If you trained when you were younger, you’ll know this is complete BS. My performance as I age is on a steady downward slope. Recovery is noticeably worse, diet is becoming more important to maintaining a stable weight.

Don’t leave getting fit to your thirties or later. Start now.

I've run an 83k with surprisingly little training or background. I obviously worked up slowly to get there. But it is very doable for anybody.

It takes time and I encourage runners of any level to start thinking about running, if they like it, in yearlong blocks with annual goals. My longest race to day is a 30 mile trail ultra. Ive done a variety of sports all my life so the fitness base was there. Then I committed to specifically training for that distance. Truth be told - as long as your training is consistent, intentional and you want it, eating is the hardest part. By far. 100k is a different beast altogether. It takes a community to tackle 24-30 hours of ruunning!

Marathon and ultra are different paradigms, for ultra all you need to do is get a heart rate monitor and try running at zone 2 as long as you can, the most difficult part is probably refueling, eating enough calories while preventing stomach cramps. Marathoners chase speed cos 42km/26miles is not that much if you are acclimated, which leads to a lot more interval/tempo/threshold training.

I almost thought I couldn't run more than 6km without getting knee problems. But now I run +10km without issues. I just needed to run often enough, have patience and not run when the body clearly told me to stop.

I ran my first ultra in the past month (55k, 7000ft vert). A year ago I didn’t run at all but I’ve always done strength training.

It’s definitely possible but the hardest part is finding time for training. At 100k you usually need to be putting in at least 60 miles per week during peak weeks to finish without injury or a lot of suffering.

Or is it too much and more likely to take from you? I wonder if the fitness benefits or offset by so much stress on joints.

I think in later years a lot has to do with mental state as much as physical state - I've known people who died in their 70s from what appeared to be a lack of will to stay alive but I also know people in their 90s who seemed determined to live as long as possible.

Of course, mental state is only factor but I do think it is very important - particularly as I've just turned 60!

Yes, it is, because the current mainstream discourse treats childbearing and achievement as mutually incompatible. I think it explains part of the fertility crash. This is a cute counterexample to the mainstream view.

The toll that children and grandchildren (by caretaking, which is common) take on a human female is significant, so yes.

yes, in fact If she was asked about her greatest achievements I would bet she would say having (grand)children.

I was wondering the same thing. My mom was once assaulted by an anti-protestor and our newspaper published an article about it (slow news day maybe?). The article mentioned that she was a grandmother of 20. I thought it was a sort of strange and insignificant thing to mention an article about an assault.

I think in the context of an athletic accomplishment, being a grandmother does have some small significance because raising children does often hamper one's ability to stay fit during that period of their life. Her personal fitness during her 30s probably contributed to her success in her 80s.

I started programming professionally at 16. I ran my first mile at 46. I'm 62 now and have run quite a bit. There's a very good (IMO) podcast that is mostly interviews of runners over 60[0]. At least one of his early interviews was with a woman who also finishes Ironmans. Disclosure, I'll be interviewed a week from today, although I don't know when it'll be published.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@RUNLONGAFTER60/podcasts

I know right? And given her age, she was a developer in the 1980s. When she finally passes, they're going to cut her open and just find a big sack of grit.

It means she had normal life and achieved that so can you

Childbirth and pregnancy can be significant hurdles for some women in staying healthy- it's good to inspire people

It's a human interest story.

Are you not a human too? I am, I can see why they want to highlight that, obviously "grandmother finishes ironman" is more "newsworthy" than "mother finishes ironman", and obviously not because her daughter had children of her own, but because it's implied she's old and people see the old as frail, and she proving she is anything but frail.

"Grandmother" is more important than all of those other things, because of the whole "old+frail" thing usually makes people not participate in ironman challenges, at least where I live, and none of those other things implies anything of the sort.

Not everything is a scientific journal, and people with hearts like "feel good stories", even the stories with a bit of flowery language to really drive home some of the points. It's OK.

It's a kind of context about the person's life, since this is a local community publication, not a news wire service. One that is palatable to a wider audience than religion or political affiliation for a feel-good story like this. Though if she had no loving family and were engaged in the church, that is what I would have next expected to hear about since she is retired. If not retired, I would have expected a blurb about her job instead.

There's also a good chance, since she was interviewed, that that's how she described herself first.

"Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I'm a grandmother..."

Why are you so concerned by this? People commonly describe children as their greatest accomplishment, and it’s the only one of the ones you listed which doesn’t change back over time. The writer was trying to humanize the subject and that’s a very common way to describe someone in a relatable, non-intimidating manner.

This is such a silly thing to be upset about...