FAIRVIEW, Tenn. (WTVF) — It was a foggy morning on the Fairview High track that brought out a whole bunch of driven people. It was the Tennessee Senior Olympics.
The crew competing in one event just leapt out to me. There was newer athlete Sara Dutton.
"I was 71 when I did my first marathon!" she said.
There was in-it-to-win-it competitor Terry Coulter.
"What do I think about that?" Coulter laughed. "Well, yeah!"
Annette Fenech was motivated by her runner granddaughter.
"Is grandma a fast runner?" I asked Fenech's granddaughter.
"Oh yeah! Lightning McQueen fast!"
Then, there was competitor Eleanor Pendergraft.
"I'm the only 90-year-old woman out here!" she laughed.
They were all the one-mile power walkers.
"You have to keep one foot on the ground at all times," Coulter explained.
"You move your arms and your hips!" Dutton added.
What was striking about this group was the stories they shared.
Fenech has lived through back surgery. Coulter's lived through knee surgery.
"That's when I began a journey of strength training," Coulter said. "I got into weight lifting, which led me into body building, body building competitions."
Then, there's Pendergraft's story.
Pendergraft wasn't always sure she she could do something like this. For a while, she was spending a lot of time in her apartment.
"I started falling and dropping things," she remembered. "They finally determined I had MS. I gradually got worse and worse."
It was getting hard for Pendergraft to move. She was told she couldn't drive. Pendergraft joined a gym and got stronger.
"When a friend suggested I enter the Senior Olympics, I laughed at her," Pendergraft remembered. "I said, 'you've gotta be kidding. I haven't been athletic my entire life!' It was the best thing I'd ever done."
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to start our competition!" a voice announced.
"Building new friendships, I'm a richer person for it," Coulter said.
"Yeah, you get to meet people, hear their stories," said Fenech.
"I can do it, so I do it!" Dutton laughed.
"It's the friendships with all of these people, that's the main thing," said Pendergraft.
The power walking competition began. The group took off with Coulter in the lead. What'd I tell you? Coulter was in-it-to-win-it.
"I've trained so hard," she said. "I'm telling myself, 'Terry, you've worked hard. Just go do what you've been doing!'"
Pendergraft continued a strong stride around the track.
"When my doctor said my MS was getting worse, wasn't getting better, it hit that stubborn streak," Pendergraft said. "I determined he was wrong."
Medals went out to all different age divisions with gold medalists for the one-mile power walk including Coulter, Dutton, and Pendergraft.
"Never done one before!" Dutton said of the power walking competition. "Shows what you can do. God is good."
"That's so exciting you can get older and still get better," Coulter added. "What a great thing."
"I don't know what I'll be able to do when I'm 100, but we'll see!" Pendergraft said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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- Carrie Sharp
