The Bridge Pedal

Well - 10 bridges and 36 miles of pedaling can be done! I left the starting point about 7:30 and crossed the finish line about 4 hours later.... took some photos and stopped for water and fruit along the way. After crossing the finsih line I went over to the grass and took off my very wet shoes and socks - then met my son and celebrated with that beer!

Here are some photos:












































boy did that beer hit the spot

Still exercising

Even as we age there are major breakthroughs in our physical abilities. I mentioned that I was into cycling again and recently I got over a major hurdle. Since I ski, my quads are in pretty good ski shape, but that's not the same shape it takes to do a standing run on a bike.....So for months I was getting better at a standing hill climb but once we stared to go into a sprint or a run I folded and sat down - my quads screaming at me! I've hung in at the classes because my original goal was to be in shape for the Bridge Pedal in Portland this coming weekend - about 36 miles of road cycling over the 10 bridges.

Anyway back to my breakthrough. This week I was able to stand up and sprint - and my quads were not screaming! I was amazed that I could do this..it was a sudden breakthrough too as I could not do this in the previous class.....

The moral? We are never too old to improve our stamina, quads, energy or strength! We keep on going and we keep getting better. After all - we can grow older better.

PS - I do sip on one of my sport drinks as I pedal and I take another after......

Summer, friends, etc.

Having my son around and my schedule off a bit took some getting used to. Now we are both doing our own thing. He is working, playing and generally enjoying this part of the country - he'd never been here for more than a few days.

He's made new friends and caught up with some he knew from DC who now live out here. It made me stop and think again of friends. I stayed in touch with only one childhood friend - but she stayed in touch with others - so now some of us - the regular emailing types are back in touch.

I am in more frequent contact with friends from D.C. and a few from Vermont - but most from high school, college and graduate school days are gone. Sometimes I go onto the Internet doing searches and have found one or two but statistics say that "we" do not use the Internet as much as others - so are we never to get back in touch? I hope not...Many of my friends have moved around so it's hard to know where to look.

Hopefully some day we will all meet up here on the blog : - friends) or in general cyberspace.

But we all need friends - they keep us healthy - so if you lost contact with some from the past -find them - and also make new ones wherever you are.

Learning more about parenting

My son, who has not lived at home in almost 10 years, is here for the summer between semesters. We had our obligatory arguments and actually we got his "space" organized his way. Luckily I have a separate structure known as a tenderhouse and he is happily settled in there. And now he is working part time and looking for more work to do.

I think I am lucky that we get along so well - but our long winded conversations - mainly about politics - have kept me up beyond my normal bedtimes and I am very off my exercise/work/fun schedule. I think we are past our rough spots and it will be fun and okay. But it's a learning experience. I teach about the lifespan and one newer topic is about grown children returning home. I shall have first hand experience about a piece of this - but I know it helps us both that there is a limited term to this arrangement. He will leave in mid August.

Having a child when you are older has some good points to it - I do things most others my age do not - because we had done them together - like skiing, working out, eating well..all the things have previously mentioned about how to grow older better. Although I read of women in their 50's and 60's getting pregnant; it is not anything I would suggest. If you did not have a child in your late 30's or in your 40's....find a child to play with - teens are okay but well they are teens - or find a young adult and go biking - hanging out with youth will help you grow older better....

Still cycling after all these years

I am loving my cycling class - otherwise known as "spinning." I have improved my stamina so much in a few short weeks. Still can't keep up with the teacher or the others but hey I have decades on them and for me - I am doing GREAT. And I do take my sport supplements before and after - so I recharge quickly with no aches and pains.

Was at a conference this past weekend and am more excited and focused about my wellness business. Among the information imparted was that heavy metal toxicity is related to autism, ADD and Alzheimers. This does not surprise me - we have made the air and soil and water toxic and if so- why should it escape our bodies? We are putting it in the system everyday.

We can change our culture and try to undo our errors but in the interim we can put better foods into our bodies in the form of supplements that deal with the toxins.

We have an increase in the numbers of children diagnosed as autistic and the researchers say they do not know why. We have more kids diagnosed as attention deficit and as we keep aging, we have more persons diagnosed with Alzheimers unless we stop poisoning ourselves.