Name: May Cook
How old are you?: 59
Where do you live?: CA
What is your history with sports and athletics?: I have always been athletic all my life. I picked up running when I was just out of high school, but here and there and just for fun. After I was diagnosed with Graves Disease when I was in my mid twenties, I gained a lot of weight with the disease. I knew that running would be the fastest way to loose the weight, so I started running more seriously. Got hooked and started to run races and compete.
I was challenged by a friend of mine to do a triathlon, but I didn’t like the idea that I had to swim in the ocean, so I just ignored it. He kept nudging me and said that I would get just as hooked on doing triathlons as I did with running. By this time, I have had about 25+ years of running in already. At this time of my life, I wanted to challenge myself so I took him up on it.
I bought a bike, started swimming in the pool, and entered my first spring triathlon. It has been 5 years since that first sprint triathlon and I can’t get enough. Triathlons and training was all I could think about. I entered every triathlon that I could possibly do. All of the sudden, I started placing top 10, then top 5, then top 3 in my racing venues, and the love of the sport continued to grow. I did my first 70.3 Ironman in Arizona in 2017, and have not stopped since. I have my goals set for my first full Ironman in 2021 since, 2020 all racing pretty much stopped. I love competing and I am a junkie for triathlons!
What do you enjoy most about being an athlete?: The benefits of being a triathlete is not only that I am in the best shape of my life, but I am continuing to be challenged in staying healthy and strong. Triathlons/Ironmans take a lot of mental toughness to get through those days when your body fights you back. Without the assistance of a great partner, which in my case, is my husband Carl, I could not do this sport. He is my trainer, my coach, my gear man and my encourager. He is at every race, whether it is just a training “race” run, or a triathlon training race for my Ironman competition. He ensures that my gear is ready, my wetsuit is ready, my bike is in excellent condition and that I’m completely ready for my races. He reads up on techniques and watches to see where I could benefit in other training materials. This sport takes so much out of you that without a supportive partner, you can’t always be at your best. He is also was a great athlete when he was younger before he got cancer, and injuries caused him to not be able to continue, so with his athletic abilities he understands what it takes to compete.
Have you experienced any challenges or obstacles?: Fortunately, I’ve been pretty much injury free. The one big injury I had was at Ironman 70.3 last year, a woman ran into me on the bike portion and knocked me off my bike and caused me to break 3 ribs. I’ve never had a broken bone before in my life! Once I got to medical, the first question I asked the Doctor was can I continue my race? She literally laughed at me and said “technically yes, but I don’t recommend it,” and then I tried to move, and I couldn’t and said, yeah you’re right! I was determined to get back to training and racing as soon as I could and I was able to end my racing year with my last half marathon 6 weeks later.
What is your “why?”: My drive is my passion for training. I love to train and race. Being competitive drives me to be at the best that I can be. This year I qualified to the Toyota National Age Group championships, but it just got cancelled. To me that was very self-satisfying!
What’s next?: My goal is to complete my first full Ironman next year, and to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.
Any fun facts about yourself?: I have 11 grandchildren, and have started them into racing. I sign them up for races and I bring my whole family out. My grandchildren that race with me are from 3-21 years old. I have one granddaughter who does half marathons with me. Her goal she says is to one day beat me in my half marathons! I love that challenge!
I also have my parents involved in racing. They are in their 70’s and when I race 5 & 10K’s they walk the 5K’s. I got my two sisters into running, so we do runcations together. It has been such a wonderful family event.
Any other comments or stories you’d like to share?: I would like to say, no matter the age, don’t ever sell yourself short. You can do whatever your mind wants to do. Every year I turn another age, I just know that I’m either starting a new age group, or ending one!