FIT CITY

Three generations train for Danskin Women's Triathlon

Grandmother inspires daughter and granddaughter to race

By Pamela LeBlanc
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, June 01, 2008

Mother, daughter and granddaughter perch in the back hatch of a minivan, tightening shoe laces and stretching out muscles. In a few minutes they'll be charging up and down hills, part of their training for Sunday's Danskin Women's Triathlon.

"She takes all the credit — and the blame," 46-year-old Kelly Foster says, pointing at her mom, the driving force behind this sweat-slathered, three-generational triathlon bonding experience. Jody Kelly, 70, grins. Yes. The cogs started turning more than a year ago, when she turned 69. "I started thinking, 'What can I do at age 70 that will shock me and change my life?' " The answer turned out to be a triathlon. Now she's doing one with her family.

Actually, Jody Kelly had been thinking about doing the Danskin for years. She'd even volunteered, paddling a support kayak during the swim portion of the triathlon a few times, convinced she couldn't race herself. But then she realized she could — and should, to improve her cardiovascular fitness and set a good example. In a flurry one day, she signed up online for a triathlon training program. "I thought, I'll just show up for the first practice. Maybe I'll drop out, but I'll just put a toe in the water."

That was more than a year ago. Since then, she's done three small triathlons and a handful of 5K races. This year she talked her daughter and granddaughter into joining the Tri Zones Training program and signing up for the Danskin Women's Triathlon with her. The race, which is staged in eight cities, is the largest and longest-running women's multisport event in the country. Last year the Austin edition drew nearly 2,600 women, many of them triathlon rookies, who swam half a mile, biked 12.5 miles and ran or walked 3.1 miles.

The trio, who have dubbed themselves the 3Gs for Three Generations, trains with Tri Zones twice a week. They practice on their own, too, prodding each other out of bed for an early-morning run or meeting for a 30-mile bike ride in Williamson County. A few weeks ago, they staged their own open water swim practice in Lake Pflugerville.

"It's definitely a legacy," says the youngest generation, Shannon Foster, a 21-year-old Southwestern University student. She says her mother and grandmother have inspired her to make fitness a lifelong goal. "So many people decide they're too old to exercise. ... Grandma is incredibly impressive. It's definitely something to live up to."

They insist they are not competitive. "Not now that I realize she can beat me at anything," Kelly Foster says, chuckling at her daughter.

"And I know they're going to beat me," Jody Kelly says. She goes at her own pace, and it's not about speed. "When I'm too old to do Danskin myself, let's do a relay," she suggests. The other two nod.

Finally, it's time to start the day's training session.

"Where's my cane? Get my walker," Jody Kelly jokes as they walk toward the spongy red track at Canyon Ridge Middle School with the rest of the Tri Zones Training group.

After warm-up laps, they head a few blocks to a hilly street, where they'll run repeats. Shannon Foster peels out first, zipping up the hill like there's no incline. Kelly Foster watches her daughter go, then offers an invisible stretch of rope to her mother as they start up at a more reasonable pace. Soon they separate, too, and the grandmother is chugging along by herself, steady and determined.

Tracy Nelson, head coach and co-founder of Tri Zones Training, which works with more than 150 men and women in five training groups around the city, says she's trained several mother-daughter or sibling groups, but never three generations of one family.

"What is cool to me is that it's Jody who brought the other generations in," Nelson says. "To me, that just shows the strength of character Jody has, that she can turn around and lead by example and motivate her family members to try something new."

Jody Kelly says that besides improving her cardiovascular fitness, the training has made her more self-confident. "My humility is in good shape, too. I know I'm going to come in last. I sweep," she says.

The other two generations, however, know it's not about how fast you are, but the fact that you do it.

"It's great to have a role model, especially in your own family," says Kelly Foster, who is working on a master's degree in nursing. "If my mom who is 70 can go out and run ... "

Jody Kelly has inspiration of her own. Last year, 79-year-old Phyllis Mann was the oldest woman to do the Austin Danskin Triathlon. "What she does is take away your excuse. It's 'Well, there's a 79-year-old chick who does it.' "

Come race weekend, the three women will load their bikes onto Jody Kelly's car and head to Decker Lake, where they will rack their bikes together. They'll help each other arrange their gear in the transition area. They'll wait at the finish to cheer each other on.

One generation, though, will be missing.

"In the back of my mind, I'm going to do this for my mother," says Jody Kelly. Her mother, Faye Kelly, died in February. Even in her 90s, she exercised regularly, something that wasn't exactly encouraged in her youth. "In her day, they had a theory that if women ran, their uteruses would fall out."

"Ohh," Shannon Foster groans.

"It's true," Jody Kelly nods.

She wishes her mother, who gave her a new road bike for her 70th birthday, could see the trio race now. "She would have been out there at Decker Lake watching, under a shade tree," Jody Kelly says.

She'd have been proud.