FROM THE EDITOR

Now that my father is on his own, that call back home to Ohio gets scary.

Dad is 74, and, with mom gone, the last couple years have aged him about a decade. Often, he'll tell me the same story he told me the last time I called. Or else, I'll have to phone one of my brothers to fact check the story about exactly who is in the hospital and figure out for sure which family needs the sympathy card.

Second-guessing my father tears up my psyche much more than my brain. And, I'm an emotional weenie. So I've developed this strategy. As soon as I hear him drift, I'll ask: "Hey, so how about the fall golf league?" or else "Who's your doubles partner for the Grape JAMboree tournament this year?"

The conversation gets as sharp and as clever as the old man's head fake drop shot and sometimes as straight as one of his fairway drives. (Yeah, he's still that good. He's lost power but not technique.) And the enthusiasm in his voice helps me remember how vital he is.

In the early 1990s, I had the pleasure of working on a book written by Dr. Ralph Paffenbarger, the man responsible for the long-term Harvard study on physical activity and heart disease. He was 70 years old at the time and ran ultra-marathons. In fact, he held the age 60 and over record for the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run.

"So, what's the secret?" I asked.

He shrugged and said, "Don't stop moving."

That wasn't just his race strategy, it was the fruit of his life's work. He told me that his longitudinal study showed that people who started physical activity a year ago enjoy the same benefits as those who have been active for ten. On the flip side, he found that people who quit being physically active are - after about six months — just as likely to have heart disease as those who have never been physically active.

Illinois parks, forest preserves and recreation agencies have long been places where people get into the habit of moving. The articles in this issue of Illinois Parks & Recreation reaffirm the need for park and recreation professionals to keep health issues at the forefront of their policy and programming decisions. There is never any danger, I know, that you'd forget this mission. But it never hurts to have a Paffenbarger-like reminder.

Thanks to your efforts, kids like my son learn the joy of working their muscles in the sunshine. And fellows like my dad get to play like kids and stay around a little longer.

Let's not ever stop moving.

RODD WHELPLEY
Editor

4 - Illinois Parks and Recreation