Today is the edited version of my very first episode with Bobbe Greenberg, a multiple Ironman World Champion and marathoner. Bobbe ran her first marathon in her late 40s, and 15 years later, she entered her first triathlon before knowing how to swim. Come along as Bobbe takes us through her journey from casual runner to world champion athlete, all completed over the age of 40 and most over the age of 60. Please excuse the sound, as this episode was recorded in person before I knew how to interview or set up a sound studio. Oh, how I’ve come a long way, too! A full transcription can be found at www.iamthisage.com
Today is the edited version of my very first episode with Bobbe Greenberg, a multiple Ironman World Champion and marathoner. Bobbe ran her first marathon in her late 40s, and 15 years later, she entered her first triathlon before knowing how to swim. Come along as Bobbe takes us through her journey from casual runner to world champion athlete, all completed over the age of 40 and most over the age of 60.
Please excuse the sound, as this episode was recorded in person before I knew how to interview or set up a sound studio. Oh, how I’ve come a long way, too!
A full transcription can be found at www.iamthisage.com.
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Do you ever feel like you missed your chance to be really strong at something? Maybe if you had started earlier in life you could have been good at that thing, but now you're older and it feels 📍 too late? Well think again, dear listeners
Welcome to I Am This Age, the podcast proving it's never too late, you're never too old, so go do that thing you're always talking about.
I'm Molly Sider, a certified professional life coach, inspirational speaker, storyteller, and your host. My guest today ran her first marathon in her late 40s and 15 years later learned to swim after her first mini triathlon. Now in her mid 70s, she's completed 14
📍 Ironmans, two of which were in Kona, where she became the world champion in her age group.
She holds seven total world championships, and she's completed 20 marathons. All of this was over the age of 40, but most was over the age of 60. In 2021, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung 📍 cancer, and when I first reached out to see how she was feeling, she sent me the following note. I learned of my diagnosis the day before I was leaving for a race, and there was no way I was going to allow such nonsense to spoil my trip.
A weekend with my training buddies was the perfect distraction, and racing with my friends only proved how alive I was. Humble brag, 📍 I won. Of course she did. . After her diagnosis, she participated and won 11 triathlons in 2022, and was ranked number one in the nation in her age group by USA Triathlon.
What's even more impressive is her humble attitude and the kindest soul around. In 2019, she bravely agreed to be 📍 my very first guest, which we recorded in person, before I knew anything about being a good interviewer.
This is that interview, edited way down. Before we get started, if you love these episodes, please subscribe, rate, and review, and don't forget to send the show to people you think may also benefit. The more we grow, the better. The more we can help you grow. 📍 Okay. Without further ado, please enjoy again, Bobby Greenberg.
📍
Hi, my name is Bobbi Greenberg. I'm 72 years old, and I'm the current age group Ironman World Champion. I haven't seen you, I think, since I was in high school, maybe? Maybe. Um. You look the same.
Thank you. I think you look the same, too. Thank you.
I know Bobbie because I went to school with her younger daughter, Juliette. Juliette and I grew up around the corner from each other, and our families were friendly. I didn't know them well, but well enough to know that there was something special about that family. So when Bobbie agreed to be my very first interviewee, I felt honored, and as you can hear from my voice, quite nervous.
Can you just briefly explain what it means to be an Ironman world champion?
Yes. What is that? Okay, so, an Ironman is a triathlon. Triathlon is usually... Swim, bike, run, and you can do a triathlon in numerous distances, so there's usually, there could be a super sprint, there can be indoor ones there's olympic distance, which is sometimes called the international distance until it became an actual olympic race, and then the next distance is sometimes called a half, and often called a 70.
3. And then a full distance Ironman is an Ironman distance, it's actually a brand name, but it's also the name of the distance, and it's 140. 6 miles. Um, so an Ironman would be a 2. 4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike, followed by a full marathon, which is 26. 2 miles. Whew. For a run. And in order to be the world champion, you, uh, need to either win or come in, if not first, maybe second, sometimes it could go as deep as third, not in my age group, but in larger age groups, at other Ironman distance races, and they're throughout the world, I think that there's Over 40, maybe 41 Ironman races now.
Oh wow. And so you have to win one of those or come in at the very top if there's several hundred in your age group. And then that, um, entitles you to go to Kona, Hawaii for the World Championship. And I've been to the World Championship other times. This was, this past October was my sixth time. It was a big age group for my age group, and I ended up, surprisingly, shockingly to myself, winning that race, which, gives me that title of Ironman World Champion. How many people were... So there were 13 in my age group, which is the deepest that it's ever been. Wow. . It significantly drops off after 60, 65, and then 70 becomes tiny.
And there's only been two women that have ever done it in the 75 year old age group. Wow. Ever. Amazing. And it's 40 years old, the race. So, started in 1978. That's incredible. Congratulations. Thank you.
Let's back up all the way to when Bobby first started running in her forties. I had a girlfriend that lived maybe a half mile from me. And so I would get on the, on the school bus with Juliet, and she got on the bus. And then two stops later, I would get off the bus, before they dropped her off, on their pickup of other kids.
While they were picking up, that's where I would meet my girlfriend. Now, we were going to run, so you would think I would just run there instead. But, I did that, I don't know why, and it's like, cuckoo when I think of it now, because they would never, I don't think they would ever allow a parent to just ride the bus like that.
But, it seemed perfectly normal at the time. And then I would meet my friend, and then, and then other friends too, and we lived by a trail near our house that... is crushed limestone, so it's a real nice surface for running on, and during the summer it's very shaded, and during the winter it still has, like, it's not fully exposed, and you can kind of think that you're anywhere when you're on it, and it was a nice way to start the day, and I, I enjoyed the elements.
Winter, you know, even when it was really cold or snowing, there was something about the Chicago Four Seasons and the serendipitous. Nature of our weather that speaks to me and that I even on a on a snowy end of April day like today I'm on what should be a spring day and was what's 75 last weekend. Yes, and today it's snowing
So Bobby was just a casual runner, but then one day she did something spontaneous that would give her a taste of an athletic career soon to come. we're probably running four or five miles a day, and it was just, That's how we started our day and I was, must have been faster at the time and so it didn't take that long and there was a pretty large group, maybe a dozen total, but not every day, but a large enough group that you could be talking to anybody which is probably what attracted me the most.
And so a friend was doing the marathon, I remember some, some of the people in the group said that they were going to do a marathon and I thought, well that's crazy, that's like such a long distance and. And they were actually training for it, and I, running 16 miles, and I'd never run that long. I had done maybe one or two half marathons months before, like, and I thought well that's crazy, those long distances without getting credit for it.
Clearly part of Bobby's charm is her competitiveness, in my opinion. Anyway, moving on.
But in any event, I said I was going into the city, probably with the girls, and she asked me if I would pick up her packet. For the Chicago Marathon. It was a Friday and the marathon was Sunday. And while I was there I got caught up in the whole spirit and signed up and thought, well I'm going to do it. I had no preconceived ideas of how that would work.
But I thought, well this is fun. You know, just going into it and see what happens. And every mile after mile 13 was a PR. It was a personal best for me. You know, personal record. So, it was like Each thing, each time at 14, I, I've never run 14 before, oh, I've never run 16, and then as it got to later miles, I remember hearing what people had said about hitting the wall at 20, and I'm at, I'm at 20, and I'm not hitting a wall, or someone running by would say, oh, their feet are bothering them, or their shoes, and I'd be like, I love my shoes, and so each thing just was like a positive yay for me, and all of a sudden I was at the finish line, and that's incredible. Going into it, did you think like, oh I'll sign up and like maybe I'll finish it or maybe I'll just run half of it or maybe I'll like run to mile 19 and like I don't ever, I don't know that I thought that far in advance, um, probably knowing me, I didn't think that I wouldn't finish.
I tend to have this inflated idea about what I'm able to do it was a day that was kind of a misty, light rain, and I brought an old sweatshirt that I thought I'll throw away. It had bleach stains on it, and then at the start of the race, I didn't throw it away, because I thought, well, I might want it when I'm walking later. And I, I remember thinking, or hearing that five hours was a, a good time or an okay time and so that was kind of in the back of my mind and I didn't, I didn't wear a watch or really pay attention to time but I ended up in the picture doing it in four hours and 15 minutes.
Wow, that's incredible. Yeah, so that was like I was. And you didn't even train for it. And I didn't even train for it which. Also prevented me from doing another one, because I thought, well, if I do another one, I'm going to have to train, and I know what that would be like, and I could never have a better experience, never, because from mile 13 on, or 14, every mile was Yay, me!
You know?
It wasn't until about 15 years later, when Bobby began training for the Ironman, that she would run another marathon. She did eventually run many, including three consecutive Boston marathons, but her reason to start training for another race and her first experience at a mini triathlon might both surprise you.
in my late fifties, I caught my reflection in a store window, and I was appalled by my posture. I remember looking at that and thinking, wow, like, I was shocked by it. And I joined a gym and so I went there and I, I recall specifically where they have you fill out something or ask you why you joined, for to lose weight, for fitness, for to have goals, and I remember posture was my main reason.
And so when I joined that gym, I started taking spin classes, which were just being invented, or they became the rage. And one of the instructors in this spin class had this sense of community that she established in the classroom and announced that they were having an indoor triathlon. And an indoor triathlon is usually a 10 minute swim, a 20 minute bike, and a 15 minute run.
And you do it On indoor equipment, in a swimming pool, an indoor pool, and on a stationary bike, and then on a treadmill, unless there's a track available too, I don't know. But, I thought, well, that sounds reasonable. And, um, the pool was way steep, so I thought, I'm just going to run back and forth in the pool because I really did not know how to swim.
And so I signed up because she was getting all the people in the class to sign up, or so I thought. And then as the time grew, it was maybe six weeks away, but as the time grew closer, I thought I should know how to swim, I'm, I'm going to embarrass myself if I'm running back and forth in the pool. And so I signed up for.
What's called Total Immersion, and it's a workshop, and they happen to have a weekend workshop in Chicago. And so I signed up for that. And I was so ignorant that I thought, How hard can it be to learn how to swim? And I wasn't afraid of water. On vacations I'd play with the kids in pools or oceans or, you know, splash around.
I could do the side stroke, but I didn't know how to actually swim laps. And it's still a challenge, but I signed up for the workshop to learn how to swim. Thinking I'd be, again, my inflated idea, Oh, I'll be great at this because I'm learning as an adult. I'll do just what they say, and I'll be a fantastic swimmer.
Little did I know how technical it was, but it gave me the courage to get in the water. And I actually had to take a private lesson even after this workshop to learn how to push off. The wall, I didn't even know that. So for the contest, for the indoor triathlon, I pushed off and I'd go stroke, stroke, stroke, glide, stroke, stroke, stroke, glide, till I got to the other side, and then I'd put my feet down, turn around, and then push off again, and go stroke, stroke, glide, and I'm sure the person who was counting for me was horrified at what, what I was doing there.
But I did it for ten minutes. And then got on the stationary bike and rode hard, hard, hard for my 20 minutes and then I got on the treadmill and, like, really pushed myself as hard as I could and there were three women that signed up for it. One was 20 years younger than me and the other one was 20 years younger than her, even, whatever.
But out of those three women, I won. Of course you did. And that's, that's all that needed to, for me. It was like, oh, well now I'm going to do a real triathlon. And so then I signed up for a sprint, that was an outdoor. So the sprint one was somewhere between 400 and 500 yards of a swim, I think. And then the bike was about 12 miles.
And then the run was a 5K, 3. 1 mile. And it was probably one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me. I couldn't sleep for weeks ahead of time. I was so excited about it and couldn't wait for it to happen. And I was going to do a real triathlon and I was going to be a real triathlete.
And I did it,
and then at the end of the race, so I was finished at, I think the race started at 7, so I was finished maybe 8, 30 or something. I called my husband who was on the golf course with his friends, and he's like talking to me, but he's trying to play golf, and he told his friends what happened and they started yelling at him and saying that he was a terrible husband.
He should have been there with me. Did you feel that way? Were you mad at him? No, but it was, but I did finish and felt like, oh, like, like, I'm all alone here, you know, but it was. It's fun. And then I did another one in Chicago that was at the end of the summer. In the same size? An Olympic distance. Oh, that's the distance I had.
So Olympic distance is a one and a half kilometer swim, which is almost a mile. And then a 40k bike, which is almost 25 miles. And then a 10k, which is 6. 2 miles. That's the Olympic distance. And by this point, were you a better swimmer? I never, I was very foolish in retrospect that each time it was the longest swim.
You know, I wasn't a good swimmer and still wasn't a good swimmer, but a total immersion did teach me to swim.
Stress free, and I was, I never had any anxiety about the swim at all. I was just slow. What does that mean? I mean, how do you do that? So, it'll be like if you said, well, I couldn't do a marathon, and I'd say, well, if you walked it, you could do it. And you'd be like, you're right, I think that I could, even though it might take me however many hours, eight hours or whatever, but you could do it.
So I think that's how I approach the swim. I'm totally relaxed in the water, and just going at my own speed, la la la la la. It's kind of a good way to just get through life. And wear, yes, and wearing a wetsuit. So I'm, I still have terrible body position by any standards. If you watch, I have a friend that watched me yesterday and she said, It looks like you're vertical in the water instead of horizontal.
It's true. So I do not have good body position, but in a wetsuit I'm a entirely different swimmer. I remember when I did a triathlon, people literally, like, swim over you.
Yes. Now, doesn't bother me at all. In fact, the first I think it was either the first triathlon that I did with my friends or the first swim race. I'm in lane one, and still I'm a lane one swimmer, which is like the loser lane. It's for people who have been injured or are elderly or for whatever reason, and I'm still in that lane.
I've never mastered getting out of that lane. But when I did a race, I was wearing a wetsuit. And a wetsuit for me makes me... 20 minutes faster in the water, for sure, for a now your man distance, and Even more than that. 20 seconds per hundred for people who were swimmers, but it's significant. Yeah.
And so the first race that I did in this wetsuit, I got out of the water and like, when people looked at my statistics after it, they were like, was she cheating? Like, how, how could that be? Because I was at the same pace as people who were in two, three lanes away from me in the water. But that's the advantage that I get with a wetsuit.
But you can't wear one in Hawaii. Oh, you can't? No. You're not allowed to. So how do you get through that? So, in that one you do have more buoyancy because it's salt water. Oh, right. So, that gives me a little bit of an advantage there. But like, how much really? I mean... Enough. Enough that, yeah, that I'm able to...
You know, there's also cut off times, which I didn't mention, but you have to be out of the water in two hours and twenty minutes. That's how much they give you for an Ironman distance. And if you're not, that's it. Your race is over. So, I have a... And a friend who, he did Ironman Wisconsin, he's a fabulous cyclist and a really good Boston marathoner.
But he didn't make the cutoff, and his whole family had flown in, and they were staying at a hotel, and he didn't make the cutoff for the swim, and that's it. They take your timing chip away, and your race is done. Has that ever happened to you? That's never happened to me. What do you think you would do if it did happen?
I wouldn't, I wouldn't allow it. I'd like arch my way out of it, or I don't know what, I'd put a wig on, a mask, and just go. I don't know, I can't even, I can't even go there. I've never. Was he pretty devastated? He was. And anybody would be. You train all year. But I have another friend who the same thing happened to her and she went back the next year and she just worked hard around her swim and made the cutoff and she's done five, seven Ironman since then.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Right. That's what they say.
So while Bobbi was becoming this triathlete, she was also working full time as a teacher, part of that story you can hear in the original episode. So how did she stay motivated? Well, by taking lots of classes before school, after school, on the weekends, and over her summer break. But what was she learning from all this training? The thing that I learned about myself is that I need to join other people.
I can't do things by myself. And I loved it. And I loved so many things about it that it brought to my life that I hadn't realized were missing.
Like. Like. Like. I. I. We live a mile from the lake, and I realized, wow, I, like how many summers have gone by that I have not been to the lake, that I didn't even go there, I hadn't even been in a bathing suit for a couple of years.
And then the other thing that I loved about it was it gave me a new sense of who I was at my age. Because women my age don't like to tell their age. And In triathlon, your, your age is printed there publicly for everybody to see every time that you're in a race because you're running with age, with your, with age groups and you're proud that you're doing whatever you're doing at whatever age you're doing and happy to be older and hopefully have less competition.
So, that, that was the other thing that spoke to me. And then more important was the idea of body image and what you look like. And so, Our triathlon starts out in the water, you're in a bathing suit or a tri suit, and that's how you are at midnight when the race ends as well, or whenever the race is over for you.
So you're that way the whole day, without any makeup, without combing your hair, and I mean maybe I've taken it to extreme, my husband thinks I've gone to extreme, which is like walking around, oh my hair's wet, no makeup, but I love what that gave me about who I was and who I had to. Try to look like or be or whatever and it's like, yeah, this is what, this is what my body looks like.
This is what a 72 year old face looks like and it was very freeing. Very freeing. Yeah. And just being proud of my age and happy that I'm able to do what I'm able to, able to do. but it's, a lot has to do with luck. Yes, but you also work very hard. I do. I do. But I'm also very, very lucky.
You have to qualify to do an Ironman, all Ironmans. Can anyone guess how many tries it took for Bobby to qualify for her first one?
If you said one try, you'd be right, but you probably couldn't guess what happened just before that first race.
Uh, so on my first Ironman, I know, I know, and it's, it was, it was funny because, actually my first Ironman that I signed up for was for 2004.
And where was it? It. Madison, Wisconsin. I signed up for that and then we would train up in Wisconsin because Wisconsin is very hilly.
Uh, or the Ironman course is very hilly. It's considered one of the harder ones on the Ironman circuit. And I wasn't a good climber even, but whatever we were training on it two or three weeks before the race. It was our last big ride and, I crashed and broke my collarbone. I was showing off. It was my fault.
I couldn't, I have a hard time keeping up with all of my, my young friends on the climbs, but I'm fearless on the downhills. So on the descents, I'd be showing off and going, we look at me and passing them one by one, passing, passing until I got to the bottom of the hill. And I have one friend left to pass.
And I look up and a car is coming in the lane that I'm in, which isn't my lane because I was trying to pass her. Right. And I look up and see the car and I just ditch my bike over to the left to avoid hitting him or he, him hitting me. And um, got off my bike and we, we happened to be with a guy that was a plastic surgeon and two nurses that were all on our ride with us.
Thank goodness. And they knew immediately, like he felt my shoulder and he was like, oh, this is a broken collarbone for sure. And my bike was brand new. I had just had it for a couple of weeks and I hadn't even had the credit card statement yet. That's how new the bike was. But the race was in three weeks and so I couldn't do the race.
So I signed up for the next year. So 2005 was my first year. It was the week I turned 59. I ended up, it was 90 degrees. They called it Carnage Man because they had such a high dropout rate. They had over 20 percent that dropped out of the race because it was so hot.. But, in any event, I ended up winning, and... Wow. I wasn't sure that I was even going to take it to the, the SLAC for Kona the next day because you have to sign up, you have to sign up the next day. Oh wow. And they had all kinds of rules, like you had to pay in cash and you had to be there at 10 o'clock in the morning.
Get your spot, otherwise it rolls down to other people. And we were all sitting around, my whole family came in for the race. In fact, the year before, when I broke my collarbone, I called up the girls, because they were living in California, to say, I'm not doing the race, it's in a couple of weeks. I, like, got teary and stuff.
You know, felt like crying that I disappointed them and they were like, Oh, did you think we were coming in for your race? No, we're still coming in, you know. And so they came in and we all went up there and watched the race. And it was super fun. I was afraid that watching my friends, I trained the entire year for it, that I'd feel...
It was sad that I wasn't participating and I didn't at all. I was like looking at their eyes in the morning and they all were like deers in headlight being so scared and I was like, oh this is fun. I could just walk around and have fun the whole day and not sweat and push myself. So it wasn't bad and then a year later they came back again and my whole family was there and it was after the race was over.
You have to be done by midnight. That's the cut off for everybody in the race. It starts at what time? 7 in the morning. Okay. Okay. Okay. And, uh, I, but I was done in, I think, under 15 hours, maybe it was under 16 hours, I don't remember now, but we were just sitting around and, um, my son in law went to find out, like, where I came in and I asked.
It's, you know, I didn't know where, what it would be and he came back and said, you won. And I was shocked, shocked that I had won that and, but my girls were like, you don't have to do it just because you won doesn't mean you really have to take it. You could always just, yeah, I won and I could have. You know, taking that slot to Kona, but I think that they would call home and my husband would be answering the phone and he'd say, I don't know where mom is, she left at six in the morning.
I don't know where she, where she is. And there was definitely a little bit of a shift in our marriage at that time because I was, even though I was teaching, I was still cooking dinners and being, yeah, doing whatever, whatever the role was that I thought that wives had at that time. And all of a sudden I abandoned that and went off in search of my athleticism.
And so I think that that was, a little bit of a learning experience for both of us. And so I wondered, maybe I shouldn't. And it did seem like it was taking up a lot of time and maybe I don't need to do that. Did you feel like? The girls were also a little bit worried. Yeah, and they were also saying how you don't need to.
Right. Like it's, you did it. That was the accomplishment. You won and you could have gone. And so, and I also felt like I trained with a very good friend of mine who I have great respect for and I still ran with her this morning. That week she was wearing a lay around her neck and she'd answer the phone Lohan, and, you know, it was her second time doing it.
Mm-Hmm. . And so I kind of thought that she was gonna be doing better than me in the race. We all, we all thought it. And so I knew that if I didn't take it, that she would, and, you know, maybe that would be a good thing and let her, she had a strong work ethic and so. Oh. 'cause only one of you guys could take it.
Oh, there was only one shot ever. One slot. Got it. In any, in any of the races. Oh. So, and then that morning, when it came time you had to decide if you wanted to take it or not, I had a friend that just was relentless. She was just standing in my face and saying, Are you nuts? What are you doing? Are you crazy?
Do you know how many people try to get this? And just to give you an idea how this Kona, to do Kona is, eBay has They put five slots on eBay to, for charity, the Iron Man organization, and the bidding starts at 20, 000 for the opportunity to raise Kona. Now it is for charity and people raise money for the charity, but the bidding starts at 20, 000 and they usually go for like 40, 000, 50, 000 to get that slot.
So what I was saying no to, not that I could sell it, you know, you can't, but it just It has this, in my tiny little Iron Man world of like 0 percent of the people who even know what it is, it's a big deal. And so she, this friend kept saying, are you crazy? I can't believe you're not taking it. When I went in, they give you a certificate, and it was signed by this lady called Paula Newby Frazier, who was a six time Iron Man winner, overall winner, very famous, in the Hall of Famer for Iron Man.
Again, it's like you have to know this Iron Man lore. But, as she was signing my certificate, and she was saying, aren't you excited about going to Kona? I said, I don't know, I think I'm going to let the slot roll to my friend, because she really works hard, and she, I train with her every day. And so then she said to me, she looked at me like I was cuckoo and said, Oh, you know what?
That's such a good idea. When I go home, I'm going to start writing checks to all my friends that I train with of all the winnings that I've gotten because they all work really hard and I want to honor that too. And when I heard her say that, I saw, that sounds Silly. I don't know, but whatever, I did take it and then was so happy that I did because the whole year people were like, Oh, you're going to Kona.
That's like magic words. Yeah. Whoa, you're a big deal. It is a big deal. I mean, I've watched, it's not, I've watched the Iron Man Hawaii on TV for years. I cry every time. It's a big deal.
Did your family go with you? Yes. Okay. So, the first year everybody went. Lizzie had just gotten engaged. And then Juliette got engaged in Hawaii. She was, they went to Kauai first. And Brian told us that he was, you know, this was going to happen.
But they did it. That's so cool. It was. It was so cool, and they had shirts that were a riot, that
were like, they were on my team, but the Iron Mom team, and each of them had a saying on the back that was adorable, like one of my son in laws said, when you say, when I say Iron Mom, I'm not talking about a pressed shirt. And my husband said, I want my wife back. Something like that.
That's so cute. Yeah, it was really cute, and Juliette, I think, said, half my genes are from, you know, my mom, or my mom can beat your mom, or whatever, I don't know, something. It was cute. It was really cute. That must have made you feel really good. Sure, Bobby is competitive and confident, but she is also humble and is sometimes humbled, as demonstrated in her first Kona Ironman swim.
We were standing on the pier We're ready to get into the water and as we're like about to go into it and it's like you see this yacht that's, you know, you swim out a hundred, a mile point two and then turn around a yacht and then come back.
And so, you know, you're looking at that, it looks pretty daunting. And Elizabeth said to me, you know what, if you're not feeling it, just say it. Stop and we're like, we're going to be here all day. We're going to go snorkeling and fishing, you know, whatever, swimming, you're not feeling it like no big deal.
Just come back and hang out with us. And Juliet looks at her and looks at me and she said, you do not listen to her. You came here for a purpose and you get out there and you do what you came here to do. And the whole time I was swimming, I just kept thinking of how it kind of showed the difference in their personalities as much as they're such good friends.
It really, it, it, it highlighted that difference and it was so amusing to me. So while I was swimming, and remember that was my weak point and not knowing about being in the ocean without a wetsuit, at the turnaround, I looked at the time. And it was only 45 minutes, which means an hour and a half, you get two hours and 20 minutes.
Wow. So when I got to the turnaround in 45 minutes, I was like beyond ecstatic, like, Oh my God, you're awesome. You're a rock star. You're fabulous. Wow. This is, you got this. You're amazing. I was like bowing down to myself while I'm swimming along and I make the turn and then I start going back and. I'm not moving.
I'm not moving. It's like I was on a treadmill and I'm looking and I'm seeing the same fauna underneath me and I'm like, Oh my God, you're such a loser. You're, you don't got this at all. You don't, you're not going to make it. You're not going to make the cutoff. And was, what am I going to say to my family?
And they all came here and this was like terrible. And looking at the clock and looking, wondering what it's going to be on my watch. And on land, they're doing the same thing. When it got to close to two hours, they were like, What are we going to do? What are we going to say to her? What are we going to do?
Right. But I finished in two hours and like a minute. So, I still had, actually I still had extra time. And did you have like, like, Juliet's like, you know, encouragement on one, on one ear and Liz's on the other? I did, no, I never thought of not. That, that would never have occurred to me, it never has, but, I was, You've never, you've never like, had a moment within any of these races where you're like, I think I don't want to do this anymore?
No. Never. Wow. Mm hmm. What about after? No. Do you ever? The only time I think that it's a dumb idea is the night before, where I'm like getting up at four in the morning or five in the morning, I'm like, this is so stupid, I could just be sleeping. Why, why did I ever think this was a good idea? That's it.
You became the Ironman World Champion, how did you find out that you were the Ironman World Champion, or do you know right when you cross the finish line?
I had a bunch of, I'm on a team, and there were a bunch of teammates that were there as well, and you're also given a number, your bib number, and in Kona, in most races, it's according to your age, but not always. So I knew the people who were between 180 and 199 or 193 or whatever it was, were in my age group.
sO I did the swim and came out of the swim and I saw my time. They have a big clock as you get out of the swim and I was like, loving, it was a really good time for me. What was the time? 137. Wow. So for Kona, like 130 is what I usually do in a wetsuit. So 137 was. It was really good for me, and I was very happy about that.
And then I got on the bike, and that can be a struggle. It's usually very, very hot, and very humid, and very windy. And this year, it wasn't. It was, like, the ideal weather, and all kinds of records were broken, actually, for the pros. But while I was on the bike and like not struggling as hard as I expected to, I was kind of giggling to myself and then it was like, okay, I'm at halfway mark and then I'm coming back down and where's the wind?
Like I've been there where I'm going downhill at nine miles an hour, which is super slow because the wind was so, is so impactful, but it wasn't, it wasn't an issue that day. So I was. I couldn't stop smiling because I was so happy with how I felt and felt strong and having an easy, easy if you can say easy, doing 112 miles in the heat.
So I was enjoying it and, uh, but as I got off the bike and you run through transition, they shout your number and they give you your bag that has your stuff, your running shoes in it. And I heard the number like I was 190 and then I heard them say 192 or 193 or something so I knew that. Another person of my age who was right on my heels because I heard her name, her number.
But anyway, I got on, I got my shoes and I started running and then I, on my first mile out, I see a woman coming towards me, which means she had already done a four mile loop or five mile loop. Okay. And she was coming back the other way and I saw that her number was 190. Two, or whatever her number was.
Actually it was 195, or 180, maybe it was in the 180s. Whatever the number was. It was 185 actually now that I'm remembering correctly. Because I remember looking at that and thinking, Wow, like, she is really far ahead of me. Like five, six miles, whatever that loop was. Right. And she's in, like, that's amazing, that's crazy, and thinking, and then, like, being impressed, and like, wow, that's really good, that she's so far ahead, good for her, and like, I'm so impressed that there's someone my age that's killing it out there and doing so well, and, you know, excited that she was, like, a real athlete.
And so, as, as that went by, as she went by, I knew, and I also felt a little relief, like I'm not trying to keep up with her, there's no way I can make up that time, and so it's kind of good that I already saw that, because now I'm not chasing something that will not be a reality. Right. So, I'm just in the race, and at some point, one of my teammates said, you're in second place.
And I was like. I don't think so, you know, that couldn't be because I had already looked at the field and knew that it was the largest field, 13 people, and had calculated all of them had, had won a race somewhere else in order to be there, and probably 9 of them, 10 of them had already been to Kona before too.
So they were all people that had already won races and had been to Kona and I had run with them in Kona even. So, I looked at it and looked at what their stats were compared to mine and was hoping that maybe I could come in seventh, being realistic, and anything could happen that day. So, when the person said that I was second, I was like, no, they can't be because I had seen someone pass me on the bike that I knew had beaten me at another race. And then I, this other lady who I didn't know, but saw her number was so far ahead of me. So I thought that person was wrong, but in any event, I just started doing the race.
And then as I'm running alongside of me, another woman comes and I look at her number and she's in my age group. And I'm like, Oh, hi, you know, where are you from? She was from Australia and we had this conversation. We're running along, and then I felt like I was trying to keep her pace, and it wasn't really my pace.
Mm hmm. I also had to make a little washroom stop. It was a faster pace, or? She was, she was going a little faster than I wanted to go. Okay. Not considerably, but I thought this isn't, I'm not running my pace. Okay. Whatever it is, I'm not feeling totally comfortable, and I have to go to the bathroom. Okay. So I said, bye!
I'm gonna let you go ahead, and good luck to you, and, but still felt good that I was That this person said I was sort of in the lead and so now it was like, now maybe I'll be third or fourth. And that's fine too, because I was aiming for fifth. So then I just kept running. That happened at maybe mile nine and then maybe mile sixteen or something started raining, but it felt great.
As I'm going by in the rain, I saw this woman at the aid station that I had said, go ahead. And so I thought, you don't have to say hello to her. You can just go now. You don't need to stop and say hello again and let her know you're going to pass her off. How hard was that to not say? For me, it's very hard because I'm always like.
Chatty Kathy. And like wanting to make sure everyone's okay. Yeah, and hi. Oh, isn't this fun? We're doing this together. And so I passed her and just kept going and every once in a while I'd stop and turn around and see, is there anyone coming on my heels and I couldn't see anyone. I'd see someone in the distance.
Is that a man? Is it a woman? But so far away that you couldn't see. And looking ahead, I didn't see anyone either. So I just kept running, running, you know, doing my run. And then. At mile 25, the Race is 26. 2 miles. So at mile 25, you're going downhill and you can hear the finish line and you're so close. But they detour you off, to the left and the right before they let you go back to the actual real finish line.
They have you do like a little mile. You're going down this hill and you're within probably an eighth of a mile of the finish line, but they have you do this like mile point two loop. So as I'm going, I'm going up this little part at mile 25, there's a timing mat. And as I'm going by that, I look to the right and see that woman that I saw in the beginning of the race that was so far ahead of me.
I later learned that she was 30 minutes ahead of me. She was 15 minutes faster on the swim, and 15 minutes faster on the bike. So she had a 30 minute lead, and I see that I'm passing her. She was still in the race? She was still in the race. She just had slowed down? She had slowed down, I don't know if it was an aid station that she was at, or how I got a look at her number, but somehow I saw it, and I just said, you are not slowing down now, you're not going to stop and turn around, you're not going to look to see anything, you are going to go as fast as you can.
Or die. Like you have a choice now. You can just, it doesn't matter. Anything else. And that's what I did. I ran as fast as I could, at, at that time and didn't look back and just kept going and going and going. And then, in the finish line, like I'm already in the finish or shoot, but haven't reached the finish line, there's maybe 50 feet ahead of me, I feel a woman push past me and go ahead.
And I thought, and I caught a number, like I think this woman was 850 or something, and this was 580, but I don't know, I saw the 8 and the 5, and I knew what her number had, a 5 and an 8, anyway, she pushed past me and I went, there wasn't enough room for me to pick up speed to even try and keep up with her.
And I thought, That's it. She, she just won the race. And I thought, well, good for her. That was smart of her. She stayed right behind me. And then at the last minute when there wasn't even time for me to understand what was happening. And she went by me and finished, but of course it wasn't her because, one, so.
Oh my gosh. So, wait, so you think you lost the race at the last minute, and, um. Well even, so I didn't know that I had won even. I didn't know how many people were ahead, but I knew that this one woman that I was trying to beat, and thought that I had gotten ahead of, and was so excited, you know, meet me in the finish line.
And so then, as soon as I came to the finish line, this. A guy that's a friend of mine who had actually had us to dinner the night before, and he's a big wig with the USA triathlon. , he said to me, you won. And I was like, no, I didn't. And I'm arguing with him. He said, well, no, it says that you won. Like, I'm looking at my phone here, and they have this overhead, you're on a big jumbotron.
Right. As you're coming in, and he said, no, I'm pretty, it says here that you won. And I just, I was like, no, I think, you know. And you just didn't believe him. I just didn't believe it. And so, You know, maybe 20 minutes have passed or a half an hour and he comes along and he says, okay, I have the evidence here. Shows the person that came in right ahead of you is, her number is this. And then when I saw the number, 580 instead of 850 or whatever it was, I was like, don't tell me. Oh, I guess. You got it wrong.
I got it wrong. Or you got it really right. did you cry? No. I think, you know, first I, I, I was sure that he got it wrong, the guy that was saying that I won. That was the first thing. And then I just, I really couldn't accept it.
I just, it was more like this. It, it can't be. Like, how could that be? These are all women that have, that are real athletes, you know, and I'm just a poser. That can't, you know, I'm, that's like nonsense that this could be and, you know, and they, and they make a big deal. Like, they have this awards banquet and thousand, you know, several thousand people are there.
It's this open air thing and a big jumbotron with announcing it, you know, so it's like, wow, I'm actually going to be, I'm going to be like one of those, People, like, never imagining that that could even be a reality. So when did it, like, sink in? When I went up there and got, they give you this, yeah, they give you this, like, wooden, it's a wooden salad bowl, like, they call it a Yumeiki bowl, and the lore is that it, water is life, and these are bowls that people used to bring water to their home, and so that's why they give it to you.
But a girlfriend had a party, though. A couple weeks afterward to celebrate, there were a few of us that, well, this other girl that went to Kona. And so she was having the party for that celebration and she says, bring your bowl, we'll put chips in it. Oh, that's hilarious. We did. That's awesome. That's hilarious.
Did you finally, um, start calling yourself a real athlete? I'm athletic, I'm definitely athletic, and I definitely have the mental part of the game, for sure. And I've always been a decent runner.
So, but it's like, you know, any ride that I do, I'm usually at the back of the pack and swimming. Like I said, I'm still in this first lane, so those kinds of things don't add up in my mind to being a world champion, but. And yet here you are as a world champion. And here I am. I think it's a, I don't think it's a bad trait, necessarily. Yeah. Yeah. Keeps us motivated and moving.
I think it keeps you, yeah, curious and always wanting to learn. Working hard. And I enjoy it. I really, I never look at it as hard work. The training part of it or, and I love racing. I just, 📍 it's, it's fun.
No You're fun, Bobbie.
Goodness, do I love hearing her journey. And as someone who has never run a marathon but has always considered it, well, let's just say I'm still considering it. Maybe I'll start with another half. If you love this episode and want more, go back to listen to episode number two for the full version. If you want some extra support in your midlife journey, please reach out to me via the link in the show notes. We can't do life alone, and thank goodness that we 📍 don't have to. Thank you to Dan Devon for the music, David Harper for the artwork.
I Am This Age is produced by Jellyfish Industries. I'm Molly Sider, your host. See you all next time.