I ran cross-country in high school, and when I’d cross the finish line, I’d be in “aerobic distress,” i.e. close to barfing. The same thing with each major book. By the time it’s sent to the printers, I’m wasted. This time, when the tiny homes book was done (almost 2 months ago), and I should have been kicking back, tiredness and stress caused a couple of wild and crazy incidents. I stepped wrongly off a step ladder in the greenhouse and tore a muscle in my shoulder (rotator cuff). I still had to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair, and then to Hong Kong to oversee printing, so couldn’t do proper rehab work. Lugging luggage etc.

Then, finally home, the last night of the San Francisco Green Festival, I got on my skateboard heading back to my truck, with a loaded backpack (yes, yes) , was skating along in the darkened streets and my cell phone rang. Well, I’m rollin’, guess I’ll just answer it, and bang! I was on the ground, hit head on pavement. Happened so fast. No helmet. I know, I know. It’s not that I’m immature and stupid, it’s just that sometimes I’m immature and stupid. Well I was fortunate. I had a 2-week long black eye and week-long lump, but being hard-headed helped here. Lucky.

Now I’m embarking on a program to heal the shoulder without surgery if possible. Physical therapy, acupuncture, strengthening exercises. I want this body part back! Such a drag — can’t paddle, dig clams, do much of any upper-body stuff. So many parts have to work to lead an active life. All the joints, tendons, muscles, not to mention the organs, all necessary components of what Dr. Henry Bieler called “the magnificent human body.” All things we take for granted until the well runs dry.

I’m missin’ that water.

I have a couple of these straps hanging in the office, and also in the living room. Eyebolt hook as shown.

I don’t use them as often as I should, but still, they are great for not only strengthening exercises, but also for stretching. I simulate paddling movements: handles in hands, raise arms over head, pull down past hips, and reach out and return to starting position — like a butterfly stroke. You can do all kinds of things with these straps. You can also take them when you travel, they have a connector that allows you to anchor them in a door jamb of any room.

It’s a pretty cheap home gym. The cheapest, however, is Bruno Atkey’s rope-with-handle that you attach to a rafter. Totally brilliant. You can do all kinds of stretches. Fast forward to ___ on this CBS video.

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After my second knee operation (removing fragments of meniscus, scraping some mildly arthritic deposits) via arthroscopy, the doc showed me the MRI scan and said I didn’t have a whole lot of cartilage left in my knee. “On a scale of 1 to 10, you’re at a 7…” — “10” meaning no cartilage left, or bone-on-bone. A light bulb went on. Quit racing, you dumb fuck! Especially since my racing entailed running real fast down hlll to make up for slow uphills.

I ran the half mile and cross-country in high school. I wasn’t good enough for the Stanford track team, but once out of college and the Air Force, and when I was working as an insurance broker, I started running (in San Francisco) on my lunch hour. I wore a sweat suit and tennis shoes. Before the fitness boom. Often I’d run on the beach, then go body surfing.

It wasn’t until the mid-80s that I found out about RUNNING, Stretching guru Bob Anderson got me started, and then I worked for about a year with Olympic runner Jeff Galloway on his book, Galloway’s Book on Running. In the course of hanging out with Jeff for about a year, I started running seriously, and racing in mostly 10Ks and some triathlons. At that age (early 50s), I did better in my age group each year. And on it’s gone for 25 or so years.

In recent years I’ve been running the Dipsea Race, a 7.2 mile race over hill and dale from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach (north of San Francisco). The oldest cross-country race in America, it’s wild and romantic and difficult and beautiful, and it’s easy to get obsessed (and injured repeatedly).

Well, I’ve hung up my Dipsea shoes. I realized that probably the most important aspect of fitness is being able to move, to have mobility. I want to be walking for the next 25 years, so I need all the cartilage I can preserve. If you’re a runner and 60 or over, I suggest getting MRIs of both knees. Check that cartilage! it’s  your shock absorber in this remarkable joint.

Once I made the decision to quit (competition, that is), a new world opened up. I don’t have to train! I don’t have to stress about running 2-3 times a week. I don’t need to run at maximum speed. So I’ve been hiking along beaches, riding my mountain bike — exploring new parts of my world — and it’s fabulous. With each excursion I go into new territory. I’m doing some fishing, more skateboarding.

Oh yeah, I still run a little, but just for fun…

During the ’80s, I spent a couple of years working with and hanging out with bodybuilding legend Bill Pearl as we put together his book Getting Stronger: Weight Training for Men and Women (which went on to sell over 500,000 copies). They don’t make ’em like Bill any more; he was maybe the last in a line of old-time strong men, before steroids took over. Look at this photo of him when he was young, with no steroid hyper-inflated weirdness, as with the body builders of today. This pic was in Legends of Bodybuilding, a special issue of Musclemag magazine, a great compilation.

Bill was Mr. California, Mr. America, and a 4-time Mr. Universe and is a very humble and gentle person. He’s a vegetarian. He still has an aura about him.  We’d go into a restaurant, he’d compliment the food, and pretty soon the chef would be out at our table. We’d walk down the street and people would come up to him.

After 8 years of work, Bill has just completed a 3-volume series called Legends of the Iron Game, the most complete record of strong men ever, going back to 300 BC when Milo of Croton demonstrated the principle of progressive resistance by carrying a calf every day until it became a full grown bull.

My old mountain bike was a K2 that had been used by a pro racer. It was a great bike 12 years ago. I had a hunch that bike technology had made big strides in the last decade or so, and went in to see Bryce at Tam Bikes in Mill Valley. By that time I’d given up the idea of a road bike (I live on the edge of wilderness, so why spend any more time than necessary on pavement?)

But I was still fascinated by carbon fiber frames. Bryce, owner of the store and also one of Mt. Tam’s top riders, told me he’d gone from carbon fiber back to aluminum and had me try out his bike. Wow! What a change. Apparently motorcycle tech has infiltrated bike tech, so there are disc brakes and air shocks. I ended up getting a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR, with front Revolution Rock Shox and rear Specialized Fox shocks — all adjustable for degree of shock absorption desired. It’s got 30 gears. It’s about $2400 retail, kind of mid-range between lesser bikes and the $5000-$8000 range available to Marin County bike nuts. Big investment for me but way worth it.

It rides like a dream. I get excited just thinking about getting on it. Looks like I’ll be riding a lot more from now on. Way easier on the knees than running. Yesterday afternoon I rode about 5 miles north along the coast. The ocean was silver and glassy, day before the storm. On my way back, the biggest bobcat I’ve ever seen bounded across the road and disappeared in the coyote bushes.