NSV: Local Corporate Athletic Competition

Athena53

This is my 11th year of competing; I'm awful at team sports but when I changed jobs at age 50 and moved to this area, my new employer's team was thrilled to find a lady in my age group crazy enough to do the distance events (5K, Mile run, 3 mile bike race, 200 Free swim). I'm a bit of a secret weapon; if you place in the top 3 in your company size class and age group, you rack up a lot of extra points. In this age group the competition really thins out and frequently there are only 3 in your age group/company size class in the event. Five years ago I got talked into the sprint triathlon, so I do that now, too.

Last year I changed employers. Fortunately the new employer is also in the competition. (And it may have helped that, age 59, I could tell them that I was really glad they participated in this contest because here are the events I'll sign up for if I join the company....) They have a wellness program and I got an FT7 because you get extra points for uploading workout data from supported devices. I really think the HRM pushed me to make sure I was working out effectively; I speed up or push harder when my heart rate isn't high enough.

Results so far: Placed 3rd in the 5K in my age group/division (6 points), placed first in the bike race (10 points), and last night placed second in the Mile Run (another 8 points). Now I should mention that I just got into a new age group this year (60-64) so the competition is mostly older, but I looked up my mile times from past years and I ran it almost a minute faster than I did in 2006. (Just under 10 minutes.)

Just goes to show: you can get better at any age!