I have wanted to start this blog for quite some time now but am just going to dig in.
A little background. I am not ashamed to say that I am 65 years old which means that I graduated from high school in 1969 which means before Title 9 came into effect. That being said there was zero and I mean zero athletics of any kind for girls.
About 11 years ago at the young age of 54 I was at one of my son’s high school cross-country meets. I found I was running here and there to try to get a glimpse of him so I could cheer him on as he quickly went by. One of those times the idea occurred to me “why can’t I start running?” The seed was planted and so it began.
It did not start out well though. I started running a bit around the block, nothing too far but kept plugging along off and on through most of the summer. I got enough courage to enter in the open race they hold before the first cross-country meet of the year. Something else I should tell you about me is that I am very directionally challenged so being in the back of the pack was not a good place for me to be. Actually it was me and an 11-year-old girl. We were far enough back that the helpers marking the way had already taken leave of their posts. So it was just me and an 11 yr old girl. We started blazing our own way litterally making this a cross-country race. A couple of my sons friends were off at a distance and noticed us traipsing through the woods and tried to yell at us saying which way to go. It seemed like we kept going and going and going, I’m sure we added ‘miles’ to our run (or so it seemed). I was just about to say forget it and walk back but the young girl kept going. I thought if she is going to keep at it so can I. We finally made it in to the finish line. Evidently word got out that Andrew’s mom was bushwhacking her way through the woods totally lost. Sometimes it’s just a mothers job to embarrass their children. We still laugh about it to this day. But the fact is – I finished!
How It Is To Be An Aging Athlete 