Health & Fitness
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What I Learned: Training for Hiking and Backpacking
Featured photo: Escalante wilderness at sunset. The names on the map tell stories: Scorpion Gulch, Deadman Ridge, Carcass Canyon, Fifty Mile Cliffs, Rattlesnake Bench and Little Death Hollow. This is the Escalante, three million acres of National Monument and National Recreation Area in Southern Utah. One of the most remote wilderness areas in the country,…
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Spring Forward: Prep for Renewal
Photo: Lake Independence, Minnesota, March 2022 The pedals rotate unevenly— my left foot loses contact with the pedal for a brief arc over the course of a full revolution. My triceps ache. My lower back hurts. For the last fifty years this is the right of spring: back on the bike after the northern winter…
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Old Dog, New Tricks: Living Longer and Happier
Featured Photo: Skate skis on perfect corduroy, Baker Park, Minnesota, February 2022 Olga Kotelko (1919-2014) was a Canadian track and field athlete. In his marvelous, well-written book What Makes Olga Run? Author Bruce Grierson documents her life and extraordinary achievements. Olga took up track at age 77… for fun. By her early 90s, she held…
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The Art of Letting Go: Living in the Moment
Photo: Looking up at Wimpys, my exit tracks on the left, Grand Teton National Park, January 2022 “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds” Bob Marley: Redemption Song My skis slip… again. I say to myself, “Why can’t you do this? Are you too old? Too weak” I am struggling…
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Fat for Fuel
Photo: The ultimate fat burn—nine days, eighty miles off-trail alpine hiking. Bonneville Pass with Pronghorn Peak, Wind River Range, Wyoming 2017. Slipping off my pack, I slumped to the alpine tundra back resting against a granite boulder… exhausted. It was late afternoon, the sun tracking low in the sky above the mountain ridge to the…
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Living with Flow
Photo: Climbing with flow on the Rigid Designator, Vail, Colorado It sucks getting old. I hear that phrase all the time. Does it really suck? The alternative to aging is— death. We choose to live or die. If you are going to live, then make it count. Create a work of art with your life…
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Recovery: The 50+ Athletes Secret Weapon
Photo: On the podium with a silver medal in the distance time trial, 2021 Minnesota Senior games I feel the adrenalin surging as the timing judge counts down the seconds: three, two, and one. The starter judge drops her hand. I stand on one pedal, push off, clip in the other foot. Gaining speed, I…
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Gary’s Big Day: Training for Adventure
Photo: Gary on the summit of the Grand Teton 13,775 feet, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Photo credit: Gary Christensen collection. Sweat rolls down our foreheads and into our eyes. The steep, rocky trail offers no relief from the mid-day sun; not a breath of wind, 92 degrees and humid. Reaching the top of the…
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A Body at Rest: The Science behind a Good Night’s Sleep
Photo: Pingora, Wind River Range, Wyoming. The 1200 foot Northeast Face route, one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, ascends the middle of the face. Awaking from a fitful sleep, I check the time, 1:30 am. Wake up alarm coming in 90 minutes. It is mid-August 2009 in the Cirque of the Towers,…
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Don’t Let The Old Man In: Seven Strategies For Adding life To Your Years
Photo: Steve and Charlie Markusen on the summit of the Grand Teton, Wyoming. From August 2019, fifty years after Steve first climbed the Grand with his dad Dave Markusen in 1969. “I just get up every day and don’t let the old man in.” Clint Eastwood Aging is like rust—it never sleeps. As we…