Some older women boasts that they are outperforming younger women athletically, especially in running and are darn proud of the fact. Why are older women outperforming younger women in running and perhaps in many other leisure sports? Is it because you get stronger with age or is it because older women try harder. I believe it has more to do with the latter. When you are older, you know time is no longer on your side and whatever you set your mind to achieve you want to achieve it then you get to tick it off on your list of to-do’s before the final curtain comes down. There is more urgency to tasks older woman do and sometimes it has to do with spiritual awakening to their potential which may have been thwarted by the cultural regimes of their generation.
Ralph Vernacchia, who directs the Center for Performance Excellence at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., has worked with elite runners including Olympians. On the subject of older runners, he stated that older women may be faster because, oddly enough, they are trying harder than younger women and discovering for the first time what they are capable of.
“Most middle-aged women grew up when track and cross-country teams were for men only. Some of those women, who had no opportunity to race when they were young, are just learning to be athletes and are running faster than younger women who may not care as much” he said..
According to research done on older women, researchers Diane M. Lewis, M.A., & Fary M. Cachelin, Ph.D. California State University, Los Angeles alluded to the fact that body image and the drive to be thin are also factors that motivate older women to run hard. Older women are impacted by the same advertisements and messages that are aimed at younger women. Though society may cast older women aside, they are still human beings with feelings and want to look and feel their best at every stage of life, and why not.
Whatever the reason women that older women are doing so well atlethically, it’s all good. Keeping active is the key to longevity and healthy aging. And if you are having fun doing it, well that’s just the cream on top of your coffee.
