Romani, talk about open water and boats, here’s a tale for you. A number of years ago, a friend of mine got a very large sailboat that was commissioned in Ft Lauderdale in October. He decided to winter the boat in St Thomas and asked whether I would do the trip with him. I jumped at the chance to sail from Florida to the Carribean. Off we went with 2 other guys for what would be a 6-7 day open water oceanic sail.
Four days out, we were going stir crazy with cabin fever. As large as the boat was, 4 days into it with 4 guys on board, it was getting claustrophobic! So I decided to tie a 50 ft dock line around my waist, cleat the line off on a stern cleat and jump overboard to swim behind the boat and get towed along as we sailed. As I was in the water, I started hearing the theme song from jaws in my head and a little voice said “Schmuck, you’re chumming for sharks and you’re the chum!” My sense of preservation took over and I quickly pulled my self back to the boat and climbed back onboard.
Flash forward to the following summer. I was on a family vacation down in Bethany Beach Delaware and struck up a conversation with a coast guard helicopter pilot. I told him the story of the sailing adventure and my swimming. He smiled and laughed as he proceeded to tell me that from the air he can see exactly what’s going on in the water and that the theme song from jaws was not just my imagination. He said that chumming was a very accurate way to describe what I had been doing. Needless to say, I never again jumped overboard for recreation when doing open water sailing!
Good luck with your treatment this week. Hope you get to that pool!
BB - when I was in FL in February, I took a lot of classes with my dad’s lady friend who, like him, is in her early seventies. Anyway, there were plenty of late seventies and early eighties ladies in these classes, who were fit, in good shape - and these were NOT walk in the park classes. It really reinforced for me how important it is to stay active to have an active lifestyle when older.
Yk the exercise where you put a band around your ankles and you either do the side stepping or a zombie walk? I swear, every time I do that (and I do it three times a week) I think - this is my insurance against a hip replacement!
I enjoy sailing but am not a huge fan of open water swimming for the very reasons Michael describes!
I am hoping I have finally kicked my diet soda addiction. I decided to give it up for Lent and unbelievably, in spite of the presence of one diet Pepsi in the pantry, made it through. Candy I was not successful with, even though there was none in our house for the holiday. We have it at work and that’s my downfall. Also managed to support my spiritual side with daily readings courtesy of Georgetown - they were emailed to me daily and I found it much easier to read them and meditate upon them that way - I think that fits into the “wellness” portion of our thread!
Couldn’t drag out of bed this morning, but have Pilates mat this afternoon which I am looking forward to. Now I’d best get to work!
Pizzagirl, those are great exercises. Bands are so versatile. Those exercises hit your abductors and hip flexors respectively. But don’t forget to hit your adductors and hip extensors too so you get all the major muscles involved with hip mobility. If you want to use the bands, do a reverse Zombie Walk (extensors) and you can lay on your back with a band tied off at one end to a solid object and on your ankle at the other end to do a “reverse snow angel” to get your adductors.
After Lent is a good time to look back, reevaluate and pat yourself on the back for the sacrifices or improvements for better you made.
Windy as all get out today. Brought my gym stuff so if the wind doesn’t calm down I’ll head there before I head home after work to put my house back together from the weekend!
My. dad will be 88 in May. He still skis at Stowe – although this winter the conditions weren’t that great. He buys a season ticket, goes out for a few runs in the morning and calls it a day. He used to do a fair amount of running, but has “backed off” to walking. He’s in pretty good shape. (He also has several lady friends and just mentioned to me the other day that “at his age he doesn’t want to be tied down!” TMI for me!!)
Raining here at the beach but perhaps it will clear later so the pup and I can go for a walk.
Sabaray- I, too, was completely successful with giving up diet colas but failed with candy. Medium on the spiritual discipline. My daughter wrote a great article called “Failing Lent”. You learn from failing.
I am trying to decide what to going forward about the diet colas. I really enjoy them and don’t feel that I have been excessive in recent years, but I know they are not good for me. I might limit to 3 a week or so. There is a lunch restaurant we go to near work that has the best fountain and that diet Coke tastes SO good! I can pass on the cans.
Hamentaschen have nailed me over the past two weeks. S2 never made them as he promised, so I wound up doing it (and eating way too many).
My youngest brother and sister ran a little track in HS, but otherwise, noone did much of any exercise. When we lived in Europe, my dad would take us kids on hikes, but my mom stayed behind. I was a terrible athlete. I ran a little for fun in HS, but my lousy knees didn’t like it much.
I had a a PE teacher in 6th grade who flunked me for not being able to do some basic gymnastics moves. Popped my bra hooks in front of the entire 6th grade trying to do them. That was it for me. Wore baggy clothes and avoided activity after that.
In high school PE became a weighted class, if you can believe it. So if you took “honors” PE, your GPA was boosted. All the coaches taught honors PE and you knew not to sign up for it if you weren’t already an athlete. I took gymnastics for the two required years and that was it. I skipped class more than I went the second year because the teacher didn’t care - if you weren’t competitive, she didn’t have to pretend to teach you anything.
I am going to try and do without the soda. I think I’m just going to drink vodka instead. Okay, not really on the vodka part.
LOL, sabaray! Just don’t mix the two. I heard the mix is called The Northern Lights… because anyone who drinks that mix will have visions of Aurora Borealis for hours.
When I first started posting on this thread a few months ago, I said my goal was to be able to go to a conference in Washington DC where I was supposed to co-present a paper. I didn’t realize that that was THIS weekend… I thought it was the first weekend of May, not April.
The presentation is supposed to be on Thursday and I have my treatment on Wednesday. To make it, I would have to drive 8 hours to DC right after the treatment so obviously that’s not going to happen.
I’m sad :(. (And I’m out the money for the hotel unless my co-presenter finds someone else who needs a room… but that’s not a big deal as I can get reimbursed.)
Boo. Sorry you don’t get to go, Romani. Take care of yourself, though!
Sabaray- I had the diet Coke at the lunch place today. It was good and I was glad to have it over the mediocre iced tea this place has, but I wasn’t swooning. I think I’ll be able to keep my consumption pretty low.
