How did you get started?

I’ve been a serious cyclist since my 20s, a very long time ago. My first triathlon was a sprint at a local YMCA in 2004, and my inspiration came from spectating at the same event the year before.

Several friends participated in 2003 so I was there to cheer them on. After they finished the swim and were out on their bikes I watched the last swimmer emerge from the pool and trudge up the hill to T1. She was a woman, probably in her 30s, and what we might call morbidly obese. Several spectators tried to help as she struggled to mount her recumbent but she waved them off, got on the bike and rolled from the parking lot.

After my friends finished their bike and run stages, the overweight woman racked her bike and set off on a slow but determined walk, totally focused expression on her face.

Nearly everyone finished, powerful athletes stood on the podium for their awards and then people left for home. As I drove away I saw this woman again, swinging her arms, walking back towards the YMCA. Everyone else had left, and there she was, walking. I stopped, lowered my window and tried to yell out some encouragement for her. She just nodded and continued.

It took guts for her to enter this event. Maybe some people ridiculed her, though I didn’t witness that. If In the years since then, if I saw her again at other events I didn’t recognize her.

What do you enjoy most about the sport?

Mostly I enjoy the camaraderie. I consider myself primarily a cyclist even after finishing three full distance Ironman events. I have friends with whom I run, cycle and swim, but most of them are not triathletes. Today I rode my mountain bike with a dear friend and cycling buddy. She and I have been riding together for 16 years.

What are the biggest challenges?

For me the challenges have been the time commitment required and my inherent incompetence at swimming and running. I am now (mostly) retired, but until about a year ago my work in corporate accounting and financial reporting was very demanding of my time. Often I worked seven days a week, through weekends and holidays, for months at a time. Training was done in the early hours when normal people were still in bed. I was a lousy swimmer. I’m a little better now, but not much. In 1986 I tore the cartilage in my right knee. Surgery a year later didn’t really help, and I stopped running for more than 20 years. With improvements in running shoes, however, I’ve found that now I can run relatively pain free. I’m a lot slower than I used to be, but I can do it. Even so, I don’t run more than once a week. I don’t want to do any further damage.

The other challenge is the fact that it takes so much longer to recover from intense workouts and the inevitable injuries.

What are some of your most proud accomplishments?

Although I started doing triathlons at an older age, I’ve always been very active. Over the years I’ve done perhaps 50 or 60 century rides. I’ve ridden in MS charity tours for 34 years and I’ve done the Pan Mass Challenge (a cancer fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston) 21 times. I’ve ridden in Italy, France and Spain, including two climbs of Mont Ventoux. I’ve done three century rides in Death Valley, including one in which I was literally thrown from my bike in the high winds of a sandstorm. In 2008 I rode from San Francisco to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. My goal now is to complete a ride of at least 50 miles in every state. The score right now is 32 down and 18 to go.

What benefits have you gained?

The benefits are good health and clear thinking. I am still in touch with many friends from the days of my wayward youth. Some of them seem so old. Most are doing okay, but some use walkers and more than a few are dead.

I am a proud Scot, born in Elgin, Morayshire in 1955. At private school in England I was non-academic, but a good cross-country steeplechaser, long-distance athlete anything over 1500m, and rugby football and squash player. I was best in the school for my final two years winning the school steeplechase. I could ride a bike and swim. I left school in 1974 and immediately went straight to work unconventionally as all my peers went to a University.

Irrelevant fact, between 1974 – 2015 I never weighed more than 10st ie 140lbs or 65kg.

I then worked more than full time in the Thomas Cook Group (travel agency and foreign exchange money provider) with overseas stints living in Bahrain 2 years till 1980, and Hong Kong 10 years until 1993. I did very little sport apart from some social golf and a couple of half-trained for Marathons in Hong Kong 1983 and Seoul 1986. I left Thomas Cook in 2000 and became a troubleshooting self-employed Programme Director, working in the private equity and venture capital sectors for 20 years, finally retiring in late 2019. My eldest son was born in Bahrain and my younger Hong Kong.

My sons’ mother died in 2005 of cancer. My younger son Andrew who was working for Britvic on the Gatorade brand decided to raise money for cancer charities by running 2006 > morphing into triathlon 2008 > morphing into Ironman 2010 >. I had always watched both sons playing hockey and rugby at school and traveled the country supporting Andrew’s endeavors. After a few FD Ironman’s my new wife and I traveled to Mallorca (Spain) to support Andrew in the grueling 2014 Ironman Mallorca, following him around the island by car where we could and greeting him at the finish line. He PB’d it despite the searing heat.

After returning from this event I wondered if I could perhaps ride a bike and also fundraise alongside Andrew? I was so very proud of his achievements and for such an admirable cause, that when I returned to UK I bought a cheap starter bike with a view to complete a 85 mile bike ride in April 2016 for Sue Ryder hospice as my (new) wife had cancer from 2011 and her sister died of cancer in 2016. I had done a few 10k’s with him too from 2015 onwards and completed the sprint distance London Triathlon in August 2015. The challenge of the triathlon was immense and it shows in this finishing photo.

So why?

It was a combination of raising money, giving something back, being with my son and, having seen so much death, getting myself much fitter and healthier in mid-life for my family. Finally the planning, preparation and training for events.

What do you enjoy most about the sport?

The challenge (at my age), the focussed training and the success/achievement.  Prior to starting, my son made a few conditions – having a full medical check up, getting myself a coach and listening to my body.  I find the combination of the three sports very challenging as I am not an expert in any of them.  They keep me focussed, keep the 6 day a week training different and make me look and feel good (for my age).  Finally, I enjoy the discipline of preparing for an event, knowing I have prepared for it with military precision and have Plans B and C tucked up my sleeve

What if/any challenges did you come across getting started at an older age?

The challenges were both hugely mental and hugely physical.

The physical challenge was most resolved with the help of my Tri coach Phil Murphy of Total Tri Training.  He quickly found out that my discipline (from my program management background) and determination (inherited from my late parents) and the personal support from my wife and sons made for an excellent canvas on which to paint!!  The commitment of time to training was a big ask of my wife, but she could see I was relishing it – even though it took over our holidays in Laguna Beach and Palm Desert where I even hired a bike!!

Mentally it was the fear of failure, listening and learning and self-belief.  My only grandson also now supports me (along with my wife) and this spurs me along.  The mental challenge has been far greater than the physical one.  I have had to trust my body, my coach, and my son – who does every single step with me throughout every event I have undertaken.  Thank you son for giving up all your races so you can finish with me.

4. What benefits have you noticed?

Until Lockdown and event cancellation I was in great shape both mentally and physically.  Since Lockdown I have added some timber, which I will need to shift before any of my forthcoming events I enter/have entered which are postponed.  I feel I am stronger mentally than ever, possibly even moreso than in my glory days as a directorial wage slave. I feel I can achieve what I want to achieve these days.

5. What are your short term/long term goals and what drives you to train?

In the short term I have the Tour of Cambs 100 mile Gran Fondo, the London Triathlon and Enervit Peterborough Marathon booked and paid for.  I would like to do another overseas IM 70.3 with my son soon and my dream is to complete a FD Ironman somewhere – not Wales.  What drives me to train?  Fear of failure, the medal and the achievement plus all I need is an event to train for.  I find it nearly impossible to train without a specific event in my calendar.  The event enables me to project manage my training to perfection.

Any other random thoughts?

It is an expensive hobby for someone in retirement, but I always want to have the best of everything from goggles to sunnies to bikes.  That’s why I have at least two of everything, except bikes of which I now own 4 and am looking at my fifth, a Cervélo P3X.   I have become a huge triathlon brand stalker and ambassador.

Can you please share your journey?

I have been active most of my life starting with high school athletics, playing college basketball and then playing on volleyball, softball and basketball league teams when I graduated from college.  I continued to jog and ride my bike to keep strong and maintain my wellness as well as help with weight management.    Once my kids were teenagers and keeping busy with their own activities, I started to exercise more, daily.  I was invited to join a boot camp class at our local fitness center and was a little concerned that I was the oldest participant in a group of 20-30 young adults.  After my first boot camp class I realized that “I am 45 years old and I can still do this stuff!”  Once I improved my fitness level, I signed up for my first Triathlon, it was a sprint in my hometown of New Hampton, Iowa.  And, since the race was using the outdoor swimming pool they decided to change the order of events from  – swim/bike/run  to  run/bike/swim.   It was a small local race, but I had been bitten by the ‘bug’.

Meanwhile, my brother Jim, who is a year older, played racquetball with a couple guys and they had started running longer races and even started talking about this Ironman Race.  I was still busy with my kids and their events to commit time to train for anything other than a sprint race.  But in 2013, I was 48 years old and I watched my 49 year old brother cross the Ironman –Wisconsin finish line.  I sat at my computer and cried and committed on the spot.  I was going to become an Ironman!

So the training began.  I bought a nicer bike, started watching videos on swimming technique and continued to work out.  I realized that as I got older my muscle mass would disappear if I did not keep training.  I completed my first 70.3 in 2014.  In September 2015, at 50 years old I heard the words “Karen, you are an Ironman!”  I finished the race in about 15 hours, at about 10:00 pm with the music blaring and the spot light on you and all the wonderful Madison, WI supporters cheering me on.

My brother is my #1 fan and we race together as often as our schedules allows.  We usually get together in December each year and plan our race schedule for the upcoming season.  To date, Jim has completed IM-Wisconsin in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and IM-Mt Tremblant in 2019.  We keep each other motivated and reminder each other that we are ‘able’ to do this, stop complaining and whining and put in the work, we will feel better and stronger.

Our plans in 2020 consisted of a May sprint, late May Olympic race, a June 70.3 and in August a full 140.6 in Mt Treblant, Canada and in September a 140.6 at IM-WI in Madison.  Unfortunately, the sprint and Olympic have been postponed to the Fall, Canada has been cancelled and we are still in limbo with the 70.3 and the Madison 140.6.

What do you enjoy most about the sport? 

I love the competition that I have to try and continually improve against my own race times.  I think about racing more than just about anything else.  I guarantee the months before my first IM race, I thought of nothing else besides training, nutrition, scheduling conflicts with training, reading books about the mental aspect of competing, etc.  It consumed all my energy.  Now, over 5 years later, it still is front and center on my schedule and my day to day living includes how to stay healthy and injury free.

What challenges have you encountered?

I would say the cost was the biggest issue.  But, I don’t drink alcohol, go on shopping sprees, don’t smoke.  So, I really focused my extra cash on racing equipment and fees.  I live a rural area where I do most of my training by myself.  I can ride on rural county roads for miles and miles and not encounter a lot of traffic.  But, I still have to be cautious about vehicular traffic.  I run on our high school track and lift weights at my fitness center.  I have all the tools at my fingertips to stay fit, and for that, I am very grateful.

What benefits have you noticed? 

I guess the best ways to answer this is: What would my health status be if I did NOT do this?  I would certainly be overweight, possibly heart disease, not sure what else.  I did have 2 bouts with breast cancer in 2012 and 2013 and recovered from them.  Working out during my treatments and surgeries helped keep me sane!

What are your long term goals?

I want to continue to be strong and healthy.  I want to be able to run around with grandchildren someday.  I may possibly want to try and get to Kona for the World Championships via the Legacy Plan.  I only have 3 races done, but I have the rest of my life to keep working hard and surprising myself what this body can do.  So, who knows, maybe I will purchase an airline ticket to Hawaii and pack my tri-gear.  Above all, just want to stay healthy and try to stay out of hospitals.

Congratulations on your achievements Karen and thank you for inspiring us!