty much done in half an hour later.....that young filly, she was still at 6 and still jogging along at a nice clip...I was feeling silly for sure. I guess they can do 6. To me, that is insane. But what was more insane is thinking I stood a chance against all that youth in a sleek package. I left the gym and got changed. As I was leaving, I went back to take a look through the glass window into the gym, she was still there...jogging like there was no end in sight....not even snorting, huffing, or puffing. Hell, over a half an hour and barely breaking a sweat....just this perfect form of humanity, showing the beauty of stamina, endurance, perseverance and gracefulness all in one young woman. Not unlike those wonderful animals I used to watch at the race track.....the thundering of the hooves, or the gentle pat, pat, pat of gym shoes on a treadmill, it was quite a sight.

And now I know why I never saw an old work horse at the racetrack....


geo

hey geo i read the whole thing .i would have liked to been there watching those muscles work.4 years ago i couldnt walk across thr street at more than a gasping shuffle . then i got a stent installed. wow hust like waking up on a sunny day an i still cant run with the young ones,, however youth exuberance and strength will never over come old age sneaky and greed .. there is still hope for us old farts yet
gordy theoldsillyfosifer

Well there fellow old fart, glad you got repaired to the point of being able to get across that street. But yeah, I agree....sneaky I am okay with, greedy...well I would tend to go with more experience. That has something to do with wisdom or something...we outsmart em!!!

geo

Okay, by popular demand,I put the rusty knight one back. Personally, I don't like it anymore, but hey, have to keep my fans happy. Unfortunately, I can't get the whole thing in there....it had some good parts in there for sure....even if I say so myself!

2 months...no smoke and amazingly everybody around me is still alive as is me. That must be some kind of record or something.

At my age, slow and steady is not an option, it is the only way of getting the job done.

geo