Everyone has a story. And every masters athlete is fodder for the local sports section, especially this year. With the WMA world meet starting today, a 43-year-old California mom and track coach got her moment in the sun — in her local newspaper. Only problem with story: It suggested that the Hawaii masters nationals served as a qualifying meet for San Sebastian. Not true.) Anyhooooo, here’s a nice write-up on Caren, who competes for SoCal Track Club.

And just in case the link goes dead:
Ware on a tear to World Masters meet
By Damian Secore, Correspondent
From an athletic standpoint, Caren Ware will attest that life, indeed, begins at 40.
Three years later, she is set for the biggest competition of her life and proving that, even with a family, a business and youth coaching activities to tend to, time is still on her side.
The Lake Arrowhead resident will represent the United States in the World Masters Track and Field Championships (for athletes 35 and over) in San Sebastian, Spain, which runs through Sept. 3. Ware, who turned 43 in July, competes in the 40-44 age division and is one of about 6,800 entrants worldwide.
Ware qualified for Worlds by winning five national championships at the USA outdoor championships earlier this month in Honolulu. She scored 2,739 points in the pentathlon, ran the 400-meter hurdles in 73.67 seconds, long-jumped 4.42 meters, triple-jumped 8.86m and threw the javelin 22.32 meters.
Staying with her husband, Jim, and her kids, John (15) and Carrie (12), in a bed and breakfast in Bayonne, France – a border town about 20 miles from the site of the event – Ware will be the only U.S. athlete in her division competing in the heptathlon, which starts today. She also plans on competing in the 400 hurdles, triple jump and 4×400 relay. The hurdles and triple jump are Ware’s best, and favorite, events.
“I was packing my USA Track uniform – it’s all white – and I was like, `Knock on your head, you’re doing it!’ It means so much,” Ware said of representing the USA.
“I don’t think I’m going to feel it until I’m there and I’m running. The only regret I had coming out of college was not making it to the Olympic Trials and not representing my country.
“I want to get my personal best (68.90 seconds) in the 400 hurdles and I want to be top-3 in the world. In the heptathlon, my hope is to get other Americans interested because we are so under-represented.”
A 1980 graduate of Hacienda Heights’ Los Altos High School, Ware ran on the boys track team for three years before a girls team was created her senior year. She believes injury and unsophisticated coaching at Biola University kept her from competing on the national stage.
Ware coaches track at Rim of the World High School and with a Lake Arrowhead youth program. She also coaches cross country at Lake Arrowhead Christian, where her children attend. It was only a few years ago that Ware, who belongs to the Mission Viejo-based SoCal Track Club, found she could channel her competitive juices in an organized fashion beyond just competing in triathlons and marathons.
Said Ware: “I started coaching high school track and I could out-jump them, and I said, `C’mon guys, I can out-jump you. I’m in better shape than you.’ And someone came up to me and said, `You know they have this Masters Division …’
“What they’re finding with females is they have a higher endurance base when they’re older. Performance doesn’t go down with age. It is enhanced.”
Ware’s first major event as a Masters athlete was at the 2003 outdoor nationals (Eugene, Ore.), where she finished second in the 2,000m steeple chase and triple jump and third in the long jump. She won her first national title, in the triple jump at the 2004 outdoor nationals (Decatur, Ill.) and has flourished this year.
“I don’t think any of us ever took it that seriously, until she started winning. Now we see all these medals,” said Jim Ware.” (The kids) are a little amazed. It’s genuine and they see it the way I see it now. Eyes are getting big. It’s like, `Wow, that’s mom!’
“It’s only in the last three years that she’s really taken it seriously. When she first started with this idea, I said, `Oh, Karen,’ and I thought she was going to be disappointed. When she sets her mind to something, she always accomplishes it. It still surprises me. I should understand it after being married to her for 20 years.”
This Wonder Woman does not succeed without expert time management. Ware balances her weekend track meets with family life and running her own business. She and husband Jim own Prime Time, a computerized timing company that scores triathlons, marathons and cycling events.
“Luckily, I’m a very task-oriented, Type-A personality, and I need this to thrive,” Ware said. “You have to be a master juggler. When I’m spending time with my kids, I’ll show up at the lake with my wetsuit, my bike and my running shoes. I think that stamina and energy comes from owning my own business.”
Not to mention Ware’s workout schedule, six days a week in the gym and on the track.
“I run with the dogs,” joked Jim Ware, who added Caren’s weekly routine has never created a strain on family life: “Caren can do what three people can do. She’s an incredible woman. The kids have grown up with it, so they understand. She is a real competitive person. That’s part of her. I understand.”
Ware is appreciative to Rim of the World for allowing her to use their track equipment and facilities to train, and to Gayle Watkins and Larry Myricks (an Olympic long jumper), both of whom coach her at Mt. San Antonio College. Above that, she is always willing to reward her family for their support.
“That’s why I’m taking my family with me,” said Ware, who is also flying her family to England to visit friends before flying back to compete in the triple jump and relay. “I feel that the kids need to be involved with the activities, so I’m not making it 100 percent my agenda. We’re trying to teach the kids some history as we go.”
In the meantime, Ware’s foremost focus is on the world championships.
Ware admits to feeling tired and beat up from recent business developments and because she is carrying a strained lateral muscle in the back of her left leg and feels tension in her hips. A wearying flight from Ontario to Madrid also included six stops in between. She also admits this may be her last major competition.
“I’ve been competing the last two years to get to this point,” Ware said. “You can’t reach any higher than Worlds. I’m going to get my family together and we’re going to make a decision afterward.”
Either way, time will continue to be on Ware’s side, but the decision could be made easier with world championship medals on her neck.