Name: Cheryl Palen
How old are you?: 66
Where do you live?: Green Valley, Az
Instagram Handle: theyearofbeing66
When did you get started in sports?
I started a girls track/cross country team (with a few of my friends) in 1971 when we were in High School. Recreational running led to 10ks, marathons, ultras and then triathlons (training for number 143 right now!)
What do you enjoy most about it? Do you have an accomplishment that you’re most proud of?
Mastering mountain biking at age 50 and recently qualifying for Xterra Off Road World Championships in Maui this year….if it happens. Lately I feel accomplished if I can still, after almost 49 years of running, get my butt out of bed at 4 a.m. and get in a good tempo 6 miler!
Have you experienced any challenges or obstacles as an older athlete?
No…I still love every minute of training and racing.
What drives you? What keeps you going?
That feeling of being out there watching the sun come up, catching an owl’s hoot at dawn, being serenaded by coyotes as they chase down a rabbit, and that feeling of strong after a good, hilly 30 miles on the mountain or road bike.
What’s next? Do you have any short term or long term goals?
I will continue to race if they happen. Keeping World Championships (Xterra) in the back of my mind and hitting those training goals week by week as if it was gonna happen. Then maybe it will! 🙂
Any other comments?
As much as I love triathlon and mountain biking, nothing compares to raising a competent, strong daughter who is currently on the “front lines” helping throw away children with behavioral issues and their adult counterparts with strategies to employ. Also loving my own career as a speech and language therapist, working with children on the autism spectrum, for the last 41 years.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Am I resilient, relentless and strong because of my endurance sports, or did raising a daughter by myself and having a challenging career make my endurance sports seem like child’s play? You make the call.
