Age is Just a Number

"You should write a book.” I’d love to have a dollar for everyone who must have told Dara Torres that very thing after her amazing performance in Beijing. When the public demands a book, you write one. And Dara did. It hits the shelves this week.

The book is called Age is Just a Number and I have not yet read it. But as a journalist, I covered Dara at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, her first comeback at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, and at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

The point is, I’m familiar with her story and have been fascinated by it for years. But I didn’t know it all. Her book, starting with the prologue, fills in the personal details.

I’ve been old before. I was old when I was 27 and I got divorced. I was old when I was 35 and I couldn’t get pregnant. I was really old when I was 39 and my father died. But when I was 41 and I woke up in a dorm in the Olympic Village in Beijing, I didn’t feel old. I felt merely—and, yes, happily—middle-aged. “The water doesn’t know how old you are,” I’d been telling anyone who would listen for the prior two years. Though sometimes, I have to admit, I would think to myself, Good thing it can’t see my wrinkles.

Dara’s Olympic odyssey began as a 17-year-old in 1984. She competed in the 1988 and 1992 Games before retiring for 7 years. She quietly began a comeback in 1999 and shocked the world by making her 4th Olympics in 2000 at the age of 33. Another long retirement and an even more amazing comeback resulted in a trip to Beijing. Twice as old as most of her competitors, Dara won three medals and missed winning the gold in the 50m freestyle by just 0.01 seconds. For the decimal challenged -- that is one hundredth of a second. It takes three times as long (.033) for you to blink.

Lest you think that Dara is some sort of genetic freak, consider two things; her workout schedule and her medical history. She works hard and she hurts.

I swim from eight to ten and then do dry-land stretch-cord training for about 20 minutes. Then I hit the gym for an hour and a half of weight training, and then I go stretch for two hours. And some days I get a massage.

I’ve had elbow surgery, four hand surgeries and one pinky surgery. I’ve had three shoulder surgeries and about six knee surgeries.

Dara turns 42 next week, and despite 15 surgeries says she’s in the best shape of her life. She has just announced yet another comeback with plans to swim at the 2009 World Championships in Rome and possibly the 2012 Olympics in London.

If I can inspire both women and men in anything it would be that age is just a number, not a death sentence. Wake up every morning with a plan and a dream. If you do, like me, dreams do still come true in your 40s and beyond.

Click here to see one of Dara's anti-aging secrets revealed at the 2000 Olympic trials.

This is Dara on the cover of More Magazine. Not bad.

Skydivers Over Sixty

Sixty never look so good. They’re a group of energetic men and women from age sixty to over 80 that like to hang together. Literally. They came to Deland, Florida from all over the US and from at least 5 other countries to take a crack at the world freefall formation record for skydivers over the age of sixty. Appropriately, their group is called SOS or Skydivers over Sixty.

How did they do? Did they get the record? See for yourself:


The SOS record will be documented in an upcoming episode of The Growing Bolder TV Show.
To view a photo gallery of the big day click here.

We're in the business of finding cool people doing remarkable things. Or remarkable people doing cool things. Dr. Lucky Meisenheimer is both. He gets up every morning and swims across the large lake behind his house -- and he invites the world to join him. Check out this video of a very unusual man, with a very unusual workout.

The Most Fuel-Efficient City in America

A Look into the Future

Growing Bolder is often about finding ways to do more with less. While we’re all milking every mile from our gas tanks, there is one community in America that seems unconcerned about the price of gas. Truth is, many who live there don’t even know the price of gas.

It’s not that they don’t care. One resident told me, “I worry for other people. I worry for young families with children. I think it’s terrible that they have to choose between milk or gas.” And it’s not that they’re wealthy. These are retirees on fixed incomes. The reason they have a cavalier attitude toward gas prices is that their preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart.

The Villages, Florida is a golf cart community with over 75,000 residents. Villagers not only drive their carts on special transportation trails, they drive them on city streets. And they don’t just drive them to the golf course. They drive them to the grocery store, to church, to the doctor, to meetings, and to the gym. They drive them everywhere.

http://growingbolder.com/media/money/other/a-peek-into-the-future-198235.html
Many residents have two carts -- a his and a hers. Their gas-guzzling car never comes out of the garage except for long trips out of town.

Villagers are fortunate in that they live in Florida. A standard golf cart is a fair-weather machine and wouldn’t work nearly as well in Milwaukee or South Bend. But don’t kill the messenger. It’s not about the golf cart. It’s about the small electric powered vehicle. In a strange way, The Villages, Florida is one of the most progressive, and least gas-reliant communities in the world. It’s a peek into a cleaner, more energy independent future.

If you would like to see a for yourself, check out this Growing Bolder video on the world’s #1 city in electric transportation.

Dara Torres Secret Revealed

Thank goodness for people with money, fame and desire. They're the ones who show the rest of us what's possible. In 1991, NBA superstar Magic Johnson announced that he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. We all thought Magic was going to die. 17 years later, he still has HIV but he appears healthy and has the energy to run a billion dollar business. He's done it with money, fame and desire. Now we all know that HIV isn't a death sentence.

Dara Torres is doing the same thing. Dara doesn't have HIV, she has middle age. But she also has money, fame and desire. Dara will reportedly spend over $100,000 this year on personal trainers, massage therapists, dietitians, and exercise physiologists. She can afford the very best. But money and fame aren't nearly enough. Dara also has the desire to pay a painful price. The result is an age-defying 5th Olympics team and a new American Record at the age of 41. Now we know that middle age isn't a death sentence.

Like Magic, Dara has shown us what's possible. She's whipping the whippersnappers in a sport that's been dominated by youth. What's her secret? Eight years ago, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Torres revealed her fountain of youth. It was a story that was unreported at the time. Until now. Here's the Growing Bolder exclusive.

Composing a Life of Significance

Stephen Goldman was a tech titan who retired in 2000 to begin his "second life" as a composer and philanthropist. He has combined those interests to benefit several organizations including the world renowned Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the story of one very unusual night created by one very remarkable man.

Roger McGuinn's Solar Powered Scooter

As leader of the Byrds, Roger McGuinn was one of the most influential musicians of the '60s. He helped create folk-rock, space-rock and psychedelic rock. Now, he's helping save the rock we live on! Come along as he takes us for a ride powered exclusively by energy from the sun.