Getting old sucks. It sort of creeps up on you when you’re not really looking.
I’ve been fairly lucky in that I don’t really have many grey hairs yet. Many of my friends starting getting their first grey hairs in university. While I have a few now, they’ve only recently emerged. Grey hairs don’t really bother me, but joint pain and random aches do.
The first real joint pain I ever had was due to an injury I had after doing the West Coast Trail years ago. I hurt my knee pretty badly on day three (I suspect I tore my ACL, but never had it looked at), and was forced to chew tylenol 3’s for the rest of the journey just to make it out. My friends split up my pack so that I could go on essentially packless, but even still, every step was painful. I’m glad I made it out on my own and didn’t need to get airlifted out, but to this day I still have pain in my knee from time to time, and doubt I’ll ever be able to hike again at the same level I did years ago.
Of course, I had that hospital-acquired super bug a few years ago, which knocked me on my ass for a few years there. The latest ailment I have has to do with sore feet, something that’s only started to show up recently. I’m not really sure why they are sore, but some days I wake up and they hurt enough such that walking is difficult. It could be that most of my shoes are old and worn out, or possibly that I no longer spend an hour of my day walking (I used to walk to and from work in Vancouver). Maybe it’s the fact that I spend most of my days at home walking on hardwood floors in bare feet. I’m not really sure, but it’s starting to piss me off. I recently bought a new pair of shoes, along with some expensive in-soles, so hopefully that helps. Either way, I’m starting to hear that ever present sound of gears grinding as I walk around daily.
Clearly, I’m no spring chicken anymore, but I’m not exactly over the hill either. I’m hoping I can get all these stupid ailments under control so that I can start hiking a bit more and doing a few more outdoor activities.
2013 Update
The foot pain was actually from a condition called Plantar Fasciitis, which is caused in some cases by being a bit overweight. Losing weight definitely helped me, as did the insoles I purchased.
I’ve had the sore feet thing for a few years now. I’ve found that it mostly happens when I wear crappy shoes the day before.
A couple of years ago, I dropped a couple of hundred bucks on some really good walking shoes. Anytime I wear those, no sore feet. Come summer when I change over to sandals/flip flops, sore feet.
I spent good money on some shoes a while back and still have acking feet, but my sandals I’ve had for years, don’t give me any problems and I was able to walk all over nyc in them (7 days straight)
I’ve been going grey since I was 17, it doesn’t really bother me. The idea of dying hair every few weeks just to cover the grey up is costly and hours I rather spend else where.
I’ve been losing hair for a few years now (I turned 33 this year) and if I grow my beard, I can see a couple of gray hairs. I have a knee problem – it hurts when I have to sit in a restricting space and I can’t stretch it. I need atleast 2 cups of strong coffee to get me going in the morning. (pauses to get second cup). I need more sleep and I prefer to stay home on days off.
Yes I’m getting there.
Yup, tell me about it! Getting old sucks!
All of a sudden your rubber body that bounces back from everything creaks and groans and doesn’t fight back! Boo.
So yeah, I think you should snowboard more 😉
Hemlock yeaaaaaaaaah! (If you have knee/feet problems you will want to get inserts for your snowboard boots)
Hmmm. It sounds like you may have Plantar Fasciitis..especially if it’s notably worse in the morning and/or evening. You’re right about the remedy if that is the case. Proper arch support is the key. If you really can’t stand the thought of wearing shoes all day around the house, a good trick is to keep tennis balls at your desk and roll your arches back and forth over them while you sit and work.
Man, I’ve had the sore feet issue the odd morning for years and I just chalked it up to being overweight (which is probably still part of the problem). And who needs an ACL? I didn’t like my original one and had it replaced – albeit after rupturing it in the first place.