Keep Sweating — and Swimming
AT age 48, Sister Madonna Buder laced up a pair of borrowed running shoes and set out on her first run. She told Triathlete a priest encouraged her to give it a try. “He mentioned that running had many benefits, including a way to ‘harmonize mind, body and soul,’” she said.
That first half-a-mile run turned into a short race, then a marathon, and then her first triathlon. She’s now known as the “Iron Nun,” and has completed more than 350 triathlons since, including one recently at the age of 91. She’s the current world record holder for oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman Triathlon, which she earned at the age of 82.
When Levy interviewed Sister Madonna, the nun shared that her father inspired her to stay active into older age — he rowed and played handball into his 70s. “It doesn’t make sense to fear aging, since you never know what lies ahead of you,” Sister Madonna told Levy.
It’s a similar perspective shared by Wilhelmina Delco. The now-90-year-old former Texas politician took up swimming for the first time at the age of 80, earning her the title of “the old lady who swims at the Y.”
What began as a practice to help soothe her arthritis became a passion, and it’s a new chapter for her after a legacy of civic service. “I am proud of being my age, not some strange exception,” she told Levy.
Levy found that people with negative age beliefs exercise less, and a longitudinal study showed that people over the age of 50 with positive age beliefs had better body movement over a period of 18 years than people of the same age with negative age beliefs.
Levy’s conclusion: The belief that we can’t be active in old age is a myth. “Whether you decide to start going for runs at sixty, hop in the pool for the first time at seventy, or go on walks at any age, it matters less when and what you do than that you build up positive age beliefs and trust that your body will respond in kind,” she writes.
Just take a cue from Sister Madonna and the first words that come to mind when she thinks of aging: “Wisdom and grace. There’s running and opportunity. And fine wine.”