Pauline Betz,Ann Trason, Mary Tiscornia, Shay Bintliff, Julie Suhr , and Beverlee Bentley

How many of you know or are familiar with Pauline Betz? What about Li Na or Francesca Schiavone? To not leave you with any more suspense, Pauline recently died at age 91. She was a dominant women’s tennis player in the 1940s. Na and Schiavone are ancient tennis players, aged 29 and 31 respectively, who face each other in this year’s French Open. They are the oldest women’s final match up in the tournament within the last 25 years. This important bit of information is found in the Wall Street Journal June 3, 2011.Other names that you may or may not be familiar with include Ann Trason, Mary Tiscornia, Shay Bintliff, Julie Suhr, and Beverlee Bentley. I bet you’re dying to find out about these women? First, Ann dominated women’s ultra running. She won more Western states 100s than any other female. She is awesome, spectacular, and one tough woman.

\Mary has competed in more ride and tie world championships than any other human. That also includes the men. She is an equestrian who excels at jumping and endurance as well. She is knowledgeable, skilled, and focused.

Julie has completed more Tevis Cup competitions than anyone. That also includes the men. To find out more about her I refer you to her book “Riding Tall “. She is a woman’s woman. She is engaging, friendly, and obviously quite the skilled equestrian.

Doc Shay is a physician who competes in the Molokai to Oahu Outrigger canoe race. She was in the first women’s boat crossing and has never stopped. She has competed in that race more than anyone else in the world. To find out more about her you’ll have to read “It Has Nothing to Do With Age”.

Beverlee is a gold medal competitor in the sport of rowing. She is relatively new to the sport but has made her mark. To find out more about her you’ll have to read “It Has Nothing to Do With Age”.

You might be wondering why the focus on these healthy women? Let me present a few facts : there is a 29% probability of a woman surviving to age 90, compared with 16% for her husband; 1/3 proportion of women ages 75 to 84 still living with their husbands; 63% of women  who are anxious about the longevity of their retirement savings compared with 52% of men; 70%  of women  are worried about health care costs compared with 57% of men; and $82,000 is the average lifetime cost of long-term care services for women, compared with $ 29,000 for men.  Other statistics include: 86% of women want to spend time traveling; 74% of women want to pursue hobbies and interests; 64% of women want to get involved in their communities; and 62% of women who are interested in philanthropic work. For men, the interest in pursuing all of the above in retirement is considerably lower. The source for the statistics is found in Merrill Lynch Advisor, Spring 2011.

So here’s the problem. Women, because you live longer than men why not enjoy it free from chronic illness and disabilities. So it is clear to me that women have to take better care of themselves. It’s important not to wait for tomorrow. Start a program now to help for your future. If the program means to start walking, then do it. Enrich your life in the present to help deal with the future and begin your own program. Employ “It Has Nothing to Do With Age” as one model to incorporate. There are many sisters that you can follow.