Back to the Future--Happy Anniversary

Today would have been my parent’s 70th wedding anniversary. They got married within days after my father returned from World War II having served in the Army Medical Core in Africa. They originally met in Washington DC several years before after my father went on active duty and my mother worked as a nurse at St Elizabeth’s Hospital. My mother kept a journal from 1938—until 1948, and many of the posts express her love for him and hoping he would return and marry her. I know very little about how he felt about her though. However, from my mother's journal it's obvious they both wrote lots of letters during that time. She also mentioned many times the frustration of not hearing anything for months, then getting 6 letters. Sometimes letters did not arrive in any particular order in that she would get one and later receive another written weeks earlier. She often referred to "snail mail" which given it was the 1940's may have made her the inventor of that phrase.

They spent their first year together at Fort Meade Maryland where exactly 367 days later I arrived. From there they went to Fort Pickett in Virginia and later on after my father's discharge from active duty they moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where my brother was born. Since the Fleming family drugstore had been sold while he was in the army my father went to work for Peoples Drug Stores and we wound up in Bristol for a while. Then he was promoted and we moved to Danville, Virginia. The rest of my parent's married life was spent there. Unfortunately it only lasted 17 years until my father died from lung cancer. My mother never really recovered from that loss and our family life was never the same.

These days most of my friends who are around my age have also lost there parents. Except for our next door neighbors the Browns whose patriarch died 5 years before my father, I was one of the first of my friends to lose a parent at such an early age. One of my regrets is that I didn't get to spend time with my father as an adult. My mother died 17 years later when I was 33 but in some ways she disappeared many years before as I've mentioned in some previous posts. As I reflect on this anniversary though my biggest regret is that my parents did not have many more years together.

Augusta 200 K Brevet

On New Years day I did what I've done for the past 5 New Years: rode the Augusta 200 K brevet. This year the official ride was moved to January 3rd, but several folks were pre-riding it on the first so I joined them. It was chilly but no rain which was predicted for today. Since I fractured my femur I've done just over 1000 Km in RUSA rides. Except for those efforts I've only ridden about 200 miles in the last 3 months. For 2015 I managed just over 5,000 miles of cycling which is slightly below average for me.

What I have noticed is that I've gotten slower over the last 2 years. Also when I complete a 100 or 200 km ride it takes longer to recover. I think those distance rides are pretty doable but I'm beginning to wonder how many longer rides I can manage in the future. I think the biggest issue is the arthritis that plagues my lower back and right hip. Yesterday I visited the doctor who surgically repaired my femur and x-rays show that while the fracture has completely healed my right hip joint is bone-on-bone. It certainly is no where near as painful as my left hip became before I had it replaced 14 years ago, but it has aggravated me from time to time. The doctor was amazed I could ride 200 Km, and there's no question that cycling is the best aerobic activity for me if I wanted to postpone replacement.

I always set goals each year usually around keeping fit. In 2015 I want to cycle at least 7,000 miles. Breaking that down means just under 20 miles a day, 135 miles a week, around 580 miles a month. It seems easy when you start with 125 on New Years but over time it's all about consistency. I have done just over 10,000 miles in a year, but that year I wasn't working and going to school. 7,000 seems like a worthy goal for 2015. I also want to reach at least 5,000 kilometers on RUSA events. I've reached over 4,000 the past 2 years so it's also attainable but I'll have to figure out a plan for that especially if I don't do many 300 and 400 Km events. My main RUSA goal is to continue my streak of 61 straight months of at least one 200 Km event and also do at least a 100 Km event each month as well. If I can achieve all these goals I can push any thought of hip replacement further into the future.

The only other goal I set is to do something every day to take care of my body. Yesterday it was as simple as getting a massage and doing some transverse Abdominal exercises. Today it will be a weight workout. Many days it could be simply 10-20 minutes of stretching or flexibility work. The hardest part of this goal is again consistency. It all looks good on paper the third day of 2015.