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100 mile race at age 65? Jim Wheeler says you can do it, too
by Kristine Jacobson

At age 65, many adults think about slowing down. Not Jim Wheeler of rural Franklin in south central Nebraska.

In the 2007 Silver Run, Jim finished first in his age group in the 10K.

That race was a mere warm-up for the Buffalo Springs Triathlon that he finished a few weeks later. He raced the half triathlon, which means he ran 13.1 miles, biked 56 miles and swam 1.2 miles – all in 100-degree heat.

He didn’t race his best time, but he was glad to finish. He always finishes.

“I’d be in an ambulance before I’d quit,” Jim said.

It’s not winning the race that keeps Jim going or that got him started racing in the first place.

“It’s the challenge,” Jim said. “I just think, ‘I can do that’.”

Jim was never a couch potato. He played sports in high school in Toledo, Ohio, and joined a noon running club when he worked at AT&T in Denver. But, he didn’t start running races competitively until he retired at age 53 and moved to Hawaii. He learned that many world-class athletes train for marathons and triathlons in Hawaii; there were running clubs, biking clubs and swimming clubs all around him.

“I saw old people doing things I couldn’t do,” Jim said.

So, he joined the other athletes and ran his first races in Hawaii. He said he benefited from being able to learn proper breathing techniques for swimming and tips on running and biking from these athletes.

A few years ago, Jim and his wife, Mimi, were visiting family in Denver when they saw an ad in the newspaper for a house in Franklin.

“We came out here, we saw it, and we bought it,” Jim said. “It’s a nice little town,” Jim said of Franklin.

When Jim moved to Franklin, he didn’t find running clubs or world-class athletes in training. So, he started training on his own for Ultra Running races.

“I like running, because you don’t need any special equipment,” Jim said.

He set himself a goal to run two 50-mile races and one 100-mile race. His first 50-mile race was two years ago in Kansas. He finished in 12 hours and 20 minutes. He ran another 50-mile race the following April in California and finished in 12 hours and 3 minutes. To complete his goal, he ran a 100-mile race in Oklahoma in October. His wife and other family members ran with him on small stretches of the race to keep him going. He finished the race in just over a day – 27 hours.

“I felt great, but my feet were killing me,” Jim said of the 100-mile race. After he returned home, he discovered he had blisters under the calluses on his feet.

He has learned a lot about pain in his years as a runner. He has learned to recognize the difference between the pain that needs attention and the pain that is just pain.

“If you have an injury pain, you need to recognize that,” Jim said, advising athletes either take time off or get it checked by a doctor.

Jim encourages people of all ages to take up running or triathlons. He said most Ultra Runners are in their 40s or 50s, and he’s seen competitors in their 70s still running triathlons.

“It is a mental challenge,” Jim said. “You must have a strong will to do it.”

For someone just starting out in marathons or triathlons, Jim has a few recommendations – a good pair of running shoes, a supportive family (for dropping you off 50 miles from home and waiting for you to return), and a training regimen that you can stick to.

Kristine Jacobson is the Membership and Marketing Manager at YMCA of the Prairie in Holdrege, NE, where Jim Wheeler is a member.

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