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Dee Nelson: Not a Retiring Runner
By James Moreland
September/October 2009
Dee Nelson, of Gaithersburg, MD, is just getting started after more than 40 years of running, 31 years of racing, and 1,266 races. A very youthful 66-year-old, she credits much of her success to her mentor, Kenneth Cooper, M.D, M.P.H.
Dr. Kenneth Cooper is recognized as the father of aerobics and the leader of the international fitness movement. In 1968, his book Aerobics introduced this new word and fitness concept to America and the world. Even today in Brazil, fitness enthusiasts say they are doing their "cooper." Dr. Cooper is credited with motivating more people to exercise in pursuit of good health than any other person. Since the late 1960s, the number of runners has increased from 400 to more than 40 million.
Dr. Cooper opened the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, TX in 1970. Since 1972, Dee has gone to the clinic periodically for comprehensive physicals. Her goal has always been to break an age group record on the treadmill. The stress test uses the Modified Balke Protocol, which starts at a speed of 3.3 mph and 0% elevation for one minute. After one minute, the gradient is set at 2%, then each minute after that the gradient is increased by an additional 1% until the level is 25%. The speed is then increased by .2 mph, with the subject going until exhaustion.
In 1994, at age 51, with Dr. Cooper in the room, Dee reached 28:04, missing the record by six seconds. However, in February of this year, she stayed the course for 23:11, breaking the old 65-69 age group record by more than one minute. In a congratulatory letter Dr. Cooper said, "We have now tested over 100,000 patients, many on several occasions, so to set a record in any age group is quite rare."
In the first ten years of her racing, Dee Nelson averaged barely more than ten races a year. As the 1990s began, she geared up to two to three times as many, winning the Masters Runner of the Year from the MCRRC in 1991 and two years later from the Frederick Steeplechasers. She is one of the charter members of the 50 Plus Club, formed in 1997, in which members endeavor to race at least 50 times a year. Dee is one of three of the original seven members to have raced 50 or more races for the first 12 years. She has averaged more than 60 races a year since 1993, and expects to do so in 2009, as she has already run 40 races.
Throughout her 50s and early 60s, Dee has been near the top of the division. Since she turned 65 in the fall of 2008, she has dominated. She began the fall season a few seconds behind Joan Coven of West Point, VA, for second in the division. In the winter period, Nelson owned the top ten qualifying times. Coven settled for one marvelous 5K in 24:07. Nelson surpassed that easily with a crushing win at the hilly RRCA Challenge 10M in 1:22:57. In the spring, Coven returned with some 5Ks, but she was already slowing down. Nelson responded with the top five times and much faster 5Ks to reign supreme again. At Pike's Peek, she cruised home in 49:27, but was disappointed with her performance. She had already run a sterling Piece of Cake 10K in March on the hills of Seneca Creek Park, but the race in Rockville was on an extremely hot day. In between those races she had passed on the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10M and took on the hills of the 34th Charlottesville 10M, breaking a single age record set in 2002 by more than 12 minutes with 1:24:07. Her time was faster than the winner of her age division (1:24:33) at the world-class field in Washington, DC.
You can tell which distances Dee prefers to run. She never goes longer than ten miles or shorter than a mile. Check the Best of 2009 results posted weekly at www.runwashington.com and you will discover that she owns the best time for seven of ten distances. The other three times, 4M, 12K, and 15K, are distances she has yet to race this year. So far, she has topped her division in all 40 races she has run.
Dee Nelson has been working as a dental hygienist since she graduated in 1963 from the University of Pennsylvania. The work, she says, is physically demanding. Perhaps that is why she trains smart and stays so fit. She understands that good health is vital and not to be taken for granted. Still, this grandmother does not run every day by a long shot. She usually does one or two three-mile runs a week with one or two 30-minute sessions on the stationary bike. Races are her speed work. But, when it comes to race day, look out! She runs for the gold. In the smaller races, such as the Tidal Basin 3K, sometimes gold is for the overall win. In the larger races, Dee hopes to win her age group and often wins the masters division. As with many avid athletes who train well, she plans to be racing for many years.
Retire? She hopes to do at least 1,000 more races!
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