Run Forest..... Run, or Just Walk if You Have To

It seem like I've been running most of my life. Not from anything; and nowhere in particular. Just running. A regular Forest Gump, before Forest Gump was created.

I started running way back in Jr. High School. When I reached High School, I immediately joined the Varsity Cross-country team and ran my way through the 9th and 10th grades, before giving it up to play Varsity football.

After high school, I continued to run; in the Marine, in College and afterward wherever I could find a 10K, until sometime around age 58, I just stopped running. That too sounds like Forest Gump.

A few years ago, I started running again. I pledged to run a 5K race at least once a year... on my birthday. There were a few different reasons why I started running again. Mostly it was to have something to due in my spare time. That is after playing golf, and after wandering around tourist spots with my lovely wife; and after whatever else occupied mt retirement years. After awhile I noticed that, just like health professionals tell us... running was doing real good thing for me. My doctor had given me a blood pressure monitor and a daily schedule to measure and post my BP on a chart, which I was to send in every month. It seems my BP had been creeping up the scale, considerably. I chose to cooperate because the last thing I wanted was to be put on BP regulation medication. I am not real keen on taking meds. So... anyway, what I noticed, from all this running, is that my BP dropped from 146/120 down to 120/79. Plus... I really started feeling energized. So I run... and run... and run. When I don't run, I ride a bicycle.

Now... I mention all this because I notice you may not be running as often as you should. If you are, that's great. But if you are not... then it is time you considered doing so. That is, if you want to avoid all sorts of health problems as you age. I can tell you, from experience, if you allow, all sorts of aches and pains will visit you in your senior years. And if you let them, they will take over and run your life. Not what you want in your retirement years. It's much better to have fun and enjoy all that free time you earned.

If you can't run... and some can't; due to knee replacement and the like... then walk. Walk around the block. Then walk a half mile, then a mile. Take someone with you and you will finish before you know it. Before long you will be walking 2, 3 even 4 miles and more. And you will feel great.