Two Athletes Who Inspire Us to Achieve in 2011

We're just a week and a half into 2011, but my guess is that most of us already have reached the point where we're tempted to waver on fitness goals in our New Year's resolutions. Maybe you've already had one of those mornings when you hear the alarm clock go off at 6 a.m. and ponder staying in bed rather than trudging off to the pool for that morning swim that you vowed never to miss. Or perhaps you're tempted to indulge in a leisurely high-calorie lunch instead of heading to the gym for a workout and eating a take-out spinach salad at your desk afterward. That personal best in the marathon, the next belt level in your martial art or that yoga pose that you've dreamed of perfecting are starting to seem as daunting as climbing Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas.

But don't give up. Instead, take a look at two intrepid older athletes who are great role models for those of us who aspire to new heights.

Take, for example, Canadian distance runner Martin Parnell. You may have seen the 55-year-old engineer's CNN interview on New Year's Eve 2009, when he pledged to run an astonishing 250 marathons to raise money for Right to Play International, an organization that provides opportunities for children in impoverished countries to participate in sports. In his very first race, on Jan. 1, 2010, Parnell faced temperatures of -23 F. But he managed to finish, and he kept completing races in all sorts of weather, from searing heat to torrential rain. He took an estimated 1 million steps, went through 25 pairs of running shoes, and struggled to cope with back problems and a calf injury that forced him to take two weeks off.

Somehow, Parnell managed to keep going, even when he had to get up at 4 a.m. after a long evening of blogging and answering e-mails to prepare for yet another race. As this article from the Globe and Mail describes, his disciplined approach is one of his secrets to success. He consulted with his physician, Dr. William Hanlon, who persuaded Parnell to pare down his initial goal of 365 marathons and monitored his electrolytes, blood pressure and other vital signs regularly to make sure that the runner's ambitions weren't damaging his health. ("If anything, he seemed to get stronger," Hanlon told the Globe and Mail.)

Additionally, Parnell chose to sacrifice speed for staying power, and meticulously followed a strategy of walking one minute for every six to nine minutes of running.

It came down to the wire, but Parnell made his goal. On Dec. 31, he completed his 250th race of the year, in weather that was only a few degrees warmer than his first race. In an interview with CBC News, Parnell attributed his achievement to having "a certain amount of nut-ness."

"I didn't have a clue if I could do it, and there were times during the year that I thought 'This is it; I'm done,'" he explained to CBC. "But I just kept plodding, and here we are today."

Parnell also raised more than $200,000 for children's sports programs. (BTW, you still can contribute and help him reach his goal of $250,000 by Feb. 4, by clicking here.)

Meanwhile, another seasoned athlete whom we wrote about in 2010, 63-year-old multitalented track and field phenom Philippa Raschker, continues to sprint, throw the javelin, high jump and pole-vault with abandon.

Raschker, a Georgia accountant who holds an astonishing 18 world age-group records in track, recently was profiled in this New York Times article. Raschker has become such a celebrated phenom that she was among the athletes invited to pose nude for ESPN's annual issue celebrating the athletic body. (Here's a great photo of her leaping into a freezing-cold swimming hole in upstate New York, a feat she had to duplicate nearly 50 times for the shoot.)

As she explains to the Times: "I feel good about my body. I take care of it. I hope they have me back when I'm 70."

If these two can do it, so can you. So get out there and keep plugging.

Read more: Boomers Catch Marathon Fever