What does it take to continue to participate in athletic activities and sustained exercise later in life? How does it differ from managing these activities when you are in your 20’s or 30’s? Do you wonder if, or when, you have to give up your physical activities? You will be intrigued and inspired by the answers to these questions from Don McGrath’s book about 50 interviews of athletic people over 50 years old. True stories from his spectacular interviewees will inspire you like no others. Many of McGrath’s subjects never imagined that they would be role models for exercise and good health. Still, by applying a common set of characteristics, they have broken remarkable mental and physical barriers to succeed. Peek into the lives of Linda Quirk who ran seven marathons on seven continents at age 55, and in 2010 plans to run across four of the world’s largest deserts; Sandy Scott, 69, who broke a vertebrae at age 65 and four years later won a state cycling 20k championship; or 75-year-old veteran tap dance Gene GeBauer. With U.S. health concerns at the forefront, the athlete’s way of life helps us to understand how to take responsibility for our well being. Lessons learned from these interviews can help us avoid doctors’ offices, stave off diseases, and have more joy and contentment. In his final summary, McGrath examines the behaviors and attitudes necessary for all of us to have health and satisfaction through an active life. If you want to know the secrets of those who are still going strong in athletic activities in their later years, then this is the book for you.
Featuring:
Barb Page, distance runner, hiker, Nordic skier
Bill Hansbury, runner, cyclist
Bill Purves, race walker
Bob Muleskey, shot put, discus, and javelin thrower
Bob Radocy, archer, weight lifter
Bret Williams, pole vaulter, handball player
Bruce Runnels, cyclist
Carl Bamforth, distance in-line speed skater
Carol Jean Vosburgh, triathlete
Cheryl Ragsdale, boxer and martial artist
Chris Scotto Divetta, runner
Dave Dyc, outrigger canoeist
Don Ardell, triathlete
Don Pratt, distance runner
Don Sherrill, power lifter
Ed Shaw, cyclist, runner
Gale Bernhardt, endurance athlete
Gary Grobman, distance runner
Gary Leigh, sprinter
Gene GeBauer, dancer
George and Louise Thornton, triathletes
George Hurley, rock climber
Gerard Moreno, Paralympic fencer, off-road wheelchair racer, basketball player
Helen Geoffrion, triathlete
Jane Welzel, distance runner
Jean Aschenbrenner, rock climber
Jerry Smartt, distance runner
Jim Broun, hurdler
Jim Morton, runner
Katy Okuyama, surfer
Kim Williams, sprinter, high-jumper
Linda Quirk, distance runner
Loretta Claiborne, Special Olympic runner, golfer, tennis player, skater, skier, bowler
Maria Riquet, bodybuilder
Myrna Haag, triathlete
R.S. and Melody Mitchell, martial artists
Rich Davis, triathlete
Richard Stiller, runner
Robbi Young, triathlete
Russ Clune, rock climber
Sandy Scott, cyclist
Scott Graham, distance runner, triathlete, snowshoe racer
Sid Howard, middle-distance runner
Stephen Black, triathlete
Susan Henderson, distance runner
Suzy Devers, in-line and ice skater
Terry Peterson, mountain unicyclist
Ward Smith, surfer
Weia Reinboud, high jumper, javelin thrower
