I'm Old

“My son started HIGH SCHOOL today! If you combine the ages of his Science and Math teachers, put 15 pounds on his gym teacher, and add wrinkles around the mouth of his English teacher, you'll have ME. UGH. I am officially changing my trail talk name to "MACH". Middle Aged Chubby Housewife. Running girl is just too damn spry for me nowadays. Woe.”

“awwww, that doesn't mean anything. We all gain weight, and get wrinkles. It's all reversable if we really want to reverse it. You have a lifetime to lose extra pounds.

That doesn't mean we still aren't wonderful! I say keep the name running girl.”

“If we all changed our names when we realized we're old we'd never be able to keep track of who's who around here.

Isn't the median age here around 70 or so?”

“hehehehe”

“You're not old, God's old!

Paraphrased from Paul Simon”

“Now, compare yourself to all the people you know who are your same age. HOW MANY OF THEM RUN MARATHONS AND BACKPACK?? You don't realize it, but those around you respect you for your energy and attempts to better yourself.

I casually asked my 22 year old daughter what she thought of her 50+ year old father backpacking and going to school. She said that my actions and the example I set had tons more impact than what I told her to do.

You go girl!!

[Pity party over. Back to work!]”

“RG.....oh, please...spare me!...heh....

i felt OLDER when i saw recent pics of myself using hiking poles.....looked like crutches...sigh.....i never used even one hiking stick in over 25 yrs of hiking......until last month......i was glad to have those "crutches" on the rocks and creeks tho.
add to that ripping my last pair of contacts before the last backpacking trip........try negotiating uneven terrain wearing bifocals for makin ya feel old.....

old isnt so bad if you remain immature..
keep "running girl"...............and RAGE! RAgE!.....”

“Naaa, your not old........I have gear older then you.

I was in the best shape of my life at 42, now 11 years later, I'm 20 lbs heaver but I'm still doing everything that I did then, I just do it a little slower......and better! It's how old you are in your heart that counts. I bet that still makes you running girl!

I've been working on an adjusted age formula............take these ages (yours will vary, I hope) and divide by 3.5

chronological age......53 What your birth certificate says

mental age...............28 What your head tells you, when no ones looking

Body (abused) age..67 What you feel like after a 18 mile day hike


Adjusted real age....42 See, I'm back to 42 again...try it.”

“Oh, I like that one......

"old isnt so bad if you remain immature"

thanks I-am OM”

“I may grow old, but I refuse to grow up. I need to be a good example for my "kid brother"..right Petey?”

“Just buy bigger clothes, & hang around nursing homes & bingo halls if you want to feel slimmer & younger.”

“I can't argue with that.”

“Maybe I ought to just leave this one alone.”

“GOOD ADVICE OmaHiker!! Funny, OM!I started thinking about changing my name when I ran with my usual gal last week. She is 10 years older than me, she smokes, she rarely runs during the week and every Saturday morning she beats me back to the truck! Maybe I should just get a new training partner. After seeing how young my sons teachers are, I really felt old. Boo-hoo. I need to plan a backpacking trip! That will help.”

“running girl, you couldn't possibly be old. You're younger than me and I AM NOT OLD! :o)”

“Luckily, I am married to a much older man. At least I will always be younger than he is.”

“Wait til they graduate from college, then you feel old....... My wife decided we're to young to be this old. Like Phil's daughter my son and his friends can't believe we do the thing we do.

That's gotta make you feel better.”

“Once I posted that our barely teenaged son suddenly thought us DORKS. It was hilarious that all of the TTers responded with--DORKS???? How could they be dorks--they BACKPACK!!!! We made our son read the threads and he cracked up. I'm not sure he was convinced we are not dorky, but he does respect the backpacking part of us.”

“Hey, running girl, I'm turning 40 in 4 months and I feel like I'm just beginning to hit my stride! Of course, I've had to work hard to cultivate a good attitude. With the societal attitudes toward "older" women, it can be easy to have an experience like that...I've certainly fallen into that trap..but NO MORE!”

“HEY, there's nothing wrong with older women.....I'm married to one and she's pretty cool.

Don't let anyone mess with your head... You are who you are.”

“Tina Turner..nuf said.”

“Raquel Welch...pant, pant, pant...”

“Age may be just a number, but to me it's relative to how you feel. I'll always act the same as I do now, like I have for the last 10 years, and (most likely) for the rest of my life...no matter how old I get.”

“I figure everybody is getting old at exactly the same rate. I think you get a turn to be every age. I do not mind old. It is interesting. It is part of being who we are. I do not fight old. I keep my mind active and my body busy so that old will be pleasant.”

“That's why I hike.. to fool myself into thinking that I am not nearly as old as my age would have me to believe.. :)”

“Hey, a few years ago some young marines challenged some "old" guys in our running club to a local triathlon; run, bike, kayak over 72 miles. The older guys were 57, 58 and 70. The marines, who were 19-21, spotted the geezers 1 hour. The old guys creamed them in every leg. The 70 year old ran the 8.8 mile leg in a little over an hour; the first marine was about 5 min. back. It got worse from then on. The biker added another 30 min., and the kayaker added on 45 min.! The young guys could crank out push-ups and sit-ups, but they didn't have a clue about tarining for any kind of endurance event. Most of the 40+ runners around here can trounce the 19-29 yr crowd.”

“There are two ladies in our Forest Service volunteer association that are doing the JMT in one-week segments. One of them is 78 years old. I think the other one is in her 60s. I can barely keep up with the 78 yr. old while on a day patrol.”

“Im so glad were all old here. at least I dont feel so bad this way. LOL”

“I may be old, but I'm slow. ;-)”

“Slow and steady wins the race!”

“Maybe you should change your name to runningwoman now. That would reflect your physical prowness along with your new found maturity. I would stay away from names like runoutgirl or negative stuff like that. Anyway, stay with it. I'm 47 and hike with very few people of any age who can keep up with me.”

“Go running girl! I'll bet you can smoke your son and all his friends in a 10K!!”

“Oops, I must have ended up in here by mistake. I'm not old!”

“You'd be the same age whether you had a kid in highschool or prescool. As long as you can still do the things you want to do, who cares what the calendar says?”

“Ok, Phil, you seem to have all the other demographics for TT, so just how OLD is the oldest TTer?”

“I'M Not! I just got carded again!”

“You're fantastic pctpacker. You're my hero.”

“Sean Connery is my hero!

What a Hot, Old, Stud!”

“(if he had long hair)”

“The oldest woman I know on the net is Marge from Idaho. She is 78. I did a day hike with her outside of Phoenix last year and she kicks butt. She posts on the backpackinglight yahoo group. She has been section hiking the PCT but this week she is up in those mountains in Colorado.”

“Biz - When it was my wife's 28th birthday and she was 7 months pregnant, they checked her ID. I think that was the best birthday present she ever had. As for me, I got a coffee the other day at McDonald's along with my daughter's happy meal. To my dismay she rang me us for a "Senior coffee - $.39". OUCH!

Isoursus - I don't know who the oldest one is, but the oldest person I have been on a TT outing with was 66. On the Llama Hike we had the a group of four of us called the "Be 52s". I am hoping a picture of our group emerges somewhere.

Nimrod - Click on my name after this post. Go to my personal homepage then click on my picture.”

“Marge the 78 year old was great. Did her ankle heal? She broke it on the trail, or something like that after the AZ hike.”

“Biz? carded again?.. yeah but we all know why..”

“Thanks Phil and MP --
Runninggirl -- Look on the bright side...if you're still hiking at 78 you have a LOTTTTT of miles left! ;-)”

“I don't much like the wrinkles either, but I love the freedom that I have now that my son is getting older (sophmore in high school). Being able to wander off from home on my own is really nice.”

“Hero Mary? Last time you saw me I was soaking wet, hypothermic and bloody. What kind if hero is that? Well, thanks anyway :)”

“I like middle age. I still feel like a kid, physically and mentally, but I'm not always broke. I'm in better shape now, at 43, then ever before. The young bucks don't pick fights with me, but the young ladies ignore me too.

My daughter is 8th grade and runs distance in track. Tues night we ran together and sprinted th last mile.
I SMOKED her! Ha Ha!”

“Drink goat's milk... feel like a kid again.

:^)”