Tuesday night 49-year-old Jamie Moyer of the Colorado Rockies became the oldest Pitcher ever to win a major league baseball game. This morning I read about Hiroshi Hoketsu, a 71-year-old man from Japan who will compete in individual dressage in this Year’s summer Olympics. Later this morning I will have to face Ruth in yoga class and watch her beat the yoga pants off me as she gracefully bends, twists, balances, and holds those poses for impossibly long periods of time while I crumple into a puddle in child’s pose halfway through the session, silently screaming, “No more!” Did I mention that Ruth turned 85 this week?
My problem is that I’ve come late to the game. Growing up I was a girly girl and hated any kind of contact sport. My definition of a contact sport was any sport where something could come in contact with my body, such as a volleyball, a baseball, a shuttlecock, water and air. Now I am trying to remedy that. I joined the YMCA when we moved here three and a half years ago and try to go three or four times a week. I’m walking more and going to yoga twice a week.
You would think starting so late in life would make me want to take it easy, but it has just the opposite effect. I want to make up for lost time. I’m trying to find the right sport for me, one that will make me feel cocky and powerful. My daughter has taken up running, but my knees and hips can’t take that pounding. Plus, I don’t like sports that make you sweat, or glisten, as ladies in the South do. My granddaughter is on the swim team, so that’s a possibility. I don’t have to get my hair wet, do I? My daughter-in-law does kick-boxing. I might be able to do the boxing part, but I can’t get my leg up high enough to kick. I’m starting to eye that equestrian sport as something that would work. I mean, you get to sit down, so how hard can it be? Doesn’t the horse do most of the work? Of course, those cute little costumes must be hot, and that would make you sweat, so I might have to rethink that. I’ll get back to you when I’ve picked the right sport. Maybe you could offer suggestions. Here are my requirements: find me a sport where you don’t sweat, don’t run out of breath, don’t have to lift heavy objects, does not involve people throwing things or hitting things at you, and you get to wear cute clothes. Oh, wait a minute. Golf. Is that really a sport?
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- Moyer Becomes Oldest Pitcher to Win Game in Majors (abcnews.go.com)
Coming East 
Well, I took up cycling daily outdoors @32 yrs. and nearly 21 yrs. later, I’m still at it. Believe me, alot of women at mid-life get into it. In their 30’s and well into their 50’s. It’s easy and if you combine it with shopping or a picnic, it doesn’t feel like much exercise. Then later, one’s body just gets addicted..so much that I get impatient with walking at peak cycling season.
Oh yea, I’ve been car-free, last 30 yrs. so that’s another reason why I must bicycle.
I would like to cycle, Jean, but I would have to load a bike into my car and drive somewhere safe to ride it. Since I live in a city that isn’t friendly to cyclers, it’s just too dangerous for me to start it here. Luckily, where I live I can walk everywhere: to shops, the library, the market, the YMCA, all my doctors and dentist. Oooh, and Talbots and Williams-Sonoma. Soon I’ll be able to walk to Whole Foods when it is completed. I will have to walk there, because after I shop there, I won’t be able to afford any gas.
I have just the sport to suggest for you – belly dancing!!! I tried it and I loved it, plus it is so much fun buying the coin hip scarves and veils – so colorful and beautiful, and the music is mesmerizing. It is not highly sweat inducing, but it is a real work-out. Your arms will be sore and it helps with flexibility and learning to compartmentalize and move different parts of your body with control. I hope they have classes near where you live, you should really check it out. Just telling you about it here makes me want to return. Teachers and students come in all shapes and sizes, and once you get past the self-consciousness, it is so much fun. Everyone just wants to get in tune with our bodies, similar to yoga in that way, but very different. I stopped belly-dancing because I had too many other competing activities, but I really want to re-prioritize this particular activity back into my life. It is a shame to waste all my accessories. Belly-dancing rocks!! 🙂
Love the enthusiasm, Rufina! Belly dancing actually sounds like something I would enjoy. I wish our Y had classes. I’m sure my husband would like to watch me practice.
I like to play golf, but am not a golfer. It takes a day to play and days to practice, I don’t normally have the time. I used to play with a 70 years old man, he taught me a lot while I was playing with him. If you play in the early morning, you won’t sweat. I think it’s a good sport to try.
Unfortunately, golf is too expensive for me, Amy. My daughter just took it up recently so she could golf with her husband. My husband doesn’t golf.
Golf is exercise when you carry your bag and walk the 18 holes! lol
i know, Patti. I just like to tease golfers.
Love this post! I am all for Golf…thinking of taking it up myself. I kinda want to buy a pair of plaid shorts, so I thought I should also buy a golf club or two. Is it really a sport? Who knows, but you get to drive one of those cute carts and wave at people. 😉
And you feel so classy while doing it, DF! Then you get to go back to the clubhouse and have a daiquiri.
Your pal, Al to the rescue. Go to this website http://www.tiddlywinks.org/. See you at the Olympics soon!
But couldn’t one of those plastic disks pop up and smack you in the face, Al? Sounds dangerous to me!
Golf is a lovely sport – you can wear cute clothes, pack your own libation, get driven around in a golf cart and converse with friends all at the same time. Occasionally I have to hit a little white ball thingy, but that is merely an inconvenience really.
See, Daughter, you and I think alike on some things! Sounds like something delightful.
And then there’s always the housework! 😉
You are so right, Eye! I’m certain that counts as working out. I’m going to run upstairs right now and change the sheets on our bed. Certainly that will make me burn at least a hundred calories!
A friend recently took up horseback riding at 50. I can promise you that there is a lot of sweating involved, but she’s got great muscle tone now that she didn’t have before. Considering your requirements, I think you’re stuck with yoga. Not a sport, but good for you nonetheless. 🙂
Um…I think you have to have a horse to horseback ride, so I don’t think I’ll give it a try, Shary. Walking and yoga are about the only two things that suit me.
but golf is so boring! if you’re going to consider that a sport, then walking for sure counts, and that fits the bill – you only sweat as much as you want, and there are tons of running clothes that apply just as well to the brisk walker
I was teasing about the golf, Lexy. I just wanted to pull the chains of golfers. It isn’t something I have any desire to ever do. I don’t even like miniature golf. I like walking. Just walked two miles this morning and feel great.
Swimming: cute and varied outfits, no visible sweating, you feel light and graceful. You can be creative with the strokes (forget about swimming laps.) Swimming builds denser muscles than other types of excercise. (It does make you hungry) Keep up the yoga and go for long walks.
By the way, my fellow Grandma Moses wannabe, I just read about a woman who took 25 years to write her first book. It’s published and getting good reviews. Hang in there sister.
Ha-ha, Adela, I love hearing about that woman who took 25 years to write her book. That could be me! And yes, I will stick to yoga and walking. I might start swimming at the Y this summer.
Maybe we just aren’t old enough yet… How about dressing for lunch? We could always find a place on the second floor and very air conditioned, so we could do the steps coming back from lunch,or how about mall walking? That way you can multi task, walk and window shop. I will keep thinking, of course I sweat or “glisten” just by sitting at the computer, you don’t even want to see me after I walk the dog!
Oh, my, DAF, you and I would be such good friends if we lived near each other! You are a woman after my own heart.