Something About Mary

By John Boel

Here are two of the few excusable excuses for not attempting a triathlon:

1. “I'm 88 years old.”
2. “I just broke my leg.”

But for 88 year old Mary Stroebe, who recently had a titanium rod inserted into her broken leg, those are not valid excuses. She's moving full steam ahead with her plans to complete her 12th straight triathlon.

Maybe I'm drawn to her story because she's 88, exactly double my age of 44, and I'm already starting to whine about injuries.

Or perhaps it's because she just lives a short bike ride up the road from my hometown in Wisconsin.

Or maybe I decided to dig deeper into her story because I'm sick of hearing people come up with excuses all the time when it comes to physical fitness.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad I picked up the phone. Mary Stroebe is extra-ordinary, because she is so ordinary. She makes all of this sound so simple. So boring. So normal.

I met an 86 year old female fishing guide one time down on Lake Barkley who didn't even pick up the career until she hit retirement age. But Mary Stroebe beats everything I've ever heard of. She didn't even attempt her first triathlon until she was 77. After 11 straight years of completing the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis, she busted her left leg this past January when a young whipper-snapper snowboarder fell right in front of her out in Squaw Valley. Most people might think twice about training for a triathlon with a rod in their leg. Many 88 year olds might just spend some time recuperating at the bingo hall. Not Mary. She hired a personal trainer and got serious.

“I had to hire a physical trainer,” she explains, “because I've only had two months where I've been able to walk, so I felt I had to do something desperate.”

What did your doctor have to say about training for a triathlon after breaking a leg at your age?

“He said ‘Absolutely not.' But I haven't mentioned it since.”

I've never seen anyone in a triathlon older than sixty-something. The oldest Mary has ever competed against, is 65. That's an entire generation, 23 years, younger than she is. I wondered what people say to her when they find out she's a triathlete.

“They say I'm crazy. So, I say, well maybe I am.”

She's always been an athlete, even back in college when she played basketball, field hockey and volleyball. She's never been injured, until the recent skiing accident that was caused by someone else. But triathlons weren't really big back before World War Two. She didn't try one until near the end of the last century.

“It was my son who encouraged me. I did a team one first. Then I was watching one, a pretty short one. I thought well I can do that and it would be fun. That's what started me.”

She doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. “Anyone can do it. The one I do is a .4 mile swim, 15 mile bike and three mile run. If you train for it. It's not difficult.”

So how does a person born before the First World War actually train fora tri?

“Yesterday I did the distances,” she says. “The swim, bike and run distances of the triathlon. That's not typical though, to do all 3 in one day. But as I get closer to a triathlon that's what I do. I try to do something every day, something different, or maybe two of the sections of the triathlon.”

She doesn't really care about her finishing time. “My goal is just to finish,” she laughs.

But you know me, I had to do some checking. Just a couple of years ago, she finished in two hours, three minutes, beating four women and two men. Her time slipped the last couple of years, but she still comes in in under three hours.

In checking the race results, I also notice the age categories top out at “75-88” years old. I don't know what they're going to do next year.

“I think you should never give up. You should keep in shape and I think the training helps you do that and you keep fit.”

Break a leg, Mary.

I hope you are back next year too, whether there's a division for you or not.

John Boel is a 41-time Emmy winning news anchor at WLKY-TV. He's married, with two daughters, and is an avid runner and triathlete.