Take one of your elevator pitches and develop a first draft Executive Summary/opening paragraph for a proposal. Consider and approximate the steps you would have to take and finance to reach your goals. Do not write an entire proposal and budget, just a preliminary summation.
In professional sports, most athletes reach peak performance in their mid- to late-20s, some into their 30s, and even rarer are the pros who still actively compete in their 40s. As for the rest of the population, many give up competitive sports after high school, save for the occasional local running race. And then there are those who seem to defy the passages of time. They’re on the fields and courts, in pools and gyms – achieving startling physical feats in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. This is a book about them – profiles of their inspiring journeys, physical struggles and accomplishments. These are people like Sister Madonna Buder, a k a the Iron Nun, who at 81, still competes in Ironman triathlons, along with Robert McKeague, 82. There’s Gladys Burrill, who this spring finished the Honolulu Marathon at age 92. We can only expect to see this list grow as the aging baby boomers – 76 million strong – remain active and challenge the concept of aging.
I intend to interview a wide range of older athletes in different sports around the country, though the concentration will be on endurance sports. A few (the number will be determined later) will be profiled individually. I will start by producing an introductory chapter that provides a good overview of this quiet revolution, packed with data and interviews from experts in kinetics, sports medicine and coaching, followed by two or three of the profiles. I will have to finance this on my own, through my savings, but hope to eventually obtain an advance from a publisher that would help offset travel costs and other expenses incurred.
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