COMPETITION-THE AGING ATHLETE

If you have a sport that you are passionate about, chances are that you will continue to compete in it year after year. Eventually the years will go by and you will find yourself in the Master's class trying to keep up with all the younger athletes coming out of the woodwork. If you are lucky and determined you may be able to keep up for many years. If you have been an athlete all of your life the wear and tear on your joints can be horrendous. I often wish that I had been one of those people who started being obsessive about exercise later in life so that my joints would now be in pristine condition. Instead, I had to be one of those people who was always pushing to the extreme. My husband and I both have many aches and pains and sometimes we even limp in the same direction. I had been thinking, after my recent hip injury, that we could tie each of our good legs together and we could then walk normally as a single unit. That might be just a little too much togetherness for my husband! When I wake up in the morning my feet shuffle on the floor as I try to walk to the bathroom. I have to put my perfume on before I can get my joints moving in the morning. The fragrance is called "oh de Icy Hot"! I have an Icy Hot roll on that I keep with me at work so I can walk faster and a spray can that I keep in my gym bag so I can train. I wish they sold it in 12 packs as much as we go through between the two of us. What drives us to keep pushing on even when we can no longer walk upright? The other night my husband declaired that he was going to the gym to work Hamstrings. He kissed us all goodbye and turned to walk out the door. As he walked away he was dragging his leg behind him. When I see him doing this I think to myself "How silly he is". Why would he do somthing so absurd. I wish I knew. A few days later I catch myself lifting my leg up with my hands to get onto the Stair Master because my hip was hurting too much to lift it. I proceeded to do my cardio session for the day even though I could barely walk. Again I wish I knew why we continue to do such crazy things. Competitors are obsessed with the prep. We make a plan and stick with it no mater what. Sometimes it pays off and other times we have to deal with the agony of defeat. Even though as the competition gets closer and closer and we become more and more depleted and swear that we will never do it again, we still keep coming back year after year for more. My husband and I keep saying that this will be our last year every year. Our kids just laugh when we say these things because they know us better than we know ourselves. We will be those over 70 year old competitors. I can see myself on stage at that age prodding the judges with my cane yelling "Hey Sonny, look at me, look at me, I'm over here!!!" In the end, time heals all wounds and the aging competitor can continue the quest for as long as each of us can. Most of us are in the category of "Never give up the fight". It is what keeps us feeling young and alive and we are so passionate about it that we will do anything to stay in the game!