Fellow Baby Boomers: What Message am I Missing?

OK, I decided to brave the heat this morning and take another trip to the Duke Trail. For those of you who don’t know, this is the place where the REAL exercise warriors go. It’s a rugged three-plus mile course, complete with it’s version of Heartbreak Hill. Trust me, by the time you make it up that hill, SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY BROKEN!!!

Anyway, just as I was preparing for my workout, here comes a fellow baby boomer looking like she just came from a make-up session at Nordstrom’s. AND it was the SAME WOMAN I saw on the trail earlier this week. Her face was completely done up in make-up again! She smiled as our eyes met. She looked beautiful with her matching outfit and there wasn’t one drop of sweat anywhere that I could see. I wanted to ask her what was the deal with the face-paint but just kept on walking.

Is there a new trend among baby boomer women that has us working out looking our best from head to toe? I had a similar encounter when I went to the gym yesterday. A fellow boomer was also wearing make-up and was completely color coordinated right down to her tennis shoes. Are my beat up shorts and non-matching T-shirt no longer acceptable? Oh, and let’s not even talk about my hair. If you saw me, you’d think I had just been in a fight!

Well, I don’t know what’s going on with some of these blooming boomers but I can tell you one thing for sure, it’ll be a cold day in hell before you see me walking that trail in make-up....but I will try to dress a little better though :)

Too Much Cardio Can Make You FAT!

OK…so now I know what my problem is. I’ve been exercising TOO MUCH! I went to the gym this morning and saw a big sign hanging on the wall that read, “Did you know too much cardio can make you fat?”

Well, golly gee---I didn’t know that at all. And here I thought I was doing my middle-aged body some good by burning off all of those excess calories. My gynecologist told me my metabolism started slowing down at 30. I figure at 50 it barely moves so a good shot of daily cardio would be just what the doctor ordered. But not so, according to gym employees who are apparently inspired by the increasing numbers of out of shape, downright fat baby boomers who keep walking through their doors.

The sign went on to inform me how I could learn more about getting rid of excess fat by signing up for a personal trainer. Oh! So that was the catch. It’s not enough that they have all of these machines in the gym to workout on. They want me to spend even MORE MONEY to hire a personal trainer to keep me from exercising so much.

But you know what? I don’t need a personal trainer for that. This baby boomer diva can come up with plenty of excuses on any given day to keep her from working out. You see, I've got something called MENOPAUSE on my side!

Hot Flashes in this Heat!

Is it just me or is anyone else trying to figure out if they’re having hot flashes while exercising or is it just this unbearable, intense heat wave we’re experiencing?

I woke up this morning at 7:15 am---I was going to head out to the Duke Trail to get my morning walk/run in. I turned on the TV. It was already 77 degrees and the humidity was over 80! OK…I had to ask myself, “Am I going to go out there and perspire like a pig like I did yesterday?”

Yesterday’s temperature was 75 degrees when I woke up but the humidity was in the lower 70s. I figured I could handle that so I took my bottled water and off I went. I hadn’t even walked a quarter of a mile when I began sweating profusely! I thought I was having a hot flash! I took a swig of water. It was hot enough to make tea. People were passing me left and right. One woman passed me wearing makeup! And to top it all off, she didn’t have a drop of sweat on her face. I figured she must be testing a new product because it made absolutely no sense to be wearing makeup in that heat. Or maybe she was hoping to catch the eye of one of those sweaty baby boomer men who came running by.

Well, I decided not to go to the trail today. Besides, I have a gym membership so this would be a good day to use it---even if I have to drive 15 miles to get there. Another thing…I’d much rather have a hot flash in the gym because of a thing called air conditioning.