This blog is all about providing inspiration for an active old age.
As a veterinarian and scientist, retired after an enjoyable 40-year career in research, a 6x Ironman Finisher, who is still actively competing at age 70, and a 2x survivor of endovascular aortic surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm, my goal, as FitOldDog, is to provide both inspiration and motivation for older people with health challenges, including aortic disease, to return to as active a life as they are able, and to do so wisely.
I want to help, boomers, seniors, and basically anyone over 50, or who feels over 50, to handle aging in a positive manner.
As a blogger, and student of life and aging, my goal is to provide you with interesting and instructive content on safe exercise for better health, and other subjects as I find them to be of potential value to you my readers.
I can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, Viddler and YouTube. For my other activities, go to FitOldDog.com.
Life is good, if you work and play to make it so!
Kevin Morgan (aka FitOldDog)
BVSc, PhD, Diplomate ACVP, 6x Ironman Finisher, Ironman All World Athlete 2013, motivational speaker and happy granddad.
Hi,
Great blog. We were wondering if you would be interested in guest posting on a new retirement site at retirementandgoodliving.com We provide attribution on every post in the form of a bio link that can contain any background information you would like to provide (including
your photo, website address, email contact, business, etc.).
If you are interested please send us a note via the Contact page on the site.
Thanks,
Simone
Hi Simone, I’ll contact you via your site. Thanks for the invite, which looks interesting. Cheers, Kevin
Hi Kevin, are you still there? Here is your Dutch friend Frits Massee. I saw you will join the Ironman Lake Placid again. I hope you will be finish this year with a good time! Lots of success and fun and I will follow you on the Internet. My back is much better after i raised my steer with 3 cm. I will be racing in the Worldchampionship 70.3 in Las Vegas this September. Regards, Frits.
Hi Frits, Yep, I’m still here, and getting ready for Placid. I am also going to be in the Worlds 70.3 in Nevada, so we’ll be racing together again, fun!!!! I qualified at the Raleigh Half a few weeks ago. It would be great to see you in Vegas. Deb is coming too, and perhaps we could all have dinner together after the race, whenever that is, or go to the Cirque du Soleil? I’ve never done this race before, as 70.3 isn’t really my distance, I’m too slow. I can be reached at 1(919) 357-3226 or by e-mail at kevin.t.morgan@earthlink.net. Let’s touch base before then, but first, Placid! Kind Regards, kevin
I enjoyed reading your articles. They are very inspiring
and uplifting. I had both surgeries too and my life was turned upside down. I am still recovering and i have so many issues going on with my health, I get very fatigue, short winded every time I try to dance, exercise and bend, my chest feels like it wants to compress if I do anything stenuous, my back hurts from sitting to long and my pelvic gets flared up. Do you have any suggestions. I am trying to get healthier and better fit. I am only 50 years old and this AAA has it ups and downs for me.
Hi Valerie, how long ago was your surgery. Did you have a stent or a graft? How fit were you before all this happened, and did you have other health challenges before this? Do you trust your doctors? These and other questions are an essential component of working out where to go from here, and setting safe but exciting goals. At the end of the day, we each have to work out what is safe for us, but input can help and inspire. I wrote a couple of blog posts a while ago, each designed to provide some guidance on how to approach these issues, as follows:
https://athletewithstent.com/2013/08/15/rediscovering-sport-life-life-saving-surgery-semi-quantitative-benefitrisk-assessment-v1/
https://athletewithstent.com/2011/11/05/how-to-approach-exercise-following-corrective-surgery-for-aortic-dissection/
Maybe you read them, already. You have to set up reasonable goals, seek quality medical advice where you can find it, and get to know your body. I always recommend the study of body awareness training, for which we created a series of simple (not fancy) videos. You can access them for free with this promo code ‘Rebecca’ at this site:
http://subscriptions.viddler.com/FitOldDog?set_id=7ffgm6
and, of course, just write and ask questions. I’m a veterinarian/researcher/triathlete with an AAA stent graft, not an MD, so I don’t dispense medical advice, which is only part of the story, anyway.
Don’t hesitate to contact me.
Cheers,
Kevin aka FitOldDog