I find myself thinking more and more about aging as I get older (I know... funny how that works). My playing hockey has been a really good barometer. Starting at mid-thirties, just doing a couple laps around the rink and a quick stretch was no longer enough to get my body ready to play. I realized that I had to be more disciplined about exercising (not just hockey as exercise, but cardio and stretching) so I didn't pull a muscle or worse while playing. I've still got work to do there, but now (getting into my mid-forties) I'm finding that sometimes all the discipline in the world won't stop a random muscle pull or other minor injury... and now those take a LOT longer to go away.
What's more interesting to me, though, is how I'm aging upstairs. Even after I got married, I was still playing 3-4 times a week non-stop with a couple tournaments each year. Now I only play once a week and look forward to taking the summers off. Yes, kids and house and job are the reasons (just like everyone else), but I always imagined that I wouldn't be able to handle playing so little.
Sorry for the tangent, reading your post and feeling my shoulder from when my dog yanked on the leash got me in a sharing mood.
