Am I "Old" However?

“When men and women are confronted with negative stereotypes about a  group with which they identify they tend to self-handicap and underperform in contrast to their potential.” So located Sarah Barber of the University of California at Davis College of Gerontology.  Her perform, reported in the eNews publication, Aging in Stride discussed a review done on damaging stereotypes about older grownups. Ms. Barber and her analysis team located that when elders identify with these groups, they inadvertently confirm their personal unfavorable stereotypes about aging.

And who doesn’t have them?

Our society doesn’t have this kind of a positive outlook on aging. We’re constantly seeing media prompts to “feel young again”, get a encounter lift, get a  pill or do something to avoid the stereotypes of “old”.  Since I’m in the aging field as a consultant, I do have a distinct mindset about aging, but I know I also hold some of those stereotypes in my very own mind.  I really don’t want to come to feel “old”, no matter what that really indicates.

So I set out to challenge my very own perceptions of what older people do.  If my age (66) is “old” I want to bust those stereotypes in my own head.  This is not a new point for me.  I rebelled towards the stereotypes 4 many years ago when, with dread and trembling, I took up the endurance sport of triathlon. I do the brief sort only. I keep pondering if I’m also old to keep it up. There is no 1 my age on my coaching staff, Flower Energy Sports activities. I am prudent sufficient to have a coach coach and a team. Coach Michelle teaches you how to train smart. She does this while smiling and kicking your behind. You get more powerful.  This is excellent. We really do not think of previous and sturdy as going collectively.

My crew pal, Gigi, an wonderful 53 12 months old super powerful athlete talked me into going to Wildflower triathlon in central CA CA. It is in the middle of nowhere. You camp. Camping?? I really do not consider so.  I very first objected that “I’m as well old to go camping”. But they have these comfy camper vans, all decked out. She had already rented a single. Excuse gone.

Then I mentioned I didn’t want to do an Olympic distance event, as she’s undertaking. By no means mind, they also have the quick distance 1, named a “sprint” (for humor, I expect).  Second excuse gone.  I’ve done sprint distance events ahead of. This is reportedly the second largest triathlon occasion in the globe, with athletes from all over the place. They do a sprint, Olympic distance and long course event above a weekend. Okay, I’m in.

We arrive in rented camper, join Coach Michelle, her son, Nick, sixteen, and another teammate, Charmaine.  So far, so great.  But, apart from our tiny group, everybody close to would seem to be a Lot younger.  Aren’t there any females my age here?  They always group us by age. Race morning arrives and Michelle and Gigi are support group for the 3 of us undertaking the mountain bike sprint program.

It commences with a swim.  I struggled through but was ok, then hiked up the one/4 mile to the bike start.  The course had been altered from the prior 12 months.  We did not know about that.  I had gotten moderately knobby tires for my mountain bike, suitable for what was described as a grime trail with some paved portions.  As I acquired to the 1st sharp turn, I discovered loose, rocky, deep filth, requiring the fattest tires you can get with the heaviest tread available.  OMG!  I have the incorrect tires! Traction on this is going to be extremely hard. Bang! Down I went, opening a modest gash in my arm.

I then began a pattern:  get back up, pedal a bit, drop traction, fall, repeat.  It was the steepest, most treacherous mountain bike program I’d ever observed and I was striving not to get rid of my nerve the total time. My arm was bleeding.  About halfway by means of, there was an support station, staffed with adorable college pupil volunteers who have been all above at the weekend events.  I stopped.  ”Will you clean this off for me?” I asked.  A pleasant faced younger man offered up bottles of water and began to pour them above my arm. “Do you have any gauze?”  He looked in his initial aid bag and pulled out a little white wrapped packet.  Opening it, he stated, “I really don’t know what this is.”   I stated, “It’s a sanitary napkin.  It will have to do.  Just dry me off with it and place a bandaid in excess of this reduce, please.”  He obliged and quietly asked, “Are you going to finish?”  Maybe he imagined I necessary to be carried off or some thing.  I stated, “Yes, I’m finishing this race!  This senior has gotta do this.” I took off. No a lot more falls. The program got much less rocky and loose and I produced to the transition region the place you modify in to your run shoes for the last leg.  You can’t run in bike sneakers.  Bags with our run shoes were supposed to be deposited by the bike.

6000+ racers

I racked my bike and observed, to my shock, that the bag with my run shoes and hat was not there!  OMG once more!  It had by some means been misplaced. I desperately asked far more of the university child volunteers to seem for my misplaced bag. No luck. Possibly 20 minutes ticked by. This is a race and it was going to be above if I didn’t get moving.  How was I going to get the run accomplished?  It was only 2 miles and I was certain I could get there somehow, but not in bare feet.

I was so discombobulated from repeated falls, I could barely feel.  I asked the nearest woman volunteer her shoe dimension. “I’m, an 8″, she said. Too big.  I’m a 6 one/2.  I asked one particular of them to find me a volunteer with a shoe dimension no greater than a seven.  Promptly, a sweet girl, Natalie returned. “I put on a seven,” she said. “Oh, excellent,” I stated.  ”I need to have to please borrow your shoes.” She imagined she could stroll about barefoot for awhile and gave up the footwear. I place them on. They match!  By now the sun was scorching.  ”I require to borrow your hat, too”, I said. She obligingly gave it to me.  I thanked her a whole lot, got her name, advised her the place I would flip in the footwear and I was off.

I am not certain how I stumbled by way of that last leg, but I did it.  Finally, I ran across the finish line!  Michelle, and teammates had been all there cheering.  This did not fit my images of “old”. I have no stereotypes in my head of arm-gashed seniors running across finish lines in borrowed sneakers. Quickly I went to the medic tent, appropriate following to the finish. They cleaned and bandaged my arm. The MD advised that I get a couple of stitches. I got directions to the nearest emergency space for later.  I looked around at the people in the tent with IV’s, ice on their knees, and various other injuries. I actually felt lucky, as a reduce and scrapes will heal and it could have been worse.

Natalie located me later on from her neon green hat I nevertheless wore. She received a lovely new pair of shoes from a race sponsor for her generous gesture, and she acquired her hat and outdated sneakers back too.  My shoe bag showed up ultimately. Nick came in third in his age group and we watched him get his medal. I did not stick close to for the other results of the race, as I was exhausted.

We went back to camp, I made a journey the the ER, I acquired the stitches and I was ok, despite a sore arm. The up coming day, after the Olympic distance event, race final results had been available on laptops they offer so you can see how you did. Super Coach Michelle placed 2nd in her age group and Gigi did respectably properly also.  Out of curiosity, I asked Gigi to look at the prior day’s race to see how numerous ladies were in my age group. Above 6000 athletes present up for this occasion, from children age 10, to challenged athletes to seasoned elites.

Finishing Triathlon Race

Am I "Old" However?