By San Diego Guide and Chicago Manager Chelsey Stone
A group of semi-retired professors at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri have set out to walk/run their age in 5Ks, which at 70 and older, is no small feat. It was a delight to hop on a Zoom call with these inspiring individuals aging in stride.
Nancy was the one who started it all. “I turned 70 in 2017. I don't do resolutions anymore but sometime in January of 2017 I wasn't falling asleep and thought Oh darn!—not exactly my word—I'm going to be 70 this year. How do I get my mind around that?”
At that point, Nancy was walking every day and had done a few 5Ks with her children. “I thought, gee, I wonder how many 5Ks—math was not my topic—but how many 5Ks are in 70, and it came out a whole number. I thought, well there you go. I'm almost committed now.” She made the mistake of taking this fledgling idea to her trainer Ryan at her community center. “I said, I'm kind of wondering about doing 5Ks, it's 14 5Ks—not all at once, of course. So Ryan being Ryan, he said to everybody in the training room: What do you think about Nancy doing these 5Ks?” Someone there happened to be in charge of student activities and offered to help Nancy find some 5Ks to sign up for.
As Nancy was feeling more committed, she brought it up with her friends during a wine night, and “everybody said hey, that would be so cool. Can I go with you?”
Nancy said, “for all but one of the 14 I did, I had a team with me—these people here [gestures to those on our Zoom call]. So I made a shirt for everyone, and we started doing them and I thought, you know, why would I stay just in Maryville? I started connecting with people: a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time in Michigan, a brother and sister in California.” With these trips planned, her next thought was, “we've got to end this on a bang. I was looking at 5Ks all over and that's when I found the Central Park tour in New York City.”
She emailed Mike at City Fit Tours and he offered to lead a personalized tour. “A bunch of us showed up in New York City for that and it was amazing.”
From left to right: Sue, Vicki, Cathy, and Nancy
Sue was the next to turn 70 and complete 70k, finishing in Memphis for a friend whose son came through cancer treatment at St. Jude's Children’s Research Hospital.
Cathy, the next to turn 70, said “if it wasn't for Nancy, we'd all be big blobs sitting on our couch. I told her, you made us strong. We did the ones together we could, and we ended up in New York again.” This time Mike took out their group of 12.
Cathy continued, “it was the highlight of being in New York. Now I'm starting to do 75Ks by the time I hit 75. I've done 14 or 12. I do some of them with Sue as she's going and some with Nancy and some of them with Vicki, so we just keep going on and double dipping.” As they should with so many to run!
Sue said of their upcoming trip to Chicago (completed since our interview), “the one we're doing in Chicago this time is my 75K for 75 years because I turned 75. My grandson who's 23 is joining us [from D.C.] in Chicago.
“I chose Chicago because I don't know Chicago. I haven't been there for probably 50 years, so I just really wanted to get to know Chicago.” Once she confirmed with Mike that we offered tours there, Sue was set.
Next up? Vicki: “I turn 70 in 2024.” [“she’s the baby,” Sue interjected. “Well Cathy too,” Nancy added.] My birthday is on the 24th of August. So I decided to do 24 5Ks from age 68 to 70. So I'm at about 12 after we go to Chicago.”
Sue and the gang in Chicago with our guide Noma for Sue’s final 5K.
Vicki said, “these people here set the bar pretty high. I've done a few by myself recently and I really do enjoy that. It surprised me a little that I liked doing it by myself because I just love doing it with all of these folks, but it's kind of peaceful sometimes to just be out there walking by yourself.”
Of the tour experience, Vicki said, “One of the things that stands out for me, at least from New York City, is we learned so much about the history of Central Park. Mike focused on different things both times, the history piece of it was hugely important to me. The second time reinforcing what we learned the first, but I never would have known all of that about Central Park if it hadn't been for Mike.”
Nancy said the City Fit Tours have become “the capstone for ‘All right, we did it.’ I'm grateful that Mike’s been flexible with us. I know that it's not the usual, but that's motivating for somebody to recognize that in us and be willing to adapt.”
Cathy added, “he did a great job of adapting to us. That's my big point with it. He just really focused on what we needed, which was stretching and walking at a pace where we were good.”
Nancy said, “The funny thing is that I was almost 70 before I ever got a medal that was athletic.” “Me too,” a few of them chimed in. “And now being 70 we're in another age group, which is a smaller pool so you might even win.” Not that this is what it’s about for them, but it certainly adds some fun. Sue even decorates her Christmas tree with her medals.
When I asked if they were going to keep at it until they were 100 and do 100K, Nancy said, “If it's divisible by five and I can wiggle, I’ll start working on it.” Sue added, “I think we can all echo that.”
