You know...the stuff I still need each day works fine...maybe a little "creaky" (LOL), but things work.
However, I did have one of these "oh geez, this ain't no 20's or 30's anymore" days about 2 years ago, and I just turned 50 a month ago, so I was just shy of 48 at that time.
Each year my daughter and I do several good backcountry canoe trips...northern Ontario, lots of time in the water, but we do not shy from taking on a good portage, or doing a day-long climb/excursion off the beaten path, etc. Always an awesome time, and given that I have been doing this all my life I was only too happy to see my daughter take a liking to it on her own - meaning once the kids grew up and were no longer totally dependent on us for their vacations!
Well, we planned an awesome Lake Superior coastline trip, a week worth of backpacking actually, so no canoeing, all stuff on our backs. Like I said, given my experience doing this, we packed accordingly (light) and after an overnight stay at the Park campground we hit the trail. We knew this was going to be a tough walk, rocky, very un-even, uphill and downhil mix, all steep. Where things hit me like a boulder was when about 3/4 way there my knees just started to refuse to "obey the owner instructions"!!!
Umm...I say "go", but my legs don't want to, unless I am willing to put up with a [censored]-load of pain. I mean this felt serious, I could not walk, could not extend my leg in order to walk to be precise. So on the trail, we literally went from moving to me standing still in a matter of about 15-30 mins.
Luckily, a couple passed us on their way out of the park as they ran into equipment problems, they grabbed the site that was a mid-way point for us. I literally had NO choice but to crash at that location. Long story short (damn, already long as-is, sorry...), we had the Park Rangers run a patrol boat over to our location, they grabbed our packs and my daugher and I hobbled back to the Park campground. That was the longest walk OUT of the park.
My knees recovered over the next couple of weeks, but never got back to feeling "like new" ever since.
I may have hurt something, but no obvious damage that shows up. Still, I am extra careful in the garage now to make sure I don't get caught in a weird twisty stand where I put way too much pressure on my knees!
So yeah, that's my experience in "getting old".
BTW: as the Park Rangers saved my butt we came to discover that this particular trail is apparently in the Top-5 of All Canada Difficult Trails...not much consolation when you are all broken, but I'd be damned if I didn't do my research first into this and NOWHERE was there a warning anywhere to that effect. Anyways, for what it's worth, if it weren't for "old man knees" attack we would have been quite alright...everything else was moving along!
I am 65, worked as a mechanic, all my life, taught tech school for last 26 years and worked on the side the whole time. Got arthritis in my hands, neck, back, and feet. I still go to the boundary waters every summer with my son. And I still do portages, son carries the canoe, I carry a couple packs. Yes I have pain, but seems if I keep busy, I forget about it. I hurt a lot worse when I sit around. On vacation after several hours driving, I actually have a hard time getting out of the car. Last canoe trip we had to paddle against 20mph winds to get out. Three other canoes with us, I was the oldest, it was ruff, but my son and I kept up with all of the younger guys. Four hours to make it to the take out. Yes getting old sucks, but it beats the only other thing.
