NOTHING IS FOREVER!

Today is the last day of 2011. Today is when I finally came to the conclusion that running and/or race walking are no longer a part of my exercise repertoire. Too many issues with the knees and back have forced me into runner’s retirement.

I dreaded the day when I would be forced to become a non-runner. Eliminating a passion in life is not always easy to accept. I’m handling it well, however.  I have graciously accepted my new role as supporting husband while Janet continues to run/walk.   

Looking back, though, I wished that I would have dropped out of running voluntarily instead of when injuries forced the issue. But you know we runners, we simply do not listen to our bodies until it’s too late to reverse the accrued damage.

They say that the best way to accept a loss is to replace that loss with something else as soon as possible, and that’s exactly what I’ve managed to do.

Road cycling, another passion of mine, has completely taken the place of running, jogging, race-walking or whatever you call what I was doing during the waning days of my storied running career.

Unlike running, biking is not damaging to the skeletal frame. Even though I’ve biked nearly 4,000 miles during 2011, I feel no ill effects of pedaling multiple miles while sitting in the saddle of an expensive road bike. Quite the contrary!

In closing, I look back with pride at all that I’ve accomplished during my running pastime. From local 5K’s to out-of-town marathons, it’s all been good.

Between my wife and me, we have five shoe boxes full of finisher’s medals accrued over the past 18 years. And then there is our brag wall where our last two years of medals are boastfully displayed. They hang as a constant reminder of our personal triumphs, countless good times and new-found friends.

I have no regrets!

2011 JOSLYN JOURNAL

26th Wedding Anniversary… One of many 2011 highlights was Bob and Jan’s 26th wedding anniversary this past October, celebrated again in magical style by running the 2nd annual Wine & Dine Half Marathon in Walt Disney World. They also ran the Halloween 5K the morning of the half marathon. And speaking of running, once again Bob and Janet completed Disney’s Goofy Challenge, all 39.3 miles of magic and smiles. Even though Janet will be aiming for her 6th Goofy Challenge January of 2012, Bob is completely dropping out of running due to minor knee and back issues. Road cycling, a sport that Bob likes even more than running and speed walking, has recently taken the place of running. During this past Labor Day weekend, he cycled two metric centuries (64 mi. each) plus a half century during a three day period in the Sebring, Florida area. So far this year, Bob has cycled nearly 4,000 total miles. That’s a whole lot of pedaling.

Tennessee Vacation… During the month of April, Jan and Bob, along with Bob’s oldest daughter, Lynda, traveled to Nashville, TN to run the Country Music Half Marathon. The CMM was Lynda’s first running event of any noteworthy distance, and she did fantastic.

While in Tennessee, they stopped and visited with Bob’s youngest daughter, Diane, and Diane’s daughter, Cynthia.
Ohio… In early July, Lynda joined Janet and Bob as permanent residents of Pembroke Pines, FL. Bob personally traveled to Ohio and then escorted Lynda to her new sub-tropical home, after first passing through Tennessee for a brief visit with Diane.

Janet and Bob love having Lynda as a permanent member of their happy household, and they wish her the very best in her new life.
Employment and Retirement… Janet celebrated her third year of employment with Wal-Mart in September and Bob celebrated his ninth year of retirement in May. Not too long after her arrival in July, Lynda secured employment with Wal-Mart as a service rep, working in the same store as Janet.

Our Pets… Gigi and Santana, our two kitty cats, continue to fascinate us with their love and random acts of kitty mischief. In addition to parenting Gigi and Santana, we now nurture tropical fish, tiny frogs, turtles, snails and two birds. There’s never a dull moment in the Joslyn home!
Visitation… Blessing us with a one week visit during Thanksgiving week was Lynda’s daughter, Felicia. We were elated to have her as our guest during her college break. Felicia’s school is located in Eastern PA. While in South Florida, she and Bob took a short airboat tour of the Florida Everglades.

Like Lynda, Felicia has fallen in love with South Florida. Coming from Ohio, who can blame them!

Here’s hoping that each and every one of you has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


Bob, Janet, Lynda, Santana and Gigi

ALMOST THERE

With a twenty mile run/walk under her belt, accomplished yesterday beginning at 4:14 in the morning, I’m even more confident that my wife will accomplish another milestone when she takes on the challenge of running a 5K, half marathon and a full marathon in a span of three day. That’s 42.4 miles in three days for those who haven’t a clue the distances of marathons.

Unshaken by the challenge, she gained some personal confidence when she easily ran and walked the 20 mile training run, part of which was run in our mall’s parking lot and part in our neighborhood’s county park. 

Confidence supersedes anxieties.

Accompanying her on my road bike, I liked the county park half over the initial mall run. Sitting on the bike’s saddle for four and a half hours, at slow speeds, isn’t exactly exuberating in my book. Being able to open up the speed while in the park somewhat alleviated the agony of sitting on a small saddle for hours.

There remains one more training run of any significant distance before Disney, the intermediate distance ten-miler taking place next week. I’m looking forward to being her water boy and running/biking companion.

THE THREE CABALLEROS

No matter how much I try, and how necessary it is for me to ignore running events, I just can’t seem to stop myself from signing up. Today was another classic example.

After listening to The Amazing Race’s third place finisher tell the audience that you should never give up, I jumped up from the couch, told my wife that I’m signing up for Disney’s Three Caballeros 5K that takes place this coming January in Walt Disney World, and then I did just what I swore I would never again do – sign up to run/walk another running event.

Not only did I sign up myself to walk the 5K, I signed up my wife as well. We had discussed this possibility days ago that if I felt up to it, I might give the 6^th of January’s 5K a try seeing as though I am compelled to drop out of the subsequent Goofy Challenge, a double event that I’ve completed the past six years. 

Unable to run those distances because of knee and back issues, it’s time to pass the baton to my fabulous wife.

My courageous wife now has three running events in three days to conquer. I’ve no doubt that she has the fortitude to endure 42.4 miles in three days. And I have no doubt that she allowed me to sign her up to run the first day’s event just for me.

That’s the kind of person she is.

GOOFY’S RACE AND A HALF CHALLENGE TRAINING COMING TO A CLOSE

One more intermediate distance run and one more long distance run and then Janet’s Goofy’s Race & a Half Challenge training should be completed. And boy oh boy is she ever looking forward to her last long run/walk combination.

It’s not that she abhors the actual run and speed walk training. Standing on her feet 40 hours per week while working is the villain that extinguishes what joy she has for her chosen participation sport. The training part, that is!

Anyway, Janet courageously completed her next-to-last long run early last week and she has that last intermediate distance run coming up Wednesday the 14th.  

During that training run and all subsequent runs, I’ll be escorting her on my road bike from start to finish, joyfully carrying her Gatorade and water on my sleek road bike. Immediately afterward, however, I’ll be joining my cycling comrades for our classic bike rides to and from Weston’s Einstein’s Coffee Shoppe. It’s there that we guys and gals solve most of the world’s problems, if only in our demented minds.

Any thought of me signing up for Disney’s Three Caballeros 5K has been distinguished by reality. All I can envision is messing up my knees and back ever more and then not being able to walk normally while in Walt Disney World. With us having season passes to all of Disney’s theme parks, and Janet running both Saturday and Sunday, I need healthy legs and a strong back just to keep up with her.  I have vowed not to let her down!  

Besides, I must listen to my doctor’s advice.

Then again, it's only 3.1 miles...

HUMPTY DUMPTY

I admit to being somewhat negligent regarding my writing and blogging. But darn it all, sometime a man just doesn’t feel like sitting still at a computer conveying bits and pieces of his physical fitness sessions or lack of. I’ll try to do better!

What can I say other than I’ve continued to be active on my road bike but negligently inactive in the gym, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

As we age, it is of the utmost importance to keep our bodies’ strong, if for no other reason just to keep from being needlessly injured should we take a fall. I’ve promised myself that as of this week, beginning today, I shall pick up the pace in the gym even at the expense of missing a bike ride or two. And I hate missing bike rides with my cycling buddies.

Semi depressed over not being able to race-walk or run any longer, I tried one last time to race-walk at an acceptable pace, and I did this test in Century Village way up in West Palm Beach while visiting my mother-in-law.

I wish I could report that all went well, especially since I’ve now completed all five lubricating knee injections. But the truth is, at mile 1.7 I had to end the test because of pain in the left knee. For once I listened to my body. The right knee was fine!

It is what it is and I’ve finally had closure on any thought of running or walking any type of running event, from 5K’s to full marathons. For now, that is! Should a divine miracle be granted, I would consider making an attempt at walking my tenth in a row ING Miami Half Marathon in latter February. Only time will tell!

Early last week when I was following my wife on my road bike while she was running and walking around the mall on their reprehensible sidewalks, she took a fall just as she began the transition from walking to running. Thanks to uneven sidewalks on the south side of Pembroke Lakes Mall, along with the sun that was shining directly into her eyes, she fell on the concrete injuring her right arm and shoulder, not to mention her pride. She did, however, manage to pick herself up from the ground after we assessed the extent of her injuries.

After significantly decreasing her pace the last mile and a half, she prided herself in finishing a run despite the embarrassing fall. My wife is one tough, determined lady.

However, never again will she run or race-walk on those bloody mall sidewalks.