It happens every time Bill Christian mounts the diving block. After he adjusts his goggles and shakes the arms and legs for a final warm-up, he glances to his left, then right. “I look around and there are five other guys on the blocks. Then, the gun goes off. That’s when the rush comes. You never forget the feeling. The rush.”
Competing is exhilarating for the 73-year-old retired engineer and father of four. The volunteer coach of the Sun City Stingrays, a Masters swim team at Sun City Huntley, he uses swim practice and swim meets as a vehicle for fitness and socializing.
Exercise was always a chore for Christian, who regarded jogging two days a week around the neighborhood in Arlington Heights as a penance. Now, swimming is a part of his lifestyle.
Seniors, from 60 onward, are swelling fitness classes, signing up for races and reaching the finish line with a mindset more focused on goal-setting than numbers on a stop watch. Competition gives seniors another reason to stay fit. And events become a personal means to measure improvement.
Regular physical activity at any age promotes overall health and well-being. Though two-thirds of the aging population isn’t doing enough exercise or physical activity, according to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine, medical and fitness professionals advise at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity four to five days a week.
The following are Chicago seniors who embrace aging by signing up for a 5K walk, a marathon, Nordic ski event, swimming meets and stair-climbing competition:
Retirement gives Cyrilla Williams more time to have fun. The 78-year-old retired grade school teacher from Chicago indulges in walking, sometimes up to three hours a day, in the warm weather. In the winter, she takes several exercise classes, including one in line dancing at Columbus Park, run by the Chicago Park District. In the summer she competes in Mayor Daley’s Senior Games.
Snagging an award last summer for a 5-kilometer walk makes her giggle. “I’m going to kick dust before I’m 80,” she insists, clapping hands and imitating a dance routine she just learned at Columbus Park. Walking, line dancing and using a rebounder at home eases an arthritic back and makes her feel limber. “I compete for fun, not speed. It’s how I make new friends.”
One is Bobbie Hicks. The 76-year-old retired physical education teacher from Chicago is a novice to line dancing. She, Williams and 15 others train twice a week, under Laurette McGee, senior coordinator for fitness programs at Columbus Park.
“They come for social reasons as well as fitness,” says McGee, of the seniors who dance to a variety of music, from boogie and Motown to Latin tunes. Students who create their own routines also teach the class. The group performs, by invitation, at retirement homes, churches and other Park District facilities.
“Performing isn’t competing, but some dancers are better than me,” insists Hicks, who stills gets butterflies at the thought of showing off before an audience. “I’m so uncoordinated.”
Doing too many left turns, too fast, doesn’t help one’s ankle. At a recent Monday class, Hicks sat out one song, rubbing a sore foot. “The music hooks me everytime,” adds Hicks. When she heard “Maria, Maria” by Carlos Santana, she excused herself and rushed to join her classmates.
Marvin Sato, a Chicago pipefitter, started jogging in his late 40s to lose weight. When he signed up for races and discovered age-group categories, he became a runner. Bagging a medal against guys his age was cool.
“I used to compete to win. Now, I compete against myself,” says the 62-year-old veteran of 40 marathons and ultra distance races. Sato, like others in his age group, is helping to expand age-group categories and changing the image of seniors and retirement.
Bob Scott, 70, competes in triathlons and marathons as a measure of fitness. “I can live without competition,” explains the retired mechanical engineer from Naperville. Yet, knowing he is running his 20th Boston Marathon in April or another Hawaii Ironman in October gives him reason to haul himself out of bed.
Though he has competed most of his life, managing to run at 3 a.m. before going to work at 5:30 a.m., competing, even against people his age, never gets easier.
“There are an equal number of fanatics out there my age that can outrun me.”
What retirement allows is more time to rest between training events. Now he can take naps and still get all the home chores done.
“Best of all, I don’t have to run in the dark [of early morning] anymore.”
Cathi Watson doesn’t need fancy equipment or a gym to keep in shape. The 67-year-old grandmother and owner of a facial business in Chicago, Cathi Watson Studio, Ltd., trains twice a week on the 60 flights of stairs in her apartment building. She also competes every February in the Hustle Up the Hancock, a charity event in which participants climb or run 92 flights of stairs in the skyscraper on North Michigan Avenue.
Last year, Watson finished in 33 minutes, whittling her previous time by 10 minutes. She got into stair climbing as exercise 20 years ago. Instead of taking the elevator to her salon on the 16th floor, she took the stairs. Climbing was the easiest way to squeeze in a workout before the first client arrived at 7 a.m.
“Fitness is a choice, not a phase you go through,” Watson says. “Competition lets me be the best I can be. It’s a goal to test myself.”
A bonus to fitness is looking good.
“I’m Hungarian and I don’t want the typical Hungarian backside of my ancestors. I want to look my best at any age. Doesn’t everyone?”
Pete Stopoulous sure does. “I like going to high school reunions. I’m proud of how I look,” says the 64-year-old former sports shoe retailer from Geneva. The sports he excelled in in high school (sprinting and long jump) have not faded into memory. He competes in local, national and international track events plus the Senior Olympics.
“Age group divisions make competing fun,” he says.
He looks forward to his next birthday, which will put him into the 65-to-69 age category, out-grouping his brother Lee, 62, a track athlete from Rockford.
“Competition motivates me to get out of bed on these dark winter mornings and into the gym.”
He credits his level of fitness to speeding up his recovery from cancer surgery in 1991. “I was back competing within four months.”
As the number of retirees continues to grow, hundreds of thousands of seniors will make their lifestyle priorities known. A study by Metro Chicago Information Center and the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs reports that they will stay within the neighborhood and demand more medical care, social services, cultural and recreation programs.
Mary Ellen Waterson hopes more women her age will discover the fun of competing. The 67-year-old mother of two took up cross-country skiing and canoeing in 1985. She joined clubs to socialize and get instruction. Today, she competes in Nordic ski events and paddling competitions. She thinks women as they age might be intimidated by younger people.
“If you hang around with people of the same interests, age means nothing. Most of my friends are in their 30s and 40s.”
She competes to support the sport and the race organizers, to have fun and meet people. Every race she finishes is a testament to feeling healthy and fit.
“We’re all on borrowed time. It makes physical activity all the more enjoyable. I like the feeling that comes from moving. You feel alive.”
