You know you’re old when you’re assigned to the “seniors’ wave” at the swim start of the Eagleman 70.3 triathlon. (Or when your blog title references a song popular in 1976.) These ’seasoned athletes’ (M55+, W50+) got to start just 5 minutes after the first pros’ wave. And they got a huge 10 minutes lead on the following wave of whipper-snappers. And they got their own jet ski (4-stroke!) to lead the wave round the course. And the water was mill pond flat for this wet suit swim. And if that’s not enough to have you itching to age up, imagine a swim start free of the usual 200 yards of water-boarding instigated by those with broad shoulders and slow run splits. You’d have to be a stone with arms to swim 35 minutes with help like this, which is what I did. But I was happy because, since no one has combined swim goggles and reading glasses, I mis-read my watch and thought I’d had a :30 swim. I’ve swum :30 before, but less and less often since race directors began using GPS to measure the courses.

A secondary benefit of the seniors’ wave is an empty bike course. The pros are long gone and I biked alone with no one in sight for much of the course. I pretended I was Wolfgang Dietrich, the man who has spent more time in the lead of the Hawaii Ironman than any other, but never at the end. We have that in common. I was passed by a few of the young guys from later waves, but I was the first one to ‘represent’ the seniors’ wave when I started the run.

You know what’s important to have as you age into the seniors’ wave? Younger friends and training partners. And someone who is both, John Wilson, was racing behind me, having started in a wave later mine. Since he’s a good friend, I really didn’t want him to catch me on the run, as in, “I’m here with you but I’m really 10 minutes ahead of you”. Ouch! It was hot on the run, my heart rate was right where I wanted it and I still couldn’t read my watch; so I thought I was smoking the run. I wasn’t but neither was anyone else.

I won the M55-59 age group and guess who won the M50-54? Check out the photo! The winner is my friend and training partner John Wilson who I was intent on avoiding on the course. If you don’t know us, guess who’s 50 and who’s 55. HA! It’s hard for spectators too, who say “way to go, first gray-haired fininsher!”. I know, the lighting is bad in the photo, there’s a row of port-a-potties in the background and we appear to be holding chicken heads. But imagine what it would be like for you to win your AG and have the person you spend more training time with than anyone else also win. Well, it’s cooler than that and I realized that all this getting older and slower isn’t all that bad.

Eagleman Tip:

If you’re driving north after the race and crave a cheeseburger and fries, here’s the spot, in Bear DE. The Charcoal Pit. 10 oz. of angus beef, fries,and yep, we ordered fried onion rings too.