Believe it or not I told myself you are eligible to sign up for Medicare this month. Ok I’ve known that this time was coming and I have done some planning in anticipation but that doesn’t make it real until you actually do it. So today I went on the Social Security Administration’s website, http://ssa.gov and completed an application. It was quite painless and took a mere 10 minutes, while this is the first step and I have to make some more choices in the future this is the crucial first step. What was painful was coming face to face with the reality that my 65th birthday is looming a few short months away.
I do not feel 65, I do not act like I’m 65 but there it is I am 65. I workout multiple times a day. I run distance, hills and sprints, I swim laps, I ride a bicycle for fun and for exercise, I lift weights seriously all to condition and train for Spartan Races. If you don’t know what Spartan it check out the website http://www.spartan.com . Spartan racing is difficult and the challenge is both mental and physical but it is intensified for those of us who are a little older. Lungs and Legs don’t work quite the same for the older racers. The hills look steeper, the trails look narrower, and the obstacles definitely look way harder.
Why do it you ask? I’ve thought about it a lot. I worry about injury. I have cracked a rib, bruised my liver, twisted an ankle, become dehydrated, and suffered cold and hot conditions all for the thrill of the competition. It is really not a competition against other people it is a competition against myself because I know what it feels like to push my body and wonder if it will respond this time. It always has and so I continue to test the limits because it is a wonderful feeling to have some doubt and then realize I can do this. I think it is primeval in some ways I guess like the feeling of a successful hunt and surviving another day. You also get to do this in the company of other like minded people all trying to do the same difficult things. So it is like you are a member of a tribe and all of the members are trying to overcome the same obstacles while testing their metal all together.
So I know I’m 65 but I am a successful member of the Spartan Tribe and I still got something left to prove.