It appears as though I have struck a chord with fellow aging athletes. After my blog posting appeared in last week’s Wenatchee World, I have been experiencing nothing short of a social phenomenon.

Remember that scene in the movie Ghost where it is discovered that Whoopi Goldberg’s character can communicate with the dearly departed? The next shot is her studio with a crowd of both the living, and the, well, dearly departed clammoring to be heard. In a sense, I feel like I have become Whoopi Goldberg’s character.

People have been coming out of the woodwork to comment on my blog posting. I have been stopped in the grocery store, at the gym, in the pool, called, and emailed. And, it seems that there are two camps:

1. Those that empathise, understand and have been there. These folks are generally quick to share a story of their own former glory days, which has been incredibly enlightening, and even quicker to follow it up with a play-by-play account of either an injury, surgery, or general ailment.

2. Or, there are those that believe that many athletes actually improve with age. It appears as though I have offended some members of this camp, and for that, I apologize. Folks in this category are quick to explain their former glory days, with an emotionally-charged story about their present, and often better, glory days. It has truly been inspiring, and it’s got me thinking…

Can it be that certain athletes actually improve with age? As I’ve been pondering this idea, I’ve been doing a little research and have found, much to my delight, that there are seemingly endless examples of people accomplishing amazing athletic feats at all ages. One recent example is Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. She joined the 2008 Olympic team at the ripe age of 41 and soundly competed with, and against, women half her age. I’m sure by now most of us have seen the amazing pictures of her physique, and have watched her grab the silver medal in her fifth Olympics. I swam against Torres in my glory days, and was promptly handed my dignity, so her continued athletic accomplishment is inspiring to say the least.

Of all the local, regional, national and international examples of “aging” athletes accomplishing supernatural feats that I have studied, they all seem to have one thing in common: they prepare differently than their younger, or injured, counterparts.

If you read any interviews given by Torres, you know that her Beijing comeback was not a solo performance. Rather, she employed a team of experts to get her ready, and keep her in top form. Members of Team Torres included a nutritionist, chiropractor, physical therapist, trainer and a pro whose only responsibility was to stretch her before and after a workout. Having swam against her, I can vouch for the fact that she did not travel with a team of experts 20 years ago.

It seems that to remain competitive, or to reclaim former greatness, we must act differently. It’s no longer enough to roll out of bed, run 10 miles and carry on with our day as though nothing has happened. We need to think about what it is we’re doing, and take some extra time to be good to our body, so that it can in turn be good to us. We need to stretch. We need to listen to our body and back off when it begins to scream at us. We need to pay close attention to nutrition. And, we need to recover.

This is a new approach for me, but one I’ve decided I’m willing to explore in an effort to continue to do the things I love. For all of you former superstars whom I’ve spoken with in the last week, I challenge you to join me in treating our bodies kindly. Collectively, let’s see if this theory works. And, for those of you who have already figured this out, brace yourselves for some (stiff) competition, because I’m willing to bet there are lots of comebacks on the horizon.

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