In 1990, at the age of 34, my boss at the bank where I worked asked me to run in a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) race to support a local charity. She told me that the race was in three weeks and that all the important people at the bank would be there. Well, I had played football and wrestled in school, but had never been a runner. I was about 25 pounds heavier than I should have been, and didn’t know if I could even run three miles. I went home that afternoon and decided to run three miles to see if I could do it. I finished the three-mile run, but certainly didn’t enjoy it. My ankles hurt, I was tired, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would do this for “fun”. But I didn’t want to be embarrassed at the race, so I ran three miles every day for three weeks. When I lined up to start the race with the other 1,500 people who were running, I figured that this would probably be the only time I would ever compete in a road race. Well, it turned out that I really enjoyed running the race and finished somewhere in the top 25% of all the runners out there. It was fun to run through the streets of the city with such a big group and then enjoy food and drinks with everyone afterwards.

After the race, someone told me that there was a 10-kilometer race in two months and that it was the biggest race in the area with over 5,000 runners. I decided to keep running each day and work up to 6 miles over the next two months. I ran in the race, and enjoyed this one even more than the first. I was hooked. I went out and bought a pair of running shoes (I ran the first two races in tennis shoes) and ran a few miles every day. I entered weekend races whenever I could and about a year later, I completed my first marathon (26.2 miles). Though I wasn’t a slow racer, I was never one of those who got an award for being in the top three in my age-group. But that was ok. I just enjoyed running each day and participating in the road races.

Somehow, as I got older, I didn’t slow down very much. When I turned 40, I started to place in the top three in my age-group at many of the races I entered. By the time I turned 50, I was winning some races. As someone who had only been an average athlete all my life, I thought that was pretty cool.  

At age 53, I was struggling with an injury to my Achilles tendon and had to stop running for a few months while it healed. I didn’t want to totally stop exercising, so I decided to swim at a local athletic club in the mornings. I had swum on a summer swim team when I was 12-15 years old, but was not particularly fast. Now – not having swum in years, I could only do a few lengths of the pool before I got tired and had to stop and rest. A couple of friends saw me swimming and told me, “Bill, you are not too bad of a swimmer. When your Achilles tendon heals, you should consider doing a triathlon”. I hadn’t ridden a bike since I was in high school, and got tired very easily while swimming, but I decided to give it a try – just once. In a few months, the first New Orleans 70.3 (miles) Half-Ironman Triathlon was scheduled to be raced. It seemed like a reasonable goal, so I borrowed a bike from a friend and practiced riding it on Sunday afternoons. I did spin classes a couple of mornings each week, and worked on my swimming once or twice per week as well. When I competed in my first triathlon in 2009 with a borrowed bike and a borrowed wetsuit, I finished somewhere in the middle of my age-group. I was dehydrated and was so sore that I couldn’t come to work the next day (fortunately, I didn’t have any classes scheduled). But I was hooked. I continued to train, race, and improve. In my third triathlon, I surprised myself by finishing first in my age-group. Now I was motivated to train harder and to get involved with other “older” guys and gals for group bike-rides on Saturdays and regular swim practices a couple of mornings each week.

I am now 69 years old and still enjoy running road races and competing in triathlons. Fortunately, I have not slowed down as much as most other men my age, and as a result, I have been able to do well. I’m not a particularly strong bike-rider, but I am an ok swimmer and a pretty good runner for my age. I seem to get injured (muscle pulls, tendinitis, knee injuries, and things like that) every year or so, but when I’m healthy, I train 15-20 hours per week. I have completed 10 marathons (including the Chicago, New York City and Boston Marathons) and four Ironman Triathlons (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run). I have won my age-group in the New York City Triathlon, the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, five different Ironman 70.3 triathlons, the U.S.A. Sprint Triathlon World Championship Qualifier, the Louisiana state one-mile championship (three times), the Louisiana state Triathlon Championship, the Texas Senior Games 5k and 10k Championships, the Texas state Triathlon Championship, the Louisiana Half-Marathon, the Crescent City Classic, the Atlanta Peachtree 10K, and the New Orleans Rock-and-Roll Half-Marathon (four times); I have won 20 Crescent City Classic posters; have received All-American status from USA Triathlon 12 times, and three times, I’ve won the national championship in my age-group in the Aquathlon (swim and run – no bike). In 2021, I won the national championship in my age group in the Sprint Distance Draft-Legal Triathlon. In 2016, I placed 5th at the Aquathlon World Championships and in 2017, I placed 6th. In 2017, I placed 11th at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and in 2021 I placed 5th. In 2018, I finished 8th at the USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championships and in 2021, I finished 3rd. In February 2020, I set an unofficial world record in the 1,000/100/10 challenge (1,000 yard swim, 100 pushups, and 10K run) by completing the challenge in one minute and ten seconds less than my age. In 2025, I completed 1,500 pushups in less than one hour. Not too bad for an average athlete who stuck with it as he got older.

One other thing: I am the unofficial push-up champion of the A.B. Freeman School of Business, having beaten every student who has challenged me over the past 28 years and I’m always open to new challengers.