The Other Olympics
This summer while most of the world was watching the athletes compete for medals in Paris, another Olympic competition was happening in southeast Michigan. The Michigan Senior Olympics is an organization that hosts events for athletes age 50+. They have all the traditional events from track and field, swimming, tennis, basketball, volleyball soccer, cycling, golf and more.
In 2018 when I competed in the 60-64 age group of the Michigan Senior Olympics 5k and 10k road races they were held at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. This year the 5k was held at Waterford Hills Road Racing track. I competed in the 65-69 group of the 5k and the inaugural year for the 1 mile race. The race track was interesting with a couple hills and many turns but it was nice not having any traffic near us while running.
The 5k race brought out some fast runners as well as some folks there simple to stay active. I ran a 7:48/mile pace for a finish time of 24:10. That got me on the “podium” with a Silver medal!
This was the first year the MSO held a 1 mile race so there were not many entrants. Once I realized I was the only person in the M65-69 group I knew I didn’t need to push too hard to get the Gold medal. I ran it in 7:29 which is now the state of Michigan record (at least for a year until they hold the event again).
One of the great things about these events is seeing all the athletes in the other age groups. Men and women in the 80s and even 90s running and competing is an inspiration.
The medals are nice, but the real goal is to be healthy and active into my 90s and beyond.