That gives me 50 more years! He's 105!
Japan's Hidekichi Miyazaki Sets Fresh Record as Oldest Competitive Sprinter
TOKYO — Japanese centenarian Hidekichi Miyazaki set a fresh record as the world's oldest competitive sprinter this week, one day after turning 105, but said he was disappointed at falling short of his own personal best.
"I wanted to shave off a few more seconds as I got 36 seconds while training," Miyazaki, wearing a bright red T-shirt and running shorts, said after completing his heat with a time of 42.22 on Wednesday. His personal record of 34.10, chalked up when he was 103, remains unbeaten for centenarian.
Born on Sept. 22, 1910, Miyazaki was already eight when World War One ended and 34 when Japan was defeated in World War Two. He did not start running until he was in his 90s, since many of the friends with whom he had played the Japanese board game "Go" had passed away, according to Guinness World Records.
Of course, unsurprisingly, he attributes his longevity and health to actually exercising, eating properly, 'in moderation', and "chewing food properly".
Japan, which on Monday marked "Respect for the Aged Day, tops the world in number of people over age 65 years old. The number of people over 80 topped 10 million for the first time, of whom 60,000 are over 100 years old, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs this week.
Now..... he didn't START all this track and field stuff until he as
93 years old!
He spent the previous 33 years practicing calligraphy and playing Japanese chess with his friends. But as they started to die from old age, he wanted to find something he could do on his own, Kiyono explained.
That was track and field.
Miyazaki first completed the 100-meter dash at the Kyodo Masters in 2004, when he was 96 years old. It was then that he started imitating the trademark pose of Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man.
He does it because "it's cool," he said.
There is a good-sized video of him running his sprint at the
Yahoo News posting.
I bring up Yahoo News because this is a liberal blog and Yahoo News is most usually a place where the ultra-conservative, the wingnut, the gun nut, and a boatload of racists congregate, and while MOST people are thrilled to hear a story like this, I have developed a taste for seeing just how stupid, racist, venal rightwing Americans handle absolutely wonderful stories/events such as these, especially since it is a non-white culture.
And in particular, a lot of these "stupid, racist, venal rightwing Americans " are in really poor shape from bad diets, smoking tobacco, excessive alcohol, and eschewing anything similar to exercise.
Most of the comments there - there were only a few - were supportive or reflecting what I consider appropriate amazement. But there were a couple that stood out:
Hilda / yesterday
"Respect for the aged day"
How about respect for the generations who are paying for your miserable choices?
I have heard this sentiment before, aimed at folks like me who lift a finger to maintain our health. It's like we're doing something selfish that somehow impacts other's lives in a negative manner.
I would think that these slovenly, non-exercising, out-of-breath-in-a-half-mile, can't-make-it-up-a-flight-of-stairs people would be the ones who are bringing the rest of us down. The tobacco smokers and the crappy eaters (meat and taters, cheetos, beer, french freis, McD's, hot dogs, etc...) and the non-exercisers are the one clogging the healthcare system, raising the costs for all of us. But no, Hilda thinks healthy people are making her life harder.
On a better note, Obama wasn't blamed for ANYTHING in that small comment stream. That is an improvement. Or the day is young.
So, yeah, I have managed to take care of my health, in a piecemeal fashion earlier in life - martial arts for a few years, then hiking and backpacking for many years. Now I have been running about 5 days a week (sometimes 6, sometimes 7 sometimes 4) for over 5 solid years. My running buddy is a retired Recon Marine gunnery Sargent who is all about hardcore exercise. He's insane and I am here to tell you we don't need to take it to his level. Running , weights, and eating well: he's 61 and when he shakes my hand, it hurts. He is so strong. Turns out that this grip strength is a measure of overall heart health.
And Grip strength may provide clues to heart health:
As part of the international Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, researchers measured grip strength in nearly 140,000 adults in 17 countries and followed their health for an average of four years. A device called a dynamometer was used to assess grip strength.
Each 11-pound decrease in grip strength over the course of the study was linked to a 16% higher risk of dying from any cause, a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, a 9% higher risk of stroke, and a 7% higher risk of heart attack.
The connections between grip strength and death or cardiovascular disease remained strong even after the researchers adjusted for other things that can contribute to heart disease or death, such as age, smoking, exercise, and other factors. The findings were published online in The Lancet. Interestingly, grip strength was a better predictor of death or cardiovascular disease than blood pressure.
“Grip strength could be an easy and inexpensive test to assess an individual’s risk of death and cardiovascular disease,” said lead author Dr. Darryl Leong, from the Population Health Research Institute at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University in Canada, in a news release.
So, I just turned 55 on the 1st of September, and I have some renewed inspiration for continuing to take care of my health.
Health is something money can't buy.... which is good because I have no money.
Take care of yourselves.