Look What Mom Can Do!

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Look What Mom Can Do!


The nation is in awe that a 41-year-old woman could make the Olympic swim team. Lake Arrowhead resident Caren Ware is jazzed. As an advocate of being active and fit over 40, Ware has been running track and field events on a national and world level since age 40.

At 46, she holds the Masters American Record in the decathlon, an event that just opened up to women this past year. The two-day competition combines 10 events: hurdles, 100m, 400m, 1500m, long jump, high jump, javelin, discus, shot put and pole vault. “Women didn't pole vault in my day, so learning it at age 40 plus has been a challenge,” noted Ware.

In keeping with the theme of “being in it for the long run,” Ware has managed to stay on the podium in all the multi-events this past year. She is the 2008 Masters National Champion in the heptathlon, beating out not only the Americans, but the Canadians and British at a combined national, international meet held in Joplin, Mo., in June.

To stir up interest in women in sports over the age of 40, Ware and her team of fabulously fit females, the Athena Track Club, have been showcasing speed and endurance at major meets across the nation including Millrose Games, Penn Relays, Drake Relays, and even the Olympic Trials.

“The people in the stands love to watch us in action. They are taken aback that we jump right in with the collegiate athletes and they can not tell the difference in muscle tone and performance. In fact, we seem to have a calmer demeanor that comes with age and experience. It has been a thrill to form this team. We are all moms, wives, have homes and careers to manage, and are living proof that you can fit in exercise too,” noted Ware.

Ware just returned from the Masters National Track and Field Championships held Aug 7-10 in Spokane, Wash., where she won the 2008 2000m steeple chase national title, using her training in the hurdles to outmaneuver the solid steeples and her long jump ability to clear the water jumps. Although not the fastest ranked steeple chase competitor, she proved to be the most technically sound and her clean hurdling put her ahead of the field. She also won the national title in the triple jump. She had held both titles in 2007.

Ware came in second in the outdoor pentathlon to a tough All-American competitor, Caryl Sean-Griffith, who also decided to make a comeback over the age of 40. “I am thankful we are pulling out our athletes to show off to the world. But even more encouraging is many people are trying the sport for the first time at this masters age. And many of them are great becoming great competitors in something they never tried before.”

FUTURE PLANS

Ware will represent the USA Masters Track and Field team in Finland at the World Championships in August 2009 and in Sydney, Australia, at the Super World Games in October 2009. “For now, I am taking the fall off and going to just jog, swim and bike and let my body enjoy the foundation we put on it over the past four years,” she said. “Then I will hit the spring/summer track season focused and rested. Rest is becoming a key factor in working out at a masters level.

“In working with my collegiate coach, Gayle Watkins, and personal trainer Ralph Reitz, we have found it does take longer to repair a masters body. It also takes a few more seconds to recapture cardio at a masters age than the 18- to 25-year-olds. The best lesson I have learned this year is that rest days make the times faster,” Ware added.

Ware and her husband Jim own and operate PRIME TIME, a race timing company that produces results and finish lines for more than 100 events per year.