It happens to us all (eventually)!
I haven’t troubled the pages of this mighty organ a great deal in recent times, but some Rusters may know me best for my occasional reports upon the “stop/start” exercise regimes that I take up from time to time – motivated less by vanity than an effort to keep fit and thereby hopefully maintain my “quality of life” for as long as possible.
Several years ago I bought into the popular notion that “10,000 steps per day” was a desirable and practical target towards this goal and bought a specifically designed fitness Garmin watch which could record my number of steps and relay the daily total to my smartphone, from which I then might transfer it to an Excel spreadsheet so that I could keep easy tabs upon my progress.
As it happens, said watch also possesses the facility to keep a record of how many consecutive days I have achieved 10,000 steps (and indeed alert me to it).
One day, by chance noting that the total had reached 15, I then decided to attempt to continue the sequence an entire (365 day) year without a break [this being a harder target than achieving an “average of 10,000 steps per day” for a year, which one could maintain by doing e.g. 15,000 steps on a single day in order to “increase the ongoing average back up to 10,000” if one had dropped below 10,000 on one or more days].
Between July 2022 and July 2023 I duly achieved that consecutive “daily” target. To be frank, it wasn’t all that easy.
Anyone attempting such a goal will soon discover that the vagaries of Life intrude, most particularly the intervention of (unplanned/unexpected but possibly highly necessary) journeys, tasks, commitments and responsibilities, all with the unhelpful habit of appearing out of the blue.
Cumulatively these can result on any given day in discovering at say 6.30pm of an evening – when otherwise one might think of pouring oneself a triple G & T and settling down to a TV dinner in front of the box – that one’s daily total so far is only 3,500 to 4,000 steps. One is then left with the moral dilemma of whether or not then to don one’s walking boots and go out into the night in order to trudge some 6,000-plus steps purely in order to keep one’s attempted “record” on course!
Other matters – such a colds, Covid jabs or even niggling injuries – can also take their toll.
Most recently, about three months ago I “tweaked” my meniscus (which I understand is a muscle or possibly sinew) in the back/inside of the knee – in my case, the left one – from which the attendant pain grew progressively worse to the point that I felt it necessary to book to see my GP.
Her prescribed solution was Ibuprofen four times daily to attack any inflammation, ice packs applied at least twice a day for 15 minutes at a time – and rest (plenty of it). Her further advice was to take things steadily – recovery from this type of issue would be a very slow process.
Since then I have abandoned my “10,000 steps per day” target altogether and (I would estimate) currently on average now achieve only somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 steps per day.
Which brings me to the point of my story today.
Yesterday afternoon I went shopping with my “better half” and at one stage was detailed to nip into a chemist shop in order to buy her a specific make-up (mascara) product. She duly parked outside said premises for the purpose and I (hitherto sitting in the front passenger seat) then began the process of alighting from the car by opening the door and manoeuvring my legs towards the pavement.
At which point a lady walking past – I should estimate aged about 70 – noticed me and offered to help me reaching terra firma safely!
Sheer unadulterated vanity ordinarily causes me to self-identify as someone who is pretty robust and fit for his age (72) and so I thanked her for her offer but declined it, assuring her that her assistance wasn’t necessary. She was somewhat embarrassed – apologised profusely – and we had a brief laugh about the incident.
Afterwards my life partner teased me that – once again – I had been caught taking my every opportunity to “chat up” ladies in the street!
Nevertheless, thinking about it again overnight, I realised that I had just passed one of the milestones upon every human’s journey into decrepitude.
To wit: these days, to the outside world – and however I might regard myself inside – the blunt fact is I must “present” to the world at large as a frail little old man who has balance issues and struggles to go about his daily business!!
