Nike’s ad “Unlimited Youth” celebrates one truly special athlete – 86 year old nun Madonna Buder who deals with triathlon and competes in – wait for it – the IRONMAN® races.
She finished her first IRONMAN race in 1985, at the age of 65. At 75, this American nun became the oldest woman to finish this race. At the age of 82, she set the world record as the oldest contestant in the IRONMAN. Today, at 86 years of age, she already has more than 40 finished IRONMAN races, each of which consists of 3.86 km swimming, 180.25 km cycling and running a marathon length of 42.2 km. Due to her “iron” determination and perseverance, she earned the nickname “Iron Nun”.
During her career she also had some less fortunate moments, like the one when she missed the goal by a few seconds, a number of broken bones, she was bothered by the issue of clothing, but she never gives up. “The only mistake and failure is not to try, because the effort you invest is a success in itself,” says Sister Buder.
She began training only seven years before the first race in Hawaii, while she attended a workshop in Oregon Coast led by a priest who discovered running as a formula for harmonizing the mind, the body and the soul. Encouraged by his example, nun Buder decided to go to extremes and opted for a triathlon, without knowing much about the sport. “It was a salvation,” she claims. She attributes her mental strength to listening to her body and positive thoughts.
“You carry your attitude with you,” sister explains. “You either achieve or you self-destruct. If you think positively, you can even turn a negative into a positive.” Along with this spiritual guidance, she gives a simple advice to the younger athletes: “One step at a time makes a marathon.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEf7MoQYgzE
