I can’t seem to run as fast as I could. I have aches and pains in my joints. How much of my problems are a part of aging, and what am I willing to give up?

A few years ago I was half way up Mount Rainier. I thought I had prepared myself adequately. I was 56 at the time. I didn’t make it and it was one of the few times in my life I missed a peak. Rainier was an important to me. I had planned on this summit for years. Now I was there and this was the time. The few weeks after that event caused me to learn a very valuable lesson.

I had pain everywhere. The bottoms of my feet hurt. My ankles hurt, my knees and hips hurt. I was so disappointed that I didn’t summit on Mt. Rainier, I was determined that I would do what I could to continue hiking and climbing regardless of the cost. Was I just getting old. Was it time for me to adjust my expectations for myself?

I lived in the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains (upper east bench of Salt Lake City). I decided I would revisit as many of the hikes I had taken and peaks I had climbed over the previous years as I could. I began hiking the easy trails in Millcreek and Big Cottonwood canyons. Before each hike I wrapped my ankles. I purchased insoles for my sore feet. I placed warming supports around my knees. I took a couple of ibuprofen and started out. I did this for four weeks. What happened next caught me off guard.

About four weeks later, I started feeling pretty good again. I realized that I had strengthened muscles that had grown weak and flabby. As these muscles started doing their work again, my aches and pains slowly disappeared. I took out the insoles, quit wrapping my ankles, and stopped wearing the knee warmers. By the end of that year I was hiking pain free and pushing myself as hard as I had twenty years earlier. I recorded that year on my Maintain Fit personal journal. My last hike that year was a winter ascent on Mount Olympus between Christmas and the new year. I recorded 80,000 vertical feet and 180 miles of trails. Along the way I summited 37 peaks.

What if I had decided that I was too old and that my body was telling me to slow down. To this day I would still have those sore feet, and probably several more problems. The pattern is all too clear. One problem cascades into several. We don’t always know when we can work ourselves out of a problem, or whether it truly is the end of an era. But we will never know if we don’t test it. I am older now. I really am slowing down, but I have tested the theory again this past six months. I broke my femur in July. Once again, I worked hard to get back to my best level of performance (whatever that is, not what it was) and my body is once again responding to hard work and consistency. I don’t hear people talking about this miracle of recovery, especially for older men and women. I may never get back to the tough peaks, but I am on the trails, in the river, walking, hiking and climbing again.

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Get started today with a free exercise log from Maintain Fit
Photography by Elise McLaughlin

I’ve just made several updates to the site that should help new visitors quickly understand that Maintain Fit is an online exercise log.  I’ve also included a new description on the homepage that highlights some of the benefits of keeping a regular exercise log.  Even if you’re an old member, go and check it out:

Exercise Log homepage

I think that the two principles of psychological momentum and social obligation are huge when it comes to developing a lifestyle that includes the healthy exercise that so many people want.  They overcome the biggest mental obstacles to achieving your health goals.  The great part is that both of these ideas are, in substance, accommodated using an exercise log.

So, I did my best on the my homepage to better explain what these are and start the process for someone that will enable them to life the lifestyle they want – healthy and strong.  I also added a few links that bring people to the sign up page (reminding them of course that it’s free .

So, if you’re not yet a member of Maintain Fit, go and look at the homepage and get a personal exercise log account today and start living the lifestyle that you deserve.  I also point out that I send fantastic health and exercise information to Maintain Fit members often and even have some really cool experts that provide additional content.

Exercise Log homepage

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On a side note, if you’ve been following the running speakers videos, I’ve got more to post, but Jeremy and I are going to take the 4th of July weekend off.  So, keep you’re eyes on your inbox for some more cool videos and other stuff next week, and have a great 4th of July.  God bless America!

I was just talking to a buddy at work that ran in the Wasatch Back Relay over the weekend.  His group included some runners from Idaho and others from Utah.  Overall it’s a gruelling race covering 180.5 miles with some crazy elevation gain.  There were 12 people to a team.

The website (linked above) has information about each leg, and I’ll have to ask him to tell me which legs he ran, but he said he had a great experience doing it even though it was a super challenging experience.  He did tell me that he had a brutal climb for his last leg of the Wasatch Back Relay, covering almost as much vertical distance as lateral.

I’ve asked him to send me some photos and I’ll get him to tell me a little bit about it for those of you that are interested in trying out something like that someday.  Race teams are starting to assemble for next years race, so if you think you’re interested, start talking to people about it today.

The Wasatch Back Relay starts in Logan Utah and meanders through the Wasatch range ending up in Park City Utah, which takes you through some of the most breathtaking scenery in Utah.  I might even succeed in getting him to do an interview with me telling me more about his experience (I’ll see what I can do).

Meanwhile, here is a map of the Wasatch Back Relay race course.

If you’re on my mailling list then you already heard the story about how I got a prototype pair of speakers for running with my MP3 player.  They let me run with music by reducing the risk of getting hit by a car or surprised by someone or something.  Well, I said that I would try to put up a video showing the speakers, so I asked my buddy Jeremy to be the videographer and help me out.

I did a quick couple mile run in Boise and had him meet me on my usual route, which happens to be a pretty busy street during the morning commute with no sidewalks.  The music I chose for my run was Simple Minds (yeah, I love 80′s music).

Each time I run with music I understand a little better what others say about the motivation and increased energy that seems to be part of the run.  For example, when I started my run I felt physically crappy, but the music kept me going until I got into a groove.  When I had to stop for the camera I was a bit disappointed:(  I really got into  the run and the music gave me a good pace

OK, stop talking already and show me the video!  I know.

Enjoy! And after you watch it, post a comment telling what you think about the video (and the speakers)…

The Boise Turkey Trot relay is the first relay race I had ever run, and it was a lot of fun.  There’s a bit of a story about how I got invited to run in the relay race, so I wanted to post it.

I was sitting at my desk yesterday when my phone rang and a familiar voice (albeit one I had not heard in a while) announced himself. After the typical small talk he told me about the Boise Turkey Trot relay race he and three friends had registered to run the next day. Apparently one of his friends had injured his back and he wondered if I could fill in. I said I would.

The race involved a two mile course around the beautiful Ann Morrison park near down town Boise. Each team member would run the same two mile course and would predict his finishing time before the race began. Awards were given in a unique way. Rather than giving the prize (four large turkeys) to the team with the fastest time, the team that came closest to their predicted total time was the winner.

We drove to the park in the rain and found a group huddled under portable heaters with hot chocolate and coffee being served. Everyone was dressed up warm while waiting to run. The rain drizzled down throughout the race, but the temperature wasn’t too cold (about 50F). I found my friend and met the other two runners in our team. I also got a cup of hot chocolate for my daughter.

Based on my what my treadmill has been telling me I figured I would run the two miles that would be my part of the Turkey Trot Relay in about 19 minutes. As it turns out I ran at a comfortable pace and finished in 16:24 (so much for treadmill readouts). We apparently ran in a different order than what we told them and so the results website shows them assigned to the wrong person (I ran the second leg). Not bad for having less than 24 hours to plan for it.

I got a great pair of socks with turkeys on them and had a fun activity with my family. Our overall time was only off by 2:19 from our estimate and the fastest runner on our team finished in 14:38. It was a fun race, one that I’ll probably do again.