My sister made me do it.
Betsy would not allow me to skip the Arizona State Senior Olympics.
I had a good reason not to compete: Life got in the way.
I was so pumped when, after working out with weights for a month with my trainer Gab Rico, I won gold in powerlifting in the late-January Tucson Senior Olympic Festival.
Sure, I had no competition in my age group but, hey, it was gold. Well, not real gold, but the color was right.
So I instantly committed to doing the Arizona Senior Olympics on Feb. 27 in Phoenix. I was going to work out relentlessly and get so much stronger. I was even going to let Gab boss me around — I resist that as much as possible.
Then my husband became ill. My days were spent in a hospital wringing my hands and eating hospital food augmented by junk food.
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Working out? Never crossed my mind.
Lousy diet, little exercise, lots of stress.
I was not ready for the state competition.
Gab even gave me an out, agreeing that under the circumstances I could skip the competition in Phoenix.
Then I told Betsy that I was thinking of dropping out.
“You can’t,” she said. “You must do them. You are the only Olympian in the family.”
Her logic was a bit off — I am hardly an Olympian — but she is my older sister. Defying her just felt, well, wrong.
My husband was home and better, so I spent a week trying to play workout catch-up and I went.
Gab came, too. She rubbed my muscles between lifts. She made me stretch. She kept me loose. She convinced me that the seemingly impossible was possible.
And I won gold. Bigger medals, but still not real gold. And yes, it’s true, once again I had no competition in my age category, and the weight I lifted was paltry compared to others. But I broke my own records: 160-pound deadlift and 60-pound bench press.
And I loved it.
Here are some of the reasons why:
- Ken Hebert, competing in the 55-59 category, would not let the weights get the better of him. The Phoenix resident stood before them, legs in an I’m-about-to-demolish-you stance, fists clenched, eyes glaring and breath deep and threatening. Once he sensed the weights knew who was boss, he stepped up and lifted 350 pounds as though they were feathers, then bounced away to high-five the other competitors.
- Gayle Clawson, from Mesa, was in the 70-74 category. She bemoans the fact that she can’t lift as much as she use to. It might be age, or it might be that she had breast cancer four years ago and breast implant replacements in September. She waltzed up to the weights and deadlifted 300 pounds. She won gold. She never stopped smiling.
- Kim Kreider is just 53 — the youngest woman there. She hails from Apache Junction. She probably has zero percent fat on her. She is petite and all muscle, and striking with her long blondish hair and megawatt smile. And she doesn’t fool around: She squatted with 215 pounds on her shoulders — that’s twice her weight. But there was no strutting for her when done — she quickly moved to the sidelines and cheered on her fellow competitors, offering tips and encouragement with a boundless enthusiasm.
- Chandler resident Terry Jernigan, competing in the 55-59 category, isn’t rippling with muscles, but he is astoundingly strong. His first event was squats; he did them with 405 pounds on his shoulders. “I hate squats,” he said as he moved to the sidelines to cheer the next competitor. “I do squats for my health. Dead lifts I do for my ego.” His ego deserves to be puffed up: He deadlifted 425 pounds — the bar even bent under the weight. After his lift, his eyes searched the room and stopped only when he saw his wife, who ran to him and gave him a kiss. He beamed, clearly thinking that’s the real prize.
- Debbee Malinowski of Surprise is competing in her first Senior Olympics. She is in the 60-64 category. She’s got a purple shirt on; the color matches the sea of purple T-shirts in the spectator section, each one saying “Debbee does deadlifts.” Her fans cheer loudly for her when she steps up to the weights. They seem to intuit what raucous support can do: They cheer loudly for everyone who steps up to the weights.
I love lifting weights, feeling strong, doing the unexpected and winning, even if it’s by default. I even love working with Gab, who makes me push myself.
But after two Senior Olympics competitions, I realize this: What I really love is being around people who laugh easily, embrace freely, and encourage generously. That’s the real gold.
