A Fitness Finish Line

Crossing the finish line at a five-K race meant more than a successful end to a run.  It put a meaningful exclamation point on a three-month effort to improve my health.

Crossing the finish line at the UC Merced Journey 5-K in September 2016.  Photo from the Newvine Personal Collection

The spring of 2016 was a rough time for my health.  

Symptoms included shortness of breath, an inability to take a deep breath without coughing, fatigue, and frustration.  

Something was wrong and there was a feeling that nothing could be done about it.

My wife made it her challenge to help find some answers.  She would accompany me to doctor visits and trips to see specialists. I had lab work, breathing tests, and a plan of attack to keep the condition under control.  

At the end of all these visits and tests was the conclusion that asthma and bronchitis were now part of my life.  

Medicines were prescribed, and a recommendation was made to exercise more.

I planned to start running daily beginning the day after Independence Day.  Two days prior to the execution of that plan, my back was stained.  

My start to better fitness was delayed another week.

On July 11th, I took the first step toward daily exercise.   I walked a pathway near my home.  Later in the week, I would begin running part of that path.  By the end of week two, I was running approximately a mile-and-a-half daily.  The distance was increased until the desired exertion level was achieved.  

Running was now part of the new normal.

Running got the heart pumping and the adrenaline flowing.  The time outside was good for the lungs and great for the attitude.  

The little annoyances from work and life did not seem to matter much anymore.  A new way to deal with the frustrations of life was discovered.  It seemed as though the running trail was my new sounding board.

Enjoying the accomplishment of a 5-K run at UC Merced.  Picture from the Newvine Personal Collection

By late summer, I had a routine that included a half-hour run followed by a fifteen-minute stretching exercise ritual.  I was feeling better.  Improved health had returned.  

Follow up visits to the doctors and specialists confirmed that the action plan worked.  The medicine took care of the symptoms; the exercise took care of me.

Just for kicks, I entered the UC Merced 5K Run in mid-September.  5K was about twice the length of my daily run.  It was for charity, and to make the past three months of daily exercise mean something.

Crossing that finish line was a proud moment that day on the UC Merced campus.  I removed my timing band, was handed a medal along with the other five hundred participants and promised to return next year.

Eight months after the UC Merced 5K, another finish line.  This time, the venue was the Mercy Medical Stroke Awareness 5K.  Photo from the Newvine Personal Collection

In May, I entered the Merced Medical Center Stoke Awareness 5K.  I did it for the same reason as the UC Merced Run.  I wanted to raise a little money for charity and prove that all this running had a deeper meaning.

9 From 99 w/new afterword

I ran in thanksgiving for the benefits from daily exercise.  Thanks to the proper medicine, the care of several health professionals, and my wife’s gentle but firm reminders, I feel great.  

Aside from a brief period with some aching joints, the routine continues.  The benefits accrue.

I have crossed the finish line, and am ready for the next race.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced     

American Pie Memories in Florida

Among the many memories, I cherish from growing up in the 1970s was the annual winter trips to Florida to stay with my grandparents who had a winter residence there. 

 I took this picture of my family in front of the Florida Welcome Station in the early 1970s.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

Those trips were novelties in my teen years as my family discovered a whole new part of the country. 

The drive itself was an adventure.  It started with a very early wake-up call as we climbed into a car that had been packed the night before.   

When the weather cooperated, we'd zip through the Eastern Seaboard states.  It felt just a little bit warmer at each rest stop.  Our day ended at a motel where the whole family of five shared one room with two double beds and a roll-away bed.

 The next morning there would be another early start.

When we crossed the Florida line, we'd stop for orange juice at the state visitor center.

The days in Florida were filled with trips to the tourist venues, including Cypress Gardens or the newly opened Disney World. 

There were also many activities that were less travel-intensive.  Some days included a visit to a distant relative or a trip to the nearest shopping center to pick up souvenirs.  

Every year, my grandmother would treat us to the novelty of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  

Back in the 1970s, KFC wasn’t known by its initials. It was Kentucky Fried Chicken, it was indeed finger lickin’ good, and whoever was staying with Grandma and Grandpa that week was getting a real treat.

Just about every night, we could count on a game of cards.

 The family dressed up for Sunday dinner at a buffet-style restaurant during one of our trips to visit my grandparents in Florida.  Photo:  Newvine Personal Collection

I remember a warm Central Florida winter night in 1972.  Six kids between the ages of twelve and seventeen were enjoying the spring break by playing cards and listening to one particular song on the radio.

The kids were my siblings and the similarly-aged kids of my parents’ friends. The card game was racehorse pitch, the preferred card game of that era. 

The song on the radio was American Pie.

 Bye bye

 Miss American Pie

 Drove my Chevy to the levy,

 But the levy was dry

 And good ole boys drinking whiskey and rye

 Singing, this will be the day that I die

 This will be the day that I die.

That song was the big rock-and-roll hit in early 1972.  It seemed like it was being played every half-hour on the Tampa rock-and-roll station.

I was fifteen years old.  The symbolism did not yet resonate with me.  It was the way the words worked together that caught my attention.  I had little or no appreciation of poetry, but these lyrics were beyond catchy.

 Did you write the book of love

 Or do you have faith in God above

Stanza after stanza, the poem of American Pie fascinated me.  It would be years before I fully understood what singer/writer Don McLean was trying to say.   

To this day McLean doesn't talk much about the deeper meaning of the words he composed. 

He doesn't have to.  This is a work of art that stands just as that.

 I can't remember if I cried
 When I read about his widowed bride

Madonna recorded a cover version several years ago, and it's an interesting interpretation.  The Brady Bunch kids recorded a version that isn't interesting or even an interpretation. It's just bad.

In American Pie, Don McLean is recalling a specific point in his lifetime. Whenever I hear that song, I think of a specific point in time too.  I zero in on the opening words:

 A long long time ago
 I can still remember how
 That music used to make me smile

While McLean was referring to the day Buddy Holly was killed in an airplane crash, I go back to a much happier time.  

I return to a warm Florida evening in February 1972, surrounded by family and friends.

We were creating a memory that has lasted nearly five decades.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

His first book, Growing Up, Upstate is now available for a reduced price at Lulu.com