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Viewing 1 - 6 out of 6 Blogs.
Oh yes, despite a slow beginning, I’m beginning to even the score with Sister Mary Aggressive (wife, Carol)! After our most recent dual endeavor, a swim event called the Masters Mile challenge at Fort Myers Beach, it is now two to three in Carol’s favor!
This was our first U.S. Masters open water swim, and it was held in conjunction with USA Swimming 2008 Open Water 5K and 25K National Championships. We did see the 5K and some other USA Swimming age group events. It was really neat to see the up and coming swimmers in the open water category!
As for our event, Carol and I were the second oldest male and female swimmers entered. We couldn’t have asked for a better day and a water start, with only approximately 25 other competitors each. The course was rectangular, and during the long upwind leg against the current, I never thought we would reach the turning buoy. After that it was all downhill on the final leg to the finish!
Carol was accused of fooling around with that buoy, try as she might, just couldn’t seem to get away! Oh yes, it really was a buoy! No awards, but that is OK, great location, great swim, and great competitors, can’t ask for anything better than that! And my time was faster than SMA’s!
I recently wrote that I was focusing on running for upcoming events, specifically the Marine Corps Marathon. My record is abysmal with this event, having signed up twice before and bailing out at the last minute! Our daughter Megan, age 35, has signed up too!
Just a little bit of history, several years ago Megan and I ran the Disney World Marathon together. We started in separate corrals, so didn’t see each other until she passed me at the 25 mile mark! I pleaded with her to wait for me, so we could finish together. She knows me too well, and knew that I would sprint past her at the finish, so she waved, yelled, “See you at the finish”, and kept on running! This is just another reason I want to improve my running: Guess what Megan, payback is hell!
To that end, I have signed up for Jeff Galloway’s online “ecoaching program." So far, so good. I have managed to keep up with the training plan and have begun to show some improvement, yes, at age 65!
Upcoming events include a “Tri in the Buff”( I checked and modest attire is required) in Buffalo, N.Y., and some triathlons and open water swims in Florida. We just canceled our entry in the Lee Swim in Cork, Ireland, scheduled for July 19Th. Carol has had some surgery, so has been out of the water and would not be ready to compete. We did it last year and had a marvelous time. Possibly we will be back in 2009!
Hang in there and enjoy your summer!
Tags: Swim Marathon
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Winning
Posted On 05/16/2008 18:39:00
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We are now into our fifth month of competition for the year and in the four events that I have gone head-to-head with Sister Mary Aggressive (wife Carol), she has beat me in all three running events and was getting of cocky!
But I had my day in the St. Anthony’s Olympic Distance Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 27th, when I finished ahead of her, not by much, but enough! It wasn’t as close as three years ago, when my margin of victory was 4 seconds. Since we start in different waves, we had no idea how close we were until we got home!
If you have never done St. Anthony’s, I'll tell you that it is very well run, and I believe the second largest in the U.S. at 4,000 participants, second only to Chicago’s Accenture which is the largest at around 8,000! If you are interested, you need to go online to their website, www.satriathlon.com, and find out when registration opens, it usually fills up in a matter of hours.
As for the start, they changed the sequence of when the older male age groups had started in the past. Those of us 60 and older started in the last male wave. Carol was in the first female wave, which started several minutes behind us. This was pleasant for me, since I wasn’t getting run over by the younger males on the bike. Also didn’t mind getting passed by the women, who started after us, some very nice scenery, and they were very encouraging in their comments as they went by!
As we got ready to start, I noticed Charlie Futrell, a resident of The Villages, and the oldest competitor there at age 88. He first started doing this event when he was 70, and this was his 18th consecutive start. I hope I’m still going when I’m that age, what an inspiration. The oldest female competitor Sister Madonna Buder, age 78, from Spokane, Wash., of Ironman fame. She blew by me on the run like I was standing still!
The water was cold enough to permit wetsuits, so I opted to wear one. I normally don’t but the buoyancy does give you an advantage, and at my age every little bit helps. Tampa Bay is sometimes hard to judge, and as the morning went along, the swells appeared to get larger. Well on the first leg, I got tossed around a lot, swallowed some water, but made it to the turn to the second leg. This was smoother than the first, so I was really looking toward the third and last leg to bring it home. Well, then it was the swells pushing you off course and down the beach, so one found themselves having to adjust direction every few minutes to stay on course!
The bike and run were uneventful, and I was pleased with my performance, considering what little training I had put in on the bike and run. You all know that feeling; gee if I had only trained more!
Our next event was on May 4 at Disney World for Disney’s “Women Run the World 15K”. Carol ran well, and it was neat to be a spectator and watch 3,000 very fit women complete this event!
Future events include a one-mile open water swim May 31 in Fort Meyers, Fla. We’ll see where we stand in our head-to-head competition. As an aside, I am working on my running.
Tags: Triathlon Competition
The Seal Fitness Challenge was held on March 29th. There were over 100 participants including about 12 residents of The Villages, of which I was one. The swim was first and not a problem; in fact, I even finished before some of the young men and women participants.
After that it was a real challenge for me. I did the pushups and sit-ups, but not the minimum amount in the allotted time. As for the chin-ups, they helped me up so I got at least one in. I also completed the run. The other Villagers, both men and women did very well, a number of them completing most of the required exercises. When receiving my participant's t-shirt, I told the young SEAL, "Not bad for a guy on Medicare!"
Our local Newspaper did a nice write up on us seniors and referred to us as Courageous! The article closed with the following:
“Someday, perhaps on the battlefield, they will become acquainted with courage. Only then will they be able to comprehend what motivates a 75–year-old man to do chin-ups alongside a 20-year old.”
That afternoon, there was a SEAL static display at our Polo Fields and a demonstration from the SEAL jump team, the Leap Frogs. To start the afternoon off, a Navy SEAL jumped with the American Flag. This jumper was Captain Norm Olsen, USN (Ret.) and a former Navy SEAL. Yes, it was the Sky Fossil, whom I have written about before. He is a resident of The Villages, and I might add 77 years young.
The next weekend we did another fun road race, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in Washington, D.C. We started at the Washington Monument, and toured through numerous monuments on what was supposed to be a bright warm sunny Sunday, April 6th! I didn't even pack any warm running gear, knowing it was going to be a nice day, even had sunscreen with me, which I had forgotten to use the weekend before in Florida, and my forehead (now a five- to six-head) was still peeling.
Race morning we got up as planned at 5 a.m. I always want to be there first, and not have to worry about the crowds from almost 20,000 runners descending on D.C.
Well I looked out the window; saw the pouring rain, the wind, and the temp of 47 degrees from the TV. I told Carol this is ridiculous, I am not going to stand in pouring rain in that kind of weather for 2.5 hours with nothing but a shirt and running shorts on. We reached a compromise and called our son-in-law Tim, and asked him if he had a rain jacket I could borrow. He also agreed to give us a ride. The hotel kitchen staff was kind enough to give us trash bags we could wear over our clothes until race start.
Believe me, it was cold, and I was shivering before the start. We finally got underway, and for the first four miles it was with the wind, so not so bad. We paid our dues in the last six miles when the rain and wind increased and the temperature dropped.
The highlight of the race was seeing son-in-law, daughter and grandchildren on Memorial Bridge at about mile 7.5, and getting our pictures taken with them, albeit separately, since Sister Mary Aggressive (my wife, Carol) had about a 10-minute lead on me.
Prior to the start we had decided that it made no sense to wait for each other at the finish. We'd just get on the Metro back to the hotel. Trust us; it was a very cold trip back. I didn't think it was appropriate for me to want to hug all the nice young women on the Metro for warmth, so for a change, took the high road and did not ask!
During the next week, I went over The Villages Charter High School and watched a district track meet featuring teams from 10 area high schools. They have a beautiful facility for athletics and in talking to some of the visiting parents, they and their children love to come and compete here.
The Villagers also get involved not only as spectators, but in all facets of the meet. For example, the meet director, Chris Murray, is a former Olympian and college coach. These facilities are in the middle of The Villages, which makes it very convenient to see all these events.
That weekend, I participated in The Villages Senior Games Swimming competition. We had some great competition, and I was pleased with my results, a couple of second places. I had a fun time, witnessed some great swims and can take pride in how far our team has come in the four years I have been associated with it. Oh yes, our cheerleaders were there cheering us on, as they are for all our athletic competitions. Another motivator to do well is the hug you get from them when you receive your award!
What you may not know is that I first heard about The Villages at a National Senior Games Swim Meet in 2003. We visited The Villages, liked what we saw, moved here in early 2004 and have been swimming biking, running and ever since.
Bike Florida Safari is a bike ride sponsored by the Florida freewheelers out of the Orlando, Fla., area. It is a six-day ride with varying distances, based on the rider’s desires. The first three days are out of Live Oak, the county seat of Suwannee County, and the last three days out of Cherry Lake. We get riders from all over and all ages. It is a tremendous ride and about 60 percent of the riders are repeats. Because of the Swim meet, I wasn’t able to join the ride until Monday, but got some rides and swims in. Along for the ride were a number of Villagers, as well as friends of ours from as far away as Spokane, Wash. It is very reasonable, and there is a three-day option as well. People can’t say enough about the food. For more information, go to their website: www.floridafreewheelers.com.
After returning to The Villages on Thursday, we caught a flight to Boston Friday morning to watch the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials and The Boston Marathon. Yes there were Masters athletes in both. It was a terrific experience to See Joan Benoit Samuelson compete at age 50.
We are now back in Florida, getting ready for St. Anthony’s Triathlon this Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Tags: SEALs Marathon Swimming
A Salute to the Navy’s SEALs will take place in The Villages, Fla., on Saturday, Mar. 29. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
The first part of the event will be The NAVY SEAL Fitness Challenge which is open to men and women. The challenge consists of a 500-yard swim, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups, plus a 1.5 mile run. Please go to the following Web site to get additional information on this event: www.sealfitnesschallenge.com.
In looking at past participants on their website, the oldest was a male, age 77! Whether you participate in this or not, it will be fun to watch and cheer on the youngsters as well as us senior citizens!
Oh yes, I’ll be there, and I'll be participating. I'm not sure I can do it, but I do know I can try! The swim is not a problem. The push-ups, well, the days of asking, "Which hand, sir?” are over. I am just hoping I don’t break my nose again, as Sister Mary Aggressive says, "It is pretty flat now, can it get any flatter?" The pull-ups I will concede on since you only get credit for going up, not down! Sit-ups, well I thought it would be easy, but not so. I just don’t bend that easily in the middle any more! We shall see, looking forward to a fun event! This event will take place at our Laurel Manor Recreation Center from 8 a.m. until noon.
In the afternoon, “A Salute to the Navy SEALs” will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at The Villages Polo Club. It will feature the U.S. Navy Parachute team, made up of Navy SEALs, as well as a display of their equipment, among other attractions. Speakers will include a U.S. Navy Admiral, a SEAL, and two Medal of Honor recipients. Country artist, Lee Greenwood, will perform at 2 p.m.
Believe me, I can not think of a better way to spend a Saturday, a tribute to some of America’s finest, the U. S. Navy SEALs! Hope to see you there!
Tags: Villages SEALs
Running in all kinds of weather
Our 2008 competition season is well underway, with two half-marathons to our credit! The first, the Surf City Run in Huntington Beach, Calif., was a challenge from a weather standpoint. The last two years we enjoyed nice breezes and sunshine. This year Saturday was one of the sunniest and warmest days they had experienced in a while. Well, Sunday morning was a different story! We woke to a very wet and windy morning. The temp was a balmy 45 degrees; the winds, from the West, were 20 knots, gusting to 40; and it was a heavy downpour.
We have gotten a little careless, living in Florida, and neither of us had thought to bring very much cold weather gear! They used a wave start, and you were supposed to align yourself by your expected finish time. Both Carol and our friend Kathy had a lower finishing time, so we parted ways, and I proceeded to the back, when I got to the wave where I thought I should be, looked around and noticed two other gray haired gents. I introduced myself and found that we were pretty much the same age. They were from Arizona, and totally underdressed. As time went on, we just got wetter and colder. We all decided to go into our hotel lobby, which was by the starting line to await our wave, when one of my new found friends had the best idea, let’s just go up to the front and start with the next wave and we did! I fear that had we gone back inside and waited, there may have been time for a go/no go decision! All in all, it was good run. With the weather, you had little time to think about how miserable you were!
Carol, Kathy and I, had all decided, at the finish, just to head for shelter, and we would get together later. By the time I got to our room, Carol had just arrived with some Mimosas. What a neat surprise and what a great way to celebrate our run! We are both committed to returning next year. Through our friend Kathy, we have established a neat group of friends there and it is always fun to spend Super Bowl Sunday with them! Having lived both in New York and New England, the best team won!
Back on the East Coast, we found ourselves two weeks later in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., for the inaugural “Run 26.2 with Donna”. The cost of the race was totally supported by the sponsors, so the entrance fees and donations all went to Breast Cancer Research! It was a totally awesome weekend! The expo, the course, the volunteers, the spectators, the participants all clicked! Believe me, Pink was the color of the day everywhere. They had runners from all 50 states, and many foreign countries.
Everyone displayed at least one name, if not more, of someone who they were running in memory of. Our good friends Tom and Cynthia said this is a keeper. That means, one day we will be back to run again! It was also neat to have my twin brother and sister, Sam and Sarah, down from the North to participate.
This was a little different than Surf City. The day before, it was sunny, but cool. However race day, it was warm, sunny, and just got hotter! Well, it took a toll on a lot of the runners, especially those from the North -- enough said! Oh yes, the score, Sister Mary Aggressive- 2, Joey- 0! The season is not over yet, we still have through December to compete!
Tags: New Competition Season
My name is Joe Neal. I'm a resident of The Villages, Fla., and the author of this new blog, The Villages Life. I'll be writing a few times a month about all of the available sports and opportunities here, which range from softball to pickleball and from golf to swimming and everything in between.
I'll also keep you posted on my own sporting adventures around the world. In the past 12 months, for instance, I raced in open water swims in an Irish river, the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River. I've run in a 10k and competed in several triathlons.
So I have given a lot of -- OK some -- thought to this initiative and am very excited about this opportunity for several reasons.
First, I can expand on my writing skills, hopefully not at the expense of the readers. By the way, my attitude was always that I'm a fighter, not a writer! The Christian Brothers and I had many discussions about this in my formative years. I was terrific at math and the sciences, but not so in the liberal arts, specifically English and foreign languages. At the U.S. Naval Academy, where I went to college, your grades each semester were based on a combination of class exam scores and a final exam. I only failed one final exam at Annapolis, that was in my first semester as a plebe and it was English. I scored a 2.48 on a 2.50-4.00 scale, so it wasn't by much. And my in-class grades gave me a passing mark. That was a real wake-up call! Had I failed, I would have been before the Academic Board to see if I would be retained! Well, if you look at my transcript today, based on my performance, not that spectacular, you would have thought I was a liberal arts major! I did always enjoy the physical and athletic side during my years at Annapolis, possibly a little too much!
Second, we have so many terrific sporting activities in The Villages, this blog will give me the opportunity to engage in and learn about all the other things that I am not involved in. It will also give me the chance to meet new people and enjoy new friendships. Possibly I can undertake some of these activities myself, just not golf. (At 65, still don't think I have the patience or am old enough for that game!) Oh yes, I'm considering getting involved in synchronized swimming. I may be the first male, but do enjoy flowery Speedos. I hope
Carol (my long suffering wife) understands!
Lastly, and most important, the opportunity to support The Villages. We have a tremendous lifestyle and terrific residents here. I just want more of the same!
Tags: Masters Athletes
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