Colin swam competitively as a teenager, but lost interest in sports after high school. At age 37, a fortuitous moment occurred when he had the opportunity to participate in a triathlon to raise money for a charitable organization. After a few races, he realized that running was the sport he enjoyed the most, so he decided to focus on running goals. “I like the headspace running provides. I’m a no music and early dark runner, so I enjoy that it removes me from devices and running in that quiet space/time where there’s only me in the world. The ancillary benefits of running/training are of course also wonderful as I get older,” says Colin. This summer he’s in the heat of training, locked-in and focused on going sub-2:50 at the Berlin Marathon in September. “ Find the sport/activity you like to do first because then you’ll keep doing it. That’s what running became for me.”

Ilana transitioned to triathlons in March of 2020 at age 42 from endurance running and completed her first ever triathlon, a 70.3 Mile IRONMAN at age 43 in extremely adverse circumstances. Several years prior, she had a double mastectomy with reconstruction when she learned she was a carrier of the deadly BRCA1 mutation following the sudden death of her young cousin from ovarian cancer. “Since 2018, I have overhauled my diet, eliminating nearly all corn syrup, ultraprocessed foods, refined sugar, most dairy and red meat. I went from eating out to cooking nearly 95% of all my meals with one ingredient foods. As a result, I lost nearly 40lbs which I continue to sustain today. I slashed my cholesterol by nearly 40% without a single pill and the days of annual sinus infections are behind me. And I am 100% coffee free,” says Ilana. Today, she is proudly joining a select group of athletes from around the world on TEAM IMF to support the mission of the IRONMAN Foundation, as she trains for her first 140.6-mile triathlon scheduled for October 23, 2022, in CA!

“Back in the days before the smartphone and computer, one of the favorite boys’ games at school was Cops & Robbers,” says Sunny. “I always like to be the Robber so that I can run and run and the Cop will never be able to catch me because I believe I can keep running forever!” He may be older now, but Sunny has never lost that childhood exuberance. He runs 7 days per week and gets up at 4:30 am every morning to beat the extreme heat of Malaysian and get his runs in before reaching the office at 8:30 am. He says, “sometimes I hear myself saying, ‘God gave me this fitness, after so many years, I cannot just waste it away’. So that essentially keeps me running day after day, week after week, year after year. I will continue running as long as my body allows.”