And not just one or two strands here or there, but an actual patch of gray at my temples.
Ack.
I'm not ready to be going gray. I secretly hoped that I had won the genetic jackpot and would never age. Or that somehow I wasn't really getting older - just my family and friends. But I can't deny it now. It's going to happen, whether I like it or not.
But that got me thinking about all the amazing stories I've heard about older athletes pushing boundaries of what is possible. So I decided to find some inspiring folks to help me remind me that the best years still lie ahead:
Helen Klein
No one shows how to grow older and tougher better than Helen Klein. Klein, who started running right before she turned 60, has done more than her share of amazing runs. At the age of 80, she ran a 4:31 marathon. She holds 75 American and world records in distances from 50k to 6 day road distances. Awesome.
Harriet Anderson
At 75 years of age, Harriet Anderson is still going strong. She started racing triathlons at age 54, gradually competing at the Ironman distance. She raced a 16:20:30 at Kona this year; last year, she finished the race with a broken clavicle.
Last year, at the age of 60, Nyad swam for 24 hours nonstop through the shark-infested waters off of Key West, Florida - with no shark cage. After that successful warm-up, she's now training to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida in the summer of 2011. As she so eloquently put on her blog, "...the business of life is to live large and you can dream at any age."
Tamae Watanabe
Climbing Everest is hard at any age. Watanabe is currently the oldest woman to summit to mountain, accomplishing the task at age 63.
Suddenly my gray hair doesn't seem so bad. It's a badge of honor, really. The future holds all sorts of possibility, no matter your age. Just get out there!
Do you have any "older" heroes who inspire you?
Thanks for the encouragement! Makes me want to grow older to test the limits!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Let's not forget the men with a touch of gray. That's not gray in my beard shown on my new year's run, it was frost. Yeah...right.. :)
ReplyDeleteI will write up some of my favorite men too :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post I agree! Ever since 2011 hit, I'm realizing I'm getting older! It seems when we're young we just want to be older, and as we get older, we want to be younger!!!
ReplyDeleteI found a great book that really made my mood change... called, 40+ and Fabulous: Moving Forward Fierce, Focused, and Full of Life! by Sondra Wright.
In my opinion it will help women feel confident and validated as they enter into the next stages of adulthood.
I loved this book from the second I opened it and started reading about everything I've ever thought of put down on paper and reminded me! It's a wonderful read and had to share.