There’s a First Time For Everything

Turning 50 did not slow me down

There are many firsts one experiences in life; losing your first tooth, having your first boyfriend or girlfriend, experiencing your first kiss.

Maybe if you played sports in high school, you could remember your first touchdown, first home run, or first gold medal at the swim meet.

Some of my firsts, however, did not come at age-appropriate times. I want to share my list of memorable firsts so you can know that you can still fulfill your dreams no matter what your age. It’s never too late to reach for the stars, however close or far they may be. What’s important is that you make every effort to reach.

My most memorable firsts

First 5k race and then first five-miler (this is just a preface for my running career)

After living in Texas for six years, I moved back to New Jersey around age 37. I lived with my mom and her husband for a short time and discovered that they were marathon runners!

“What?” I exclaimed when I saw my mom’s collection of shirts and metals she had gathered from her many races. “You don’t even like to exercise.” However, when I saw she could do it, I decided to start running too. Immediately I was hooked and ran my first 5k, the equivalent of 3.1 miles.

After completing a few 5k races, I ran the Spring Lake Five Mile Run and was exhilarated! That was the first time I ever ran five miles without stopping.

First time on a skateboard and then first time dropping in

I was 45 years old when a friend from church who ran a youth ministry called Skateboarder’s for Christ asked me to help chaperon a 24-hour lock-in at a skatepark. I said, “Sure.”

Boy, was I surprised at what kids were doing on skateboards since I was a child in the 70s. I saw these mini six-year-olds hanging their board over the edge of a pool and dropping in! My mind was reeling.

“That’s dangerous!” I exclaimed as I watched them carve around the wall of the bowl. “I want to do that!”

So at 45, I got on the skateboard for the first time, and within a year, I had mustered up the courage to drop in a half-pipe. By age 47, I was skating a bowl with a 5.5-foot drop. What a rush!

First time surfing

Around the same age, 45, I got on a surfboard. I had always envied the kids on sitcoms I watched as a teenager who lived near the beach and took off from class to go surf. I had mastered the skateboard (well, sort of) and figured a surfboard would be a lot easier.

It was not!

I struggled so much to paddle out past the crashing waves that kept smacking me in the face. I became so angry and more determined to defeat the breaks and get past them to the calm sea where I could sit with the others and wait to catch the perfect wave.

I have to say I got more hurt surfing than I did skateboarding. It took me forever to literally ride a wave into shore. But the first time I dropped in on a wave, I got that same exhilarating rush that I had when dropping in the bowl on the skateboard. I had experienced a high like no other! Until…

My first half-marathon, marathon, and ultra-marathon

Yes. I caught the runner’s bug. I was addicted, and nothing could stop me from increasing my mileage. Getting up at 4 am and running fifteen miles along the beach to the lighthouse made me feel invincible!

I think I ran my first half-marathon, marathon, and ultramarathon in the same year. It was 2015, and I had just turned 52!

The Lighthouse Loop Half Marathon was a scenic 13.1-mile run along the coast, around the lighthouse, and then back.

After completing that race, I signed up for the annual Donna Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida, a race benefitting breast cancer survivors. However, I was so anxious the night before that I got a migraine and spent the evening throwing up in the hotel. Thus, I missed my first marathon.

Thankfully, the Tomoka Marathon was just a month away, and I paid $95 at the last minute to run this race. The Tomoka Marathon is a famous scenic run near the coast and through Tomoka State Park. I finally finished my first 26.1-mile race. Wow!

Since I was up in mileage, why not enter my first 50K race, I thought. That was a feat I will never forget! I ran 32.6 miles in the woods dodging pygmy rattlers, alligators when crossing the stream, cows — of which we had to repeatedly open and shut the gate for so they didn’t get out — and a creepy guy who patted my butt as I ran past encouraging me to keep going. That was NOT encouragement, and I stayed away from him from then on.

When you run ultra races, you are running alone most of the time. The distance is so long that runners tend to spread out. So I was alone when that guy passed me around mile 27.

I did many other things for the first time in my 50s, such as taking and passing the three-hour exam to become a personal trainer, and entering — though I did not complete — my first century ride, which is a 100-mile bicycle race. I rode a training ride of about 80 miles a few weeks before the race, but I never attended the ride because of my most significant “first” of all. I became a mother to a six-month-old baby boy, and then later that same year, I became a mom to a 13-year-old boy and then a four-year-old boy. Yep. In 2017 I became a first-time mom at 54 when I adopted three boys from fostercare.

I suppose I should say that this culminates my major firsts for a lifetime, but I think that statement would be presumptuous. It’s just not in my nature to ever give up.