Serious question. We put so much emphasis on health and fitness yet we're all gonna be hobbled, crippled or otherwise burdened by old age one day. Alternative is to die before you get old enough to see your body deteriorate. So what's really the point in the end?
Nobody is holding you back on sitting on you couch, eating salami, lays chips bathed in mayonnaise and drinking beer until you drop dead of CAD.
Damn right. When you're pushing 80, as I am, all those years of keeping in shape make a difference. Sure, I'm not even close to what I was 40 years ago but I'm doing well and compared to guys my age who never did much of anything, I'm in fabulous shape.
Plus, although it can be discouraging sometimes, thinking about those runs or races in which I kicked butt can be satisfying. You don't have to be regional or national class to have those pleasant memories.
But mainly it's overall health and the ability to be out there in the world without wondering whether you're going to collapse on the stairs.
OP obviously has issues that go well beyond to whether run or not. Ironically, some of those would probably be helped by regular exercise.
To answer the question, though: assuming we're not taken out by something sudden, our eventual fate is going to be a gradual loss of abilities with age.
That said the glide path to that point can be radically different if one chooses to keep fit.
Personally, at 65, I still choose to do that by running and competing. I'm not a competitive threat for the overall win anymore, but just as when I was 14, I'm content to compete in my age group.
Competition give me the incentive to keep training on a regular basis, which I would struggle to do without. In addition to the benefits of keeping fit - I don't take medication, I weigh a little less than when I was running by best shorter distance times around 40 years ago - I find that a hard session gives me a mental break from my work (still work full time in my industry from home as a consultant). I also like the feeling of being, for example, able to drop off the car for a service and then run home 6 miles, without it being a big deal. Or the feeling that it's not a huge deal to go out and cover 10 miles on the road in not too much more than an hour, or to run 80 minutes or so on a trail.
Ever see that Halloween episode of Futurama where Bender becomes human? I'm not saying Bender was wrong, but there are only two options if we want to carry something to a logical extreme. (And nothing that is truly logical can be truly extreme.)
You’re right. You should stop exercising. Quit working, eating, and trying to lose your virginity too. What’s the point? You’re just going to end up in the ground. Great logic.
Meanwhile, the rest of us find enjoyment and purpose in our lives.
I would go with quality of life...Damn right. When you're pushing 80, as I am, all those years of keeping in shape make a difference.Thinking about those runs or races in which I kicked butt can be satisfying. You don't have to be regional or national class to have those pleasant memories.
Hey, you don't have to stop kicking butt after 80 if you stay in shape. I'm 82 and my near weekly races are a highpoint of my life. I tend to win against over 70s and "age adjusted." It gives me a satisfying goal and competitive challenge.
Serious question. We put so much emphasis on health and fitness yet we're all gonna be hobbled, crippled or otherwise burdened by old age one day. Alternative is to die before you get old enough to see your body deteriorate. So what's really the point in the end?
I’m old and going to pass within a year. But I ran because it was so much fun. It never seemed like work. And sometimes it was even utilitarian. More than once, I would fly to Europe on Icelandair, land at Luxembourg City and while waiting for a train go for a 2 hour running excursion of the city. Went for group runs in Richmond Park, ran by the beaches in Rio, combined running and back-packing in Wales, met a lot of nice people. So I say if you like it, enjoy it as long as you can. And you’ll stay fit too.
Some people are hobbled and crippled by 'old age' at the age of 60.
Some people are still running at that age.
Some people are still fairly active when they die in their 80s or 90s. Some people age quickly and die because of their immobility.
/thread
Yep, I suggest the OP goes to the post operative wards and guess how old those 'old' guys* are and how many life style diseases brought them there and how many tablets they take a day.
He can then decide to live like them, neck himself now or live healthily
“It's a simple choice! We can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with... Take up what a friend of ours calls the hearty challenges of lawn care... Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the hearts of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race satan himslef till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straight away... They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a guy, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by god, let out demons loose and just wail on!”
Serious question. We put so much emphasis on health and fitness yet we're all gonna be hobbled, crippled or otherwise burdened by old age one day. Alternative is to die before you get old enough to see your body deteriorate. So what's really the point in the end?
“Serious answer”: if we are going to eventually die anyway, why not get done with it all by dying right away? Alternative is to bear all this existential strife only to cease to exist in the end.