I lettered in track - cross country. I love to run and my cholesterol needs it - got it from both Mom an Dad, but after 30+yrs of running, I quit 4 yrs ago to save what little cartiledge I have left in my knees. Do the research, long term running and knee replacement surgery - its scary. I hope I quit early enough to make a diff. I was starting to have hip pain too. I've never been heavy either, 5'11", 155lbs and I always used good shoes (still do).

I (we) walk, not every day but most and typically 1hr and 15min, a little over 4miles. Walk every where I can, to the bank, to the deli, to grocery etc. Im old enough, I have friends and colleagues who are suffering from their poor decisions about life style - next door neighbor dropped dead right before IKE hit. One night he passed out, stopped breathing and had a heart attack. Even though paramedics were here in <3min and got him breathing again, he never woke up, he was overweight, slighlty asmathic(SP?) and a hard drinker. Colleague died Jan 1 of pancreatic cancer, was not pretty what he went thru, he was a devout hell raiser. Both these guys were younger than I am.

Bottom line, take care of yourself, its not too late to do a better job. I do all the annual stuff and all my Dr has to say every year - get a little more sleep and get rid of the stress in your life -easier said than done, I'm afraid.