Second Hero, Sister Madonna Buder

The Iron Princess (WannaBe)

Here is my second hero. Another inspiring woman. As you can see, my hero's are not necessarily the fastest triathletes. They are the ones with a story behind them. They are the ones who usually do this for their health, yes, but also to help others. If I am half the person they are, I consider myself lucky!! I always have a better result with my goals if they are not "All About Me." I know I tease about everything being "All About Me," but the truth is, that doesn't work well for anyone. A fitness goal can be as simple as staying in shape for your family but Sister Madonna Buder has taken it to a whole new level!!

Sister Madonna Buder, Oldest Woman to Finish an Ironman

She does it again! How special and inspiring it was in Penticton for the 30th and final Ironman Canada race to have a new world record set by the one and only Sister Madonna Buder aka the "Iron Nun". A great inspiration to those young and old...

At the 2012 Ironman Canada event, Buder became the oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman race when she crossed the finish line at 16:32:00. At the age of 82 she sets a new world record on the women's side. She might even be the world recorder holder for the oldest person in general to finish the grueling 140.6 mile race as it seems Lew Hollander has the oldest man to finish and Ironman at 81.

Her splits for the day consisted of a 1 hour - 36 minutes and 9 second Swim (2.4 miles), a 7 hour - 54 minutes and 15 second Bike (112 miles) which converts to roughly an average speed of 13.10 mph on the hilly bike course. She ends her night with a 6 hour - 41 minutes and 21 second Run (26.2 miles) for and overall time of 16:32:00.

Sister Madonna Buder also known as the "Iron Nun" is a Roman Catholic nun from Spokane, Washington. She started running at the age of 48 and competed in her first Ironman when she was 55. She has completed over 330 triathlons including countless Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events (30+). In 2005 at the Ironman World Championship race at age 75, she became the oldest woman ever to complete the race, finishing 1 hour before the 17-hour midnight cut-off time. In 2006 in Kona at age 76, she again became the oldest woman ever to complete the race, this time barely finishing under the 17 hour mark with a time 16:59:03.

In 2008, Sister Madonna participated in the Ironman Canada race held in Penticton, British Columbia. All day and at the end spectators cheered and encouraged her but this time she was unable to finish the race under the 17 hour cut-off, finishing in a time of 17:02:47.

In the Ironman community, a failure like that is painful but triggers that knee jerk reaction to try again and conquer the course another day. Fast forward a year... On August 30, 2009, Sister Madonna was back in Penticton and this time successfully completed Ironman Canada in a time of 16:54:30. The accomplishment broke her own record of being the oldest female to complete in an Ironman triathlon at the age of 79. At the time, Sister Madonna said that she would be back next year to be the first 80 year old woman to finish an Ironman.

In 2010, at the age of 80, Buder again was trying to challenge her self and set a new record but didn't get to complete her race in Penticton at Ironman Canada due to some wetsuit issues which might have contributed to not making the bike cut-off.

Words of ahhhhhh Wisdom from the Iron Princess (wannabe)

I know, it's not like me to get too serious since I don't feel qualified to be giving triathlon advice at this time other than get off your couch, off your butt and get moving. (Run on sentence, I am perfectly aware of that:-)  Anyone can do it. Just one step at a time. Think minute to minute and not that you need to get from 1 mile to 26 miles. Leave your brain at home if you have to and just take your body and your iPod.  Actually, I need a Liepad.  Every morning it would tell me "You are an Iron Princess!!! You are beautiful inside and out. Your kids will admire you someday!!" I know, the last one was pushing it.  hahahahah

Here is my first hero. Other than my Dad, Len Marrella known to many as the Colonial of Truth, Prince Charming, and my son, Len Belotti, who is turning into a man I greatly respect,  I can't think of someone I admire more!!! Here is his story if you haven't had the pleasure of reading it. I read it over and over when I get down on myself.  This should help get you off the couch!

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars – all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much – except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life," Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway. Then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 –only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago."

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. "The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right. Think good thoughts for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of LIFE...Getting back up is LIVING...Have a great life.