I watched my son race in a triathlon, an athletic event comprising three activities: a swim, bike ride, and a run. Distances vary depending on the event. What amazed me as I strolled the sidelines was the number of women in their 60s and 70s, and a few in their 80s, competing.
I felt admiration tinged with envy. How can they do that? What drives them? Personally, I cannot see myself dressed in running gear pushing myself to run, bike, or swim on and on and on…
But women older and in better shape than me perform in athletic events everywhere nowadays. Older women athletes are becoming commonplace. And they have role-models:
Diana Nyad, a world-class long-distance swimmer, swam from Cuba to Key West, Florida, at the age of 64.
A former nun and triathlete, Sister Madonna Buder, known as the Iron Nun, began running in 1978 and has not stopped. She was the first woman competitor in the 75-79 age group to participate in a triathlon, and the oldest woman to finish an Ironman Triathlon, completing the Subaru Ironman Canada on August 26, 2012, at the age of 81.
Then there was Canadian Olga Kotelko, a world record holder in a number of outdoor track categories. At age 95, she competed in eleven sports—long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, javelin, hammer throw, 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter sprints, and the 4 x 100-meter relay. She held more than 30 world records and won more than 750 gold medals in her age category. At the 2009 World Masters Athletics Championships in Finland, Olga threw a javelin almost twenty feet farther than her closest competitor. Olga died, at 95, on June 14, 2014. A few months before, she won ten gold medals in her last World Master appearance.
Studies indicate that men and women begin losing lung capacity in their 40s and muscle tone in their 50s. A slow physical descent occurs until approximately age 75. Then the decline usually becomes a precipitous slide downhill. Scientists are trying to figure out why, studying athletes like Olga, who bucked the trend.
Meanwhile…I sit on a comfortable couch, a computer on my lap, a coffee drink on the table, and finish my bagel, reading and writing about physical activity. I did attend Zumba class this morning, but it pales compared to the athletic prowess and feats of others my age and older.
And so I marvel at the accomplishments of others and realize I will never do it myself. My husband and I look at each other when watching my son compete – where did he get those genes, that motivation, and discipline?
Not from us.
My older son when in second grade wrote an autobiography and described himself as follows:
“I am tall and thin, unlike both my parents.”
That about sums it up – physical description and lifestyle.