There was a big victory in Lisa Bartlett’s last-place finish.
The Peoria resident had just taken up running in a serious way three years earlier right before her 51st birthday. A late start? Not for her.
In August of this year, at age 54, she registered for the Anthem Sprint Triathlon, which consisted of a 5K run, a 20K bike course, and a 400M swim to the finish. Bartlett’s time of 2:26.03 in the 50-54 age division didn’t set any course records as she finished, in her own words, “dead last.” But the finish — through heat and up and over hills — represented three years’ worth of a renewed fitness commitment, and that included running the full race at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Phoenix this past January. “I wasn’t quite last, but darn close,” she said of her marathon time.
