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Sally O’Malley doesn’t have anything on Manoa’s Diane Stowell.
While the popular, 50-year-old “Saturday Night Live” recurring character prides herself on her ability to “kick, stretch and kick,” Stowell’s mantra is more along the lines of “swim, surf and run.” Oh, and Stowell is 73.
She gets up as early as 4 a.m. every morning for an activity - a 5-mile run to the Punahou track and back, a swim in the University of Hawaii’s Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex or a pre-dawn surfing session out at Waianae.
In the 26 years since moving back to her island home in 1981, Stowell has showed few signs of slowing down. Name a local event involving a run, a swim or a bike ride - the Aloha State Games, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim - she’s done it.
“I don’t see a reason to stop,” Stowell said. “All I want to do is stay healthy. And if I can stay healthy and keep participating, that’s what I want to do.”
Neither a rotator cuff surgery in 2003 nor three operations this year for skin cancer have stopped her. She’s cut certain things back; she can’t paddle anymore, and she limits her exposure to the sun. But she also does hula three times a week, dives, skis (on both snow and water) and is the six-year director of the Duke’s Waikiki Ocean Mile Swim, as well as a board member of the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation.
Laurie Foster, 51, competes in many of the same local swimming events, and said Stowell is seen as an icon.
“Whatever she tries to do, she exceeds every-body’s expectations,” said Foster, a business entrepreneur.
Stowell took first place in two breaststroke categories at last year’s Masters World Championships at Stanford, Calif., and holds records in the United States Masters Swimming in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter breaststrokes.
“Some people swim for life and for staying in shape; others swim because they’re always looking at the next challenge, which is sort of what I’m doing,” Stowell explained.
“Competitively, I’d rather be in swimming. Surfing, I just love to be out there when the turtles are around and you’re at one with the water.”
A former assistant principal on the mainland, Stowell was an honors chemistry and psychology teacher at Punahou, her alma mater, for 20 years before retiring in 2001. “Retirement” is a loose expression for her; she volunteers as a go-between at the Mediation Center of the Pacific, helping resolve disputes, and is a mentor at Waiawa Prison.
Her son, Dean, stopped trying to convince her to take it easy a while back.
“I used to fight to slow her down, but now there’s no point. I just let her go,” said Dean, a 39-year-old search and rescue specialist with the Honolulu Fire Department. “It’s an amazing amount of energy, and it’s pretty mind-boggling when you think about all the things she gets done in one day.”
About 10 weeks ago he suffered a life-threatening injury when his rappelling cord failed to catch during a training session. He fell 40 feet, breaking his pelvis and arm and severely injuring his back. Amazingly, it took him only six weeks to rehab his way out of a wheelchair and walker.
That whole time, he looked at his mother’s drive as an inspiration.
“It’s something that, me being injured, it gives me hope,” Dean said. “I’ll hopefully be able to do those kind of things myself. A lot of it’s in your head. If you want to go and do it, it’s totally possible. You gotta have the attitude.”