Never too old to exercise

Today I received an email from one of my computer training students asking for a session to help her to use her new digital camera. She's in her mid-seventies. I quote:

"Is 3.00pm OK? That should give me breathing space to recover from my morning session in the Gym."

And on the BBC news website this afternoon, I found this encouraging article.

I'm off to the gym so I don't get left behind.

Blade runner

While working in London a week or two back, I came across this fabulous chap in the free Metro magazine. Just in case it vanishes from their site, I'm also preserving it here:

Old swinger in rollerblade gang

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Racing through retirement as a geriatric blade runner is Britain's oldest street gang leader – 71-year-old 'Dangerous Brian'.

More 'hip' than hip replacement, Brian Allen loves nothing more than to skate through shopping precincts and practise tricks with his gang of teenage speed nuts. He said: 'I've been skating all my life and there's no better exercise. 'I just love the speed – you can get up to about 20mph – it gives me such a buzz.' And while his peers may be playing bowls or going to tea dances the pensioner prefers playing roller hockey or rocking up to a roller disco near his home in Redhill, Surrey.

He added: 'I can do most of the tricks the youngsters do. Some people give us black looks but never say very much. The police sometimes ask what we're doing, but they soon change their attitude when I turn round and they realise I'm a relic.'

Mr Allen's wife, Brenda, 65, said: 'I don't worry about him going out there, it's keeping him active.'

Go, Buster

The Zimmers are one of my favourite examples of growing old disgracefully. One of their number is now 101, and hoping to break the record for the oldest person to run a marathon...

Jack LaLanne

Pat in America is finding me some great inspiration for this site. Meet Jack LaLanne, who at nearly 93 is still working out, and could pass for many years younger. Visit the Washington Post website for a video of an interview with this irrepressible man (who frequently serenades his wife Elaine), and some fabulous photographs of his years as a fitness guru.

Comments I particularly relish include:

• "Ninety-three years young, and I still keep my wife smiling occasionally..."
• "You want to feel better, look better, live longer?.. you've got to earn the right to it."
• "Do something for the most important person on this earth. You."
  
• One of the first people to advocate avoiding processed foods, LaLanne is known to say,"If man made it, don't eat it."
• Considered one of the first modern health evangelists, LaLanne... likes to say "Billy Graham is for the hereafter, I'm for the here and now."
• LaLanne began advocating weight training in the 1930s even though doctors at the time thought the new practice would give people heart attacks and lower their sex drives. Science has since proved LaLanne was right.

There's also some interesting data about him on Wikipedia.

Forgetting to get older

I just had a great parcel from my friend Pat in America, who, much to my delight, takes inspiration from this blog and my Rector's Wife Revamp blog. We had a discussion a few weeks back on the "too old to run" theme, and yesterday I received a parcel including this newscutting (click on it for a closer look):



My favourite phrase is "I forgot to get older". That's one bit of absent-mindedness we could all use.

A bit of googling produces Fan's website, and dozens of other press references to her achievements. What an excellent lady. Thanks loads, Pat.

Malcolm & Sue

When I ran (OK, jogged) my first Race for Life a couple of weeks ago, with my personal trainer, Kim, it was her dad Malcolm with his wife Sue who took all the smashing photos of us by following us around the course. They kept popping up all over the route, encouraging and cheering us on, and being ready with the water bottles so we didn't need to carry them!

Malcolm is 74, started running in his 50s, and is staggeringly fit. I asked him when I (puff, puff) finished my first 5k race in 39 minutes, "how long would that have taken you?" He thought about it for a moment, and said "well, I did one the other day over some pretty rough ground, so it was a bit slower than usual... that took me 22 minutes." A quick Google finds Malcolm running some very impressive times, including a 10k in 48:30 - you can find the evidence on the Athletics Data website. Notice that he has a habit of coming in first rather a lot...

Sue is also a runner, and was disappointed that the R4L was fully booked so she couldn't join us - although she'd have been showing us her heels if she had. I was grateful that she could take photos of us instead!

Oh, and they've just started using a computer, too.

Malcolm, Sue - you're a huge inspiration to us all.


Malcolm with Henry the hound

Running over eighty

I've published more information about these two ladies on my Rector's Wife Revamp blog, but here are two of my favourite inspirations for fitness, no matter what your age.

Renee Clarke (born 1926) - you'll find an article about her here on the Rosemary Conley website. She's based in Surrey, near where I used to live, and seems still to be taking part in events with her local running club, the Epsom Oddballs.

Jenny Wood Allen (born 1911) - here shown on the BBC website (scroll to the end of the article), but you'll find references to her in many places on the internet. From a quick Google, it appears that Jenny last ran in about 2001; since then, she's walked the London Marathon in 2002, received an MBE in the 2006 New Year Honours List, and took part in the 2006 Great Scottish Walk.

So for those of us in our 40s and 50s, there's very little excuse!