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65+ Racewalking Marathoner
Diane Wagger Wender

"Life is about staying motivated and being challenged," says Diane Wagger Wender, Atlanta-based marriage and family therapist, and she walks the walk as well, at competitive speeds. Diane is a racewalker, a sport she came to later in life and which has become her passion. She faced her most difficult challenge to date, the New York Marathon, a 26.2 mile course through New York City and environs, under conditions which seasoned marathon athletes called severe: 46 degrees and a stiff wind throughout. She completed it in 6 hours 23 minutes "not including rest room stops."

Never an athlete earlier in her life, Diane discovered racewalking in January 1996 and was instantly hooked. Before long, she was enrolled in a racewalking training program with Bonnie Stein at Oglethorp University: three demanding 6-week segments: beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Racewalking is done at a comfortable aerobic pace and considered by its proponents to be an even better way to get fit than regular brisk walking or running. Properly done, it conditions the entire body as well as the mind. Racewalking was first included in the 1908 Olympic Games as a track & field event for men. Women first competed in the 1992 Olympiad.

Upon completing her training and joining the Walking Club of Georgia, Diane was ready to try her new skills in the Peachtree Road Race.  Then came the Atlanta Half Marathon.  And the results: "I came in first in my age group, 65+," Diane says, "Of course, I was also the only one in my age group!"

The idea of entering the New York Marathon began "innocently enough. My son Larry, who lives in New York, asked if I would like to do it together at about the same time I thought it would be fun. Of course, since he’s a runner and I’m a racewalker, ‘together’ really means we would go to the starting line together, and he would come back for me at the finish line hours after he finished!" Neither was awarded a spot in the first lottery, but Diane began her training anyway, "starting with 10 miles, then gradually increasing by two miles every other week. Not to mention 3-4 weekly walks on my home course (a flat one-quarter mile street near her home)" in sweltering Georgia summer temperatures. She didn’t make the second lottery for the Marathon either, but as the final drawing loomed in September, "I had passed the point of no return: I had come too far in my training to drop out now. It was do or die!" She got in and Larry didn’t.

As the date Marathon date approached, she wrote: "So here I am, weeks away from the Marathon on November 7th, with my training now tapering off, with the hardest part behind me. What have I learned? A lot. A lot about myself, about motivation, about reinforcement. The training itself carries it’s own reward. Of setting goals that are reachable, in small steps, not 26.2 miles all at once, but one short lap at a time, until it builds up into a lumber of laps, number of minutes, until it adds up to 26.2 miles. Finding out that I can put in the mileage and still function. Rewarding myself for what I’ve accomplished." Spoken like a true contender.

What’s next? Teaching the sport to others.  More competitive racewalking in the future. "The marathon was great!" Diane exulted, "I finished, not as fast I had hoped but it was a marvelous marathon to do." For more information on this wonderful sport including training and upcoming events, click on: www.racewalk.com

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