Gary’s 65th Birthday

While traveling this Summer, Gary had a milestone birthday.  He is now a carding carrying member of Medicare.  He wrote about his birthday on Facebook.  He wrote so well, that I will just cut and paste it below.  Happy 65th, my love!

 

MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MYSELF. Thank you all very much for all the kind birthday wishes. I gave myself a present for my 65th birthday -- a much healthier body. Over 20 years ago, I finally quit the cigarettes but with that came a weight gain of over 50 pounds. Although I was much better off by quitting tobacco, I carried around a body of 250 to 260 pounds thereafter. I remained active and stayed healthy overall, but carrying that much weight was taking a toll. My joints knew I was too heavy. Moreover some of my health metrics such as blood pressure and sugar were at the very high end of the normal range. I had a couple bouts of gout and they were rather painful. So through diet and exercise, I took off 60 pounds over the last year. I cut out the snacks, practiced portion control, and took up walking/running and weight lifting to rebuild my strength which had been waning. Back at the beginning of 2016, I told Leeanne that I was going to run a 5K (3.1 mile) race on my 65th birthday. She literally burst out laughing when I announced that one which at the time probably was the appropriate response. But I walked every day and up to 10 miles at a time until I got down to 225. At that point, I started running. These old muscles struggled with running as I suffered several minor muscle tears along the way, but I was going to run that 5K race on my 65th birthday muscle tears or not. I ran the whole way through "The 5K On The Runway" at the Willow Run Airport in Belleville, Michigan. I finished in the top half of all runners and was second in the 65 to 69 age group. And most importantly, I am healthier and stronger and am feeling good physically and about what I have accomplished.

A picture album for the race and the related air show is at:    https://goo.gl/photos/nzMUJxFnW2iLxb5KA