Latebloomer Athletes May Have Advantage

I went in for my regular maintenance at Duke Chiropractic with Dr. Duggan today. I told him about my 40plusRocks blog and he thought it was a great idea. I told him about my recent post re: Staying Active Past 40. He said that often times, his latebloomer athlete clients have an advantage vs. those who have been athletes all their lives. They do not have the wear and tear.

Tell me about it. I have frequent neck and back trouble due to being a competitive cheerleader from 5th to 12th grade. Plus doing team sports like soccer, softball, volleyball, and basketball since grade school. I cannot run long distance at all since the bouncing hurts my neck (had a bad fall doing a backflip off a pyramid and landed on the back of my head). This is what brings me to Duke Chiropractic every couple of months, otherwise I get a huge migrain headache. So, those of you who have not been historically active, have an advantage over those who overdid it too soon.

After seeing Dr. Duggan, I ran into Dr. Duke in the reception area. He competes in triathlons and just started to at age 40. He is now 47 and looks 35. He said he was a bit depressed about turning 40 and decided to challenge himself by training for a triathlon. Dr. Duke has a beautiful wife and two sons with a thriving business so it was news to me that he would be unhappy about anything in his life. I will be posting interviews with Dr. Duke and Dr. Duggan soon re: training and maintenance of your temple past the age of 40. Until then, if you want to check out their site... here it is http://dukechironyc.com. Cheers!

Staying Active Past 40

I find many friends to be inspirational. Friends who have decided to run marathons and triathlons past the age of 40. It requires such effort for me to make time to get to the gym even twice a week so those who train very early in the morning and run their miles despite weather conditions I find truly remarkable.

If you feel sluggish or totally uninspired, go to a marathon or triathlon and watch the competitors. You will see people of all ages, father/son, mother/daughter competitors, driven to complete 26+ miles for an unknown cause that is very personal to them. Whether they are competing in someone's memory or as a personal goal, watching these competitors even at halfway mark towards the finish line left me in awe.

At the recent NYC Marathon in November, I clapped for every person over the age of 40 who ran by me as I watched from 1st Avenue and 90th Street. My hands were sore from clapping. You can see the internal mental and physical struggle they are contending with from their faces. You can also see the determination, happiness, and thrill of the competition in their faces. I came to catch my friend Rob Le Bras-Brown run by, and wound up clapping for and doing my best to encourage people whom I've never met before. I screamed "Whoo-hoo" for all of them. I wish I could interview that 50+ lady who ran by me or that 60+ man who made running look simple compared to the 20-somethings next to him. In the next couple of days, I will attempt to interview some of these friends and try to get to the heart of their motivation and what drives them to succeed.

Rock Concerts Today

I find truly amazing the amount of 40plus rockers at concerts. Nice to step out with best buddies and listen to music from our youth as well as experience new bands. The recent All Points West concert in NY/NJ was a blast. Despite all the mud and rain, it was so much fun. Music lovers of all ages were there. http://www.apwfestival.com/

There were tents covering alt rock, hip hop, rap, etc. Was able to catch Jay Z, Coldplay, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Q-tip, Gogol Bordello, Ting Tings, Arctic Monkeys.

I highly recommend trying to line up at least 4 concerts per year. Ideally those that have your favorite artists in the line-up and other artists worth exploring as well. I found it invigorating roaming through the tents, listening to bands I've never seen before and later adding the music to my iPod playlist. Will try to post other interesting music and festivals here in the future. Please give me a heads up on any of your recommendations as well. Thanks!

Intro to 40plusRocks

40plusRocks covers everything fun, interesting, intriguing, and noteworthy for and about people over 40. When culture and society seem to be obsessed with youth, 40plusRocks will celebrate being 40 and older-- featuring people, places, news, products of interest to us. Looking forward to your follow, feedback, submissions. Cheers!