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MANASOTA
TRACK CLUB |
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Ms Winspeed Runs Again By Sheri Bedford Ms Betsy Winspeed is Everywoman, a runner
over a certain age. Here she is again to cheer on all of us female endurance athletes. Yea us! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ms Winspeed Sees the Light By Sheri Bedford
Whirr! Whirr! Betsy Winspeed’s alarm
discretely sounded. 5am. Soft, moist blackness surrounded her front door as Ms Winspeed poked her head outside to see what the temperature was. Cool. Wear tights. Dark. Wear color. The coffee pot burbled happily as Betsy persuaded her plump, 60-something body into electric blue spandex tights covered by an oversized t-shirt. “Thank heavens for extra large,” she thought. “Do we mature women have to be sticks to be healthy? I think not.” She smoothed everything into place as she eyed herself approvingly in the mirror. Betsy ambled into the kitchen and got her favorite mug from the cabinet, a red Gasparilla mug she had received for being in the top 10% of her age group a few years ago. She looked at it longingly. “Can I still do that?” she asked herself. “Or am I too old? “Nonsense, Betsy! If you can still run 14 miles at a stretch, you can still speed up a little. After all, you’re not dead yet. Buck up!” She shook her shoulders in a little shiver. These early morning doldrums had been plaguing her lately. It wasn’t like her to be so negative. Maybe it was just the dark. She poured her coffee and sat at the kitchen table soaking in the silence of the early morning. The water birds on the little lake behind her house weren’t awake yet. The quiet shush of the breeze in the leaves was the only sound. Silent darkness. “ Is it this pre-dawn blackness that makes me think about age? Why should aging make me fearful?” Ms Winspeed continued to question herself. “Or is it that I’ve been tricked? Watching too much tv. I’m actually getting rather angry at all the promotion on tv about dis-eases, lack of function, mental and physical, that advertisers are attaching to folks over a certain age. “ And what is age anyway? It’s only a number. I think I’m going to choose a different number for this year.” She plunked her mug down on the table with a little thump. “ Why should I take in all the drivel advertisers are handing out as truth? It doesn’t apply to me. “ I eat fine. I go to the bathroom when I want. I have all my teeth and they’re as white as normal people’s. Do I have to be stick-thin and muscle toned with a movie star smile to be ok? “ I’m a runner. I could even define myself as an athlete!” Betsy Winspeed jumped out of her chair. Now her adrenaline was rushing. She grabbed her water bottle, towel, and change of clothes and dashed out into the dark. The drive to the workout venue was short and traffic free at 5:45am. Betsy was still fuming when she arrived at the parking lot. “ We’re not decrepit wrinkled old crones,” she blurted out to her running buddy, Esther. “ Well, good morning to you, too! I’m glad to hear it,” said Esther mildly as she adjusted her watch. “ Oh, I’m sorry,” said Ms. Winspeed. “ I was just getting mad at all the media promotion of women over 60 as incapable feebs. I’m tired of it! Why don’t the advertisers get out here with us at 6am and go running? Then they’d see what women over 60 can really do!” “ But in that case they wouldn’t be able to vacuum in the wealth of our age group by making us feel needy. We little old women need to rush out to buy these indispensable products. “ Don’t you know that we can’t possibly survive without wrinkle cream, sunblock, Depends, arthritis remedies, whitening toothpaste, support hose and calcium supplements?” Esther chuckled. Ms Winspeed broke into a smile. “Well, when you put it that way, it’s a miracle we’re even vertical at 6am, let alone preparing to run 14 miles!” She laughed. “Esther, you helped me out of my slump. I’m on a crusade! I’m going to show those dumb TV ad execs! We may be plump; we may be over 60, but we’re still hot chicks who can run a bunch of miles and still be energetic enough to go dancing. “ You ready? Let’s go!” Betsy Winspeed and Esther Blodgett, two wise
ladies in t-shirts and tights, fluttered off into the early morning light, over
the bridge, on their 14 mile run. Not needing remedies or props of any kind.
Self-reliant, healthy and whole. After all, how many people of any age were able and willing to run at dawn, to see the light?
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