Introducing Jack - the other half of Miller's Fitness! I met my husband, Jack, in the gym. Where else? He was on the stair machine and I was in the weight room. Our story has been about fitness ever since. He manages the local gym and is also an ACE-certified personal trainer. To say that he is in great shape is an understatement. Yesterday he ran 4 miles at 6.5 miles per hour. His heart rate peaked at about 140 beats per minute. Thirty seconds after finishing, his heart rate had already dropped back down to 108 beats per minute. Did I mention that he is 57 years old and we live at altitude, about 8,500 feet above sea level? He can run circles around guys half his age and is "strong like bull", as he would say. He is 5' 10" and when we met in 1990, he weighed about 170 pounds. Now he is a svelte 150 and his body fat is in the low-teens.
We live in the mountains of Colorado and our primary source of heat is a woodstove. Every weekend Jack is outside gathering wood on our property. It's free heat, it cleans up our woods and he gets off on playing lumberjack. He'll march up with mountain with his chain saw in hand, find a dead tree that needs to come down and have at it with the chain saw. He cuts the dead tree into 6 -10 foot lengths and carries them back to the house, by hand, thrown over his shoulder. No ATV's here. He carries it all by hand, making 3 - 4 trips up and down, in all kinds of weather.
Last summer, the cedar siding on our house needed to be power-washed and re-stained. You know the rest. Of course, Jack power washed the whole house himself, then hand-brushed on the stain. He tried using a sprayer, but it just didn't do a good enough job for him. So he hand brushed the stain on the entire house. Doing the peak of the house was challenging, but he eventually got it all. I got queasy just watching him on top of the roof. He says the view up there is awesome. I'll take his word for it!
He says that exercise is his therapy. He has saved us thousands of dollars in psycho-therapy costs because he is a disciplined exerciser. He works out his angst and solves his problems while lifting weights and doing cardio. He motivates me and keeps me going when I don't feel like it. I have to stay in shape just to keep up with him! Fitness is the basis of our relationship. When I think of Jack in the years to come, I just have to smile. I envision a strong, yet wiry guy who will still be trying to play with chain saws.
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