I am Not THAT Old!

I am (only) 55 but something happened in my last race that makes me wonder how old I look at the finish. It was a sprint tri. It was a weak field of 74: most of the best racers were in the oly (183). I finished 1st in my age group, but more importantly, 9th overall. I finished only 11 minutes behind the winner. I always finish my last mile strong and  felt great at the end. At the time I came in all the oly racers were still on the course.

 So here I am running with a full head of steam, coming down the shoot, they announce my name and my age and I cross the finish 5 seconds later. Immediately a paramedic comes running up and asks me if I was OK. I brushed him off with a "sure" and started downing fluids. Come on. Do these guys not realize that 55 is young in the world of triathletes, or do you think I could have looked that bad.