Contemporary Retirement
Retirement is changing. The type of retirement that their parents enjoyed is no longer enough for the baby boomer generation. Today’s retirees are younger, richer, fitter, healthier and better educated than previous generations of retirees. They also have much higher expectations. The aim of this blog is to help you get the vital, healthy, prosperous, productive and fulfilling retirement that you really want (and deserve).Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Keep on running...
To find a role model of a contemporary retiree, I don’t need to look much further than my own dad. The first thing that my dad did upon retiring, was enrol as an undergraduate student for a Bachelor’s degree in History. Now, with his degree under his belt, he works as a volunteer museum curator, transcribes historical documents for the local library and is an active member of the town’s historical society.
Before his retirement, Dad was a marathon runner, and he continued to run in the London marathon until he was well into his 60’s. At 72 years of age, he is still a competitive athlete (although over shorter distances these days), consistently clocking up race victories in his age group (the over 70s), and he coaches other runners from his running club.
Recently, my Dad believed that he was going to have to call a halt to his running career because he began to suffer quite badly from an untreated hernia that he had had since he was a young man and which became much worse over a relatively short period of time. Fortunately, he was admitted to hospital for corrective surgery quite quickly, had the op and was discharged from hospital the next day. When I called him that afternoon to find out how he was doing, I caught him just as he was leaving the house to go for a walk (the day after his op!) and he was able to resume his running and coaching within a very short space of time.
I believe that his remarkably rapid recovery was due to the fact that he is extremely fit and healthy for his age. The fact that he also keeps himself mentally agile, means that no-one ever believes him when he tells them that he is 72 and he could easily pass for a man 10 or 15 years younger than he actually is.
Before his retirement, Dad was a marathon runner, and he continued to run in the London marathon until he was well into his 60’s. At 72 years of age, he is still a competitive athlete (although over shorter distances these days), consistently clocking up race victories in his age group (the over 70s), and he coaches other runners from his running club.
Recently, my Dad believed that he was going to have to call a halt to his running career because he began to suffer quite badly from an untreated hernia that he had had since he was a young man and which became much worse over a relatively short period of time. Fortunately, he was admitted to hospital for corrective surgery quite quickly, had the op and was discharged from hospital the next day. When I called him that afternoon to find out how he was doing, I caught him just as he was leaving the house to go for a walk (the day after his op!) and he was able to resume his running and coaching within a very short space of time.
I believe that his remarkably rapid recovery was due to the fact that he is extremely fit and healthy for his age. The fact that he also keeps himself mentally agile, means that no-one ever believes him when he tells them that he is 72 and he could easily pass for a man 10 or 15 years younger than he actually is.
posted by Annie Harrison # 10:43 AM 
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