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Fitness Files: You can’t judge a hike-dusty woman by her cover

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Seated at a round table at a Starbucks in Newport Coast, I listened, privileged to be part of a new group of woman — not my weekly hiking buddies. These ladies are trail runners, ultramarathoners, 100-mile-bike riders and open-water swimmers.

Post-hike dusty, shoes crusted with early-morning trail dirt and water bottles dangling from waist belts, we turned the conversation work. Not paying jobs but the type the plastic surgeon does.

One described her eye lift, another laser resurfacing, the next a fat transfer. Mention was made of regularly scheduled “fillers,” a face-lift and finally eyeliner/eyebrow tattoos.

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This group? I never suspected.

My eyes opened big as saucers (not quite because of Botox) and my jaw dropped (only so far because of a chin lift). Not these tough women. They clean up nicely but aren’t fussy rhinestone-belted beauties. You’d see their photos in Outside Magazine, not the society pages.

All plastic procedures reported that day were facial, no tummy tucks or breast augmentations. Believe me, the group was in a confiding mood and would have told. And here’s the interesting part. Not one face had that frozen-surprise, liver-lipped look of too much work.

I estimated the ages averaged 60. Probably. Who can tell? I believe I was the only one in her 70s.

Googling “money spent on plastic surgery-Orange County” uncovers site after site of ads for plastic surgeons but no total money spent in the county. However, Forbes in 2007 published “America’s Vainest Cities.” The magazine calculated the number of plastic surgeons per 100,000 people in the 50 most populated cities in the country. Salt Lake City ranked first; others were New York, Miami, Louisville, Nashville and L.A.

O.C. didn’t make the list.

UC Irvine Health put out 2011 statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Breast augmentation was tops, while nose reshaping, liposuction, eyelid surgery and face-lift followed.

Interestingly, liposuction decreased 42% between 2000 and 2011, while minimally invasive surgeries increased a whopping 213%. “Freshening” sagging face lines is popular. Would that be the wealth pockets worn by baby boomer retirees? Seniors, out shopping, look at the dressing room mirrors and ask, “Who’s that old person?” Then they decide to regain their original selves with a face-lift.

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Reviewing recent articles, I find descriptions that fit my Starbuck’s group. We feel 20 or 30. When grandchildren invite us on a run, we trudge along, maybe not matching speed with the kids but not too far behind.

We’ve proved that maintaining activity is as close to Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth as one can get. Nature’s tired, saggy look does not match our daily energy output.

Right here I need to recognize privilege. My coffee group of master athletes will not go into debt spending dollars on plastic procedures. I’m certain that many seniors look in the mirror, wishing to erase years, but cannot afford it.

Full disclosure: Yeah, I really had a chin lift about eight years ago. I’d earned the laugh lines and frown lines, but gravity was responsible for turning the right angle where chin meets throat into a 45-degree slant. I wasn’t giving in.

Last month, I filled out a medical questionnaire listing previous surgeries. I wrote “none.” In the examining room the doctor looked at my birthdate and confronted me with, “You’ve had a face-lift, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” I answered in surprise. I’d forgotten. Besides, when a medical questionnaire asks for surgeries, I think organs repaired or arteries cleared. I put plastic in the frivolous category.

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So why was I bowled over by the casual discussion of appearance-salvaging moves by the tough athletes I admire when I did it myself?

The answer is that I’m not the type. I get my hair cut at Supercuts, buy makeup off the Rite Aid aisle and tolerate a photo running in this paper that my brother called “unbelievably unflattering.” However, I see myself as 30. I edit out reality. The athletic females in the coffee group earn my respect by the easy way they swing on backpacks to hike miles, speed along in bike-adventure travel and kayak rapids. I would have guessed that these women care nothing about the appearance of age.

So what’s the lesson to be learned? Although kepping active banishes physical limitations of aging, active seniors cannot prevent the progressive effects of gravity, sun and time. In our culture, those who can afford it, whether shopping at Neiman Marcus or REI, take measures to alter the reality of the inevitable passage of years.

Newport Beach resident CARRIE LUGER SLAYBACK is a retired teacher who ran the Los Angeles Marathon at age 70, winning first place in her age group. Her blog is lazyracer@blogspot.com.

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