You never know what will arrive in your inbox. I first learned of the Pan-American Masters Games through an email that arrived several months ago, a major event of the International Masters Games Association (IMGA). The IMGA would welcome athletes age 30 and over scheduled to take place in Cleveland Ohio on July 12-21, 2024.

My calendar was open for a couple of those days. Of the 26 sports offered, some of the track events worked for my schedule. I already had family events planned for the dates when the 10K and 1/2 Marathon were offered so those were off the table.

Still, it would be an opportunity to see if I could be competitive in this wider group and also perhaps have the opportunity to meet age-group competitors from far and wide. Although over 60 countries were represented, the majority of the competitors in my activities were from across the USA.

Track events were held at the George Finney Stadium on the beautiful campus of Baldwin Wallace University. My first event, the 400 Sprint, was held Sunday in the early afternoon. With temperatures in the mid 80’s, my legs were feeling oddly heavy and I finished with a 2:03:02 and eked out a third place.

Still Sunday and several hours later, I ran the 1500. We ran this event with women from age 70 and up, although awards were done in 5-year age groups. I would much have preferred to be in the grandstand for this event to watch several brilliant runners tackling this distance.

The two most impressive were Jeannie Rice who has multiple age group and single age American and International records and Ana Giuffra of Uruguay who is a South American Champion in the 800 and 1500 distances. Instead, I was on the track with them. I joked beforehand that my goal was to avoid being lapped by either of them. I was barely successful in achieving that with a finish at 8:50:41.

A delay in the awards ceremony gave me an opportunity to talk with several of the competitors I had not previously met, including Ana of Uruguay and Candy Puterbaugh with the Portland Masters Track & Field Club also a very strong runner on the track.

My final event at the Pan-American Games was the 800. The lineup of age groupers was similar and I was able to at least finish at a time consistent with my last few 800 races, finishing with a 4:23.

So that’s the final finish and I am off the track to catch up with family for some celebrations.

But I will also leave you with the thought that Track and Field was only one of the 26 sports offered. I would encourage anyone who is interested or has curiosity about any of the sports offered at the Pan American Games to take a look at future IMGA events. It is an opportunity to participate in a sport not just for the competition but for the conditioning and friendships you may build in preparing for that competition. Win/Win.