“I Just Pretend I'm A Kid Again. It's Pure Joy”
220 Triathlon|August 2017

At 87 years young, Sister Madonna Buder has more than 325 triathlon finishes to her credit – and the ‘Iron Nun’ has no plans to slow down

“I Just Pretend I'm A Kid Again. It's Pure Joy”

I didn’t choose triathlon – it chose me. I was introduced to running by a priest in 1977. It made no sense to me until he told me that running harmonises mind, body and soul. That caught my attention, so I went out and tried it. He told me to keep at it and after a few weeks I’d feel the runner’s high. To this day I’m not sure if I know what the runner’s high is, but I know what the low is for sure.

I found out about triathlon from a friend who had returned from racing the Ironman in Hawaii. He told me: ‘Sister, you have to do this!’ The more I tried to knock it out of my mind, the more it stuck, and I’ve been stuck in it ever since.

This story is from the August 2017 edition of 220 Triathlon.

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This story is from the August 2017 edition of 220 Triathlon.

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