Is it just me, or do young people have more middle-aged types of ailments than, say, twenty years ago, or even five years ago. M tells me that I’m a freak of nature, that I’m built like a tree, a red oak, like the one in our backyard that seems pretty much indestructible. I don’t know so much about that. Thing is, I’ve been running for my life, so I’m not sure what is nature or nuture.
What I do know is that a lot of the young people I know have bona fide medical issues. Weak ankles from high school varsity basketball, inexplicable spine pain that is exacerbated by extreme changes of weather. Then, of course, there are the allergies. So many, so intense. Invariably keeping them from getting started in a serious exercise regimen. “I’d loved to run,” they say, “and if not for this cranky knee I got from high school football, I certainly would. Definitely, I’d be out there. I read the news, I know how good it is for you.”
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