DRUMANDSTAGE FORUM

Years ago I dabbled in model railroading. I had some really nice locomotives, and have missed the activity and may one day return to that. Actually, there is a market for selling properly weathered rolling stock and such and that would be a fin way to make some extra money. It takes experience and attention to detail to do it right, and I would have to really dig in to get that mastered.

Fitness and golf for me, both as a result of my Dad. He was one of the best amateur golfers in South Dakota in his teens through his early 50's, winning the State Seniors tournment twice and 9 club championships on his home course. He gave up competitive golf in '69 at age 54 and took up distance running with a younger brother and some other guys in our hometown after my grandpa died of heart attack. By age 60, Dad was the fastest half marathoner (13.1 miles) in the U.S. in his age group, surpasseed 25,000 miles at age 68, and my uncle ran a sub-5:00 mile at age 53. That's what I grew up around. I was a pretty good miler and two miler in high school and probably could've run in college, but Rock 'n' Roll was way more fun. Fortunately, I had the wisdom to give up distance runnning in my early 20's, sensing it would not be an orthopedically healthy lifetime activity. I took up resistance training so I wouldn't look like a skinny distance runner behind my kit and gained about 25 lbs. of muscle while on the road playing 200-250 nights per year from '81 - '84.

I returned to college and got my B.S. in Phys. Ed. at age 27 and M.S. in Exercise Physiology at 30. I worked for a hospital based PT clinic from '91 - '08, with 14 of those years running an athletic performance enhancement program. We trained 9 future NFL players, 2 future NBA players, one MLB player, and lots of high level college and high school athletes. I have been an Exercise Science professor at a small private college since '08 and plan on teaching 3 more years and retiring at 70.

I played some golf growing up, but didn't take it seriously and didn't play more than a couple of rounds per year from age 18 to 30. In my early 30's, I started practicing and playing much more. I knew I would never be at the level my Dad had been at, but had a low single digit handicap for most of my 40's and into my 50's. My goal is to shoot my age for 18 holes sometime from my mid-70's on. My Dad never did because he didn't play enough once he started running. He could do 10 pull-ups at age 77 which, baring an injury, will be doable for me. As an Exercise Physiologist, I have practiced what I preach: I lift twice per week, run interval hill sprints once weekly, and do a lot walking, including while golfing. I had some success in my late 50's and early 60's at the State Senior Games in the 200 meters, but pulled a hamstring badly two years ago and lost a lot of my top end speed. So, my previous goal of running the 200 meters in 30 seconds at age 70 isn't going to happen. I bought a mountain bike 4 years ago and have enjoyed the challege of that as we have some nice single track trails here. I do some jumps, rocks, logs, etc., but nothing too technical as I tend to opt for caution due to my age. I'm been fortuate to not have any major musculoskeletal or orthopedic issues. Some of my high school, college, and musician friends are limited in their activity due to health issues and a few have had joint replacements already. My genetics have been a blessing as Dad lived to 94, two uncles to 97, and Mom to 99.

I get a chuckle out of all the guys on Drum Forum talking about switching to Yamaha Crosstown or Tama Spartan hardware and gigging with really small kits and/or bass drums as they have aged. That day will come for me, but it won't be soon. My workouts are way more intense than any load-in, gig, and load-out will ever be. I hope to be gigging into my 80's, but don't know who it'll 'be with and if there'll be an audience. We'll see...

I teach (and practice) 16th century European swordfighting, and am the president of the non-profit that supports them.

http://stpaulff.com

So yeah, I'm probably one of the people that you want by your side during the Zombie Apocalypse...especially once your bullets run out...

I play golf and surf.

Mountain biking, photography, sports and classic cars including the odd day at a race track and I'm a bit of a foodie...