My 50th Birthday

Last Friday I had my big Five-0 birthday. For the last few years I was dreading that milestone and didn’t want anything to do with celebrating it. But my perspective on growing old made a 180 degree turn when I was faced with the strong possibility off not making it to my 50th. Now I look forward to celebrating every birthday. Growing old is wonderful – much better than the alternative.

I had a wonderful 50th celebration, it lasted all weekend. The weather was nice on April 3rd in Tonka Bay. It was sunny and in the mid 40s. Yes, that is nice weather in early April for Minnesota standards. I did have to work to about 2PM, but I worked from home. As soon as I was done with work my wife Renee and I went to the bike trail near Excelsior to run. I wanted to make my 50th special, so I decided to go for a record time, and I did it. The trail is finally free of snow and ice so I was able to run with a full stride. I ran 6.0 miles in 47:38. I don’t ever remember completing 6 miles under 48 minutes on an outdoor run. It took all I had to do that; when I finished I had nothing left in me, which feels absolutely wonderful.

Later that day my wife, two boys and I went to Fuddruckers for dinner. I kept it pretty healthy by ordering the Buffalo burger which comes with a whole wheat bun that is not smeared with butter like the regular buns at Fuddruckers. We then went home to watch a couple of James Bond movies. I’ve been a James Bond fan since my Grandma Ruth took me to my first James Bond movie (Goldfinger) when I was five. For my Birthday I got a James Bond set in Blue Ray – the new high definition format. We first watch “Quantum of Solace”, which is the latest Bond flick that was released last year that we hadn’t seen before. Then we watch one of my favorite old Bond movies, “Live and Let Die”.

Saturday night my wife and two boys joined my parents and my oldest brother and his wife for a dinner at Famous Dave’s BBQ in Mankato. Then on Sunday we went over to my wife’s parent’s house for fried chicken dinner with mash potatoes and milk gravy – one of my all time favorite meals. My birthday celebrations did involve a lot of eating, which didn’t help with my weight loss plans. I have run into a barrier with my weight loss. I’ve kind of stalled out at about 171 over the last few weeks. When I started my weight loss program I followed my diet very well during the weekdays and would treat myself on the weekends. That was working, but then two things happened. My weekend habits migrated into the weekdays and my running miles dropped. Life has been pretty busy for me the last couple of months.

My job has been real busy, but that’s good considering the economic situation. I’ve had to travel to Phoenix a number of times over the last couple of months. But that is finally tapering off now. There was the big family get together at Lutsen Ski Resort in February. A whole bunch of family Birthday celebrations, my oldest brother’s 25th wedding anniversary celebration, a baby shower for my nephew Jereme and his wife Sara, who recently had their first baby Lilly (yes, us men were invited too). My youngest son went on an 8th grade class trip to Washington D.C. over spring break. It was his first time traveling without his parents. That was a big deal.

Mostly good things are happening now. In most ways life is back to normal for me. I’m healthy, working hard, playing hard, enjoying each day and have many plans for the future. But life always has it challenges. My uncle Butch died a couple of days ago. I had some very special times with him and he was one of my childhood idols. When I was little boy he went off to fight in the Vietnam War as a marine. I remember being really impressed with his uniform and sword. When my uncle was away at war my Grandma would play the US Marine Corps – Halls of Montezuma over and over again for me. After the war my uncle bought a home on Lake Minnetonka and had the coolest, fastest speed boat. When I was a teenager he took me waterskiing out on Diamond Lake when the wind was wild and the waves were huge. I hung onto the towrope for dear life; probably trying to show my uncle I could be tough like him. Butch, my Grandpa and I went duck hunting a couple of times. There was a special place we would go that had more ducks than what we had shells. I will miss him, but I’ll always have the wonderful memories.

I finally been able to get back into a good running routine and increase my weekly running miles. There is only four weeks to go to the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. I’m not going to reach my weight loss goal by then, but I’ll just set another weight goal after the race. Based on my last 6 mile run I most likely won’t make my race time goal either, but this is a harder one to call. I just don’t know how much of a factor adrenaline will have on race day. One of the hardest things to do when running a full marathon is to control the adrenaline factor and try to start with a slower, more normal pace so one doesn’t burn out before the finish line. Typically when I have run the first half of a full marathon I have done it at a much faster pace than any training runs, but I always had plenty of gas at the halfway point. I’m thinking that for a half marathon the adrenaline factor does not need to be controlled nearly as much, but rather used in nearly full dose. That’s my plan for race day.

Even though I won’t make my weight goal for race day I’m not giving up on my weight reduction. For 50 years old I’m probably considered pretty slender. But research is showing that a lot of our health issues stems from being overweight. Recent research is showing that even just a little extra weight around the waist can increase one’s risk for diseases and cancer. I believe we have more control over our health than what we think. I also believe that I can control my weight and my health without a big struggle. I love food and I would never eat anything that taste like cardboard just for the health of it. But I believe we can have a nutritious diet that is also very satisfying to the palate. One important thing I want to point out is that I’m not struggling to loose weight. I’m not going hungry and I’m not giving up on delicious foods. Any diet that becomes a struggle will not work in the long run. The biggest challenge is changing habits, but that doesn’t mean one has to make sacrifices. It’s funny how us humans make choices.

When presented with a choice like, watch some TV or go for a walk on a nice summer evening, we often pick TV. But occasionally when we pick the walk and we realize that we enjoyed the walk so much more and should do it more often. Then we go back watching the TV. The path to the best happiness is typically right out there in plain sight, but yet we still pick the other path. Why is that?