This was in today's "Dear Abby" column in the paper:
DEAR ABBY: I am a 55-year-old female who competes in triathlons for fun, fitness and health. I consulted my doctor because I was having foot pain. When I told him I was a runner and was preparing for a marathon race, his response was, "At your age, you could hardly call it a race."
I was shocked. I repeated the insulting comment to my husband, who has never supported me in this nor attended my races. He replied, "Well, you don't actually consider yourself an athlete, do you?"
I am so offended that I want to dismiss both my doctor and my husband. I just finished a race with 5,000 women. Every one of them was fabulous and serious, no matter how old or what they looked like. It was the spirit of the sport that mattered. At what age does one stop being an athlete? -- OLDER ATHLETE, EUGENE, ORE.
This raised some interesting questions in my mind about support, encouragement, or the lack thereof. I don't want to discuss the "athlete-yes-or-no" question. Instead, I'd like to know how people out there deal with non-supportive spouses, friends, co-workers, doctors, etc.
My own experience includes being teased by my co-workers for "getting beat by a 70-year-old woman." (This was after a big meet where they viewed my results on the Internet.) This came from men who are at least 50 pounds overweight and can barely walk from their cars to their desks.
My story goes back to the early 1970s.
My parents were both competitive swimmers in the 1950s, but not serious at all. When I left HS, I was much like them, just swimming in Junior College for fun. But I got more serious when I found out how much fun it was to go really fast and win races.
They occasionally bugged me to get a job until my coach had a sit down discussion with them ( I didn' know about this until many years later). He told them to leave me alone about the job and I would pay my own way through college (with a scholarship). After the JC state championships in 1974, I was contacted by 4 different Universities with scholarship offers. Needless to say, after that my parents were (and still are, bless their hearts) big fans of my swimming career. I just wish I could get them to train with a Masters club so we could have a family relay (both of my sisters swam, too).
My story goes back to the early 1970s.
My parents were both competitive swimmers in the 1950s, but not serious at all. When I left HS, I was much like them, just swimming in Junior College for fun. But I got more serious when I found out how much fun it was to go really fast and win races.
They occasionally bugged me to get a job until my coach had a sit down discussion with them ( I didn' know about this until many years later). He told them to leave me alone about the job and I would pay my own way through college (with a scholarship). After the JC state championships in 1974, I was contacted by 4 different Universities with scholarship offers. Needless to say, after that my parents were (and still are, bless their hearts) big fans of my swimming career. I just wish I could get them to train with a Masters club so we could have a family relay (both of my sisters swam, too).
