LouLife [1]

As he jogs the neighborhood streets surrounding the Northeast Family YMCA, Charlie Francke’s Adidas running shoes smack the pavement at a steady pace. Francke — wearing a blue tank top, black running shorts, a white ball cap and wrap-around shades — has been a runner since 1977, and that experience allows him to calculate distances in his head. On this particular morning, sun shining in a nearly cloudless sky, he returns to the YMCA’s entrance and estimates that he’s just completed “three miles or so,” which qualifies as a light training day. “ I could have run a lot farther,” he says, not winded whatsoever.

Francke, 50, and more than 12,000 other AARP-eligible athletes will perform in 18 sports — such as basketball, cycling, racquetball, swimming and volleyball — at the 2007 Senior Olympics in Louisvillefrom June 22 to July 7. Various city venues, including the Universityof Louisville, the KentuckyExpositionCenter, the Downtown YMCA and TomSawyerPark, will host events. Francke, who’s in the 50-54 age bracket (one of 11 groupings), will compete in the 1,500-meter footrace and the triathlon, an event in which he’ll swim 400 meters, bike 20 kilometers and run 5 kilometers. “Often, in the triathlon, you’ll see that someone is dynamite at one thing and mediocre at the other two,” Francke says. “I’m not spectacular at any of them, but I’m pretty good at all three.”

Francke, a Louisville native and psychiatrist who is married with two grown children, participated in his first triathlon in the early 1980s, and, for him, it was — and still is — therapeutic. That’s why he practices six days or more every week. “If somebody called me and said, ‘Let’s go for lunch,’ I’d say, ‘Let’s go for a run instead,’” he explains. During his most intense training weeks, Francke may bike 180 miles, run 32 miles and swim 6,000 meters, a regimen that should also help this August when he competes in Ironman Louisville. In that event, he’ll swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles. “It’s crazy, I know,” he says.

In the triathlon at the Senior Olympics, Francke hopes to place in the top three for his age group. But in the 1,500 meters, he simply hopes to “not finish last.” That’s coming from a man who can run close to a five-minute mile. “The misconception (about the Senior Olympics) would be that there’s not that much athleticism and that the people just aren’t passionate about their sports,” Francke says. “I think there are a lot of senior athletes out there who are passionate about what they do. Unless they’re also an artist or also a writer or can also play guitar, I think, for most people, this is their self-expression.”

For more information on events and schedules call 893-1940 or visit www.2007seniorgames.org [4]