Inspiring Stories of Older Athletes North of Forty

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function. And I find I sleep great unless I have a migraine. And I've had more than my fair share since perimenopause all the way through postmenopause. My secret weapon was Blue Sky CBD sleep gels. Each gel contains 25mg of CBD and 25mg CBN for deep restorative sleep. Something about it helps to reduce inflammation, which I believe for me was key in helping me get to sleep. But the biggest thing is so many of the over-the-counter solutions, whether for sleep or migraines, can ruin gut health, and liver health. Neither one of those did I want to be problematic for me. So this option is recommended by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by thousands of happy customers, many of whom come from our Flipping 50 community. There is zero THC, so it's non-habit-forming. It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50. That's FLIPPING50. Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites. What are you waiting for? Good night. Every once in a while, inspiring stories come across my desk, and I'm so excited to share this episode. Author Lauren Hurst, who calls herself not an author, wrote a book about older athletes sharing their path and performance, some of which will blow you away. I'll link in this episode to a previous episode with hosts of the Huntington World Games in St. George, Utah. We've had some amazing examples of athleticism in our lifetime, you and I, yet too little. We hear of 103-year-old runners because there are so few of them, and yet we don't think we'll be doing that at 103. Shoot, many 53-year-olds think they're too old to run anymore. It's not necessarily age, and maybe running isn't or wasn't even your best sport, but something else might be. This episode is for anyone who needs to hear it's never too late. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50, where I address your top struggles and concerns, and I share what to eat, how to move, and how to change your mindset so you can have the energy and the vitality that you want, need, and deserve in this second and better half. But you know that we're really here to inspire you so that you demand and expect something better in the way that you age than we've ever seen before. Here's the thing. It's really a blank slate. We have to write the story. If you continue to think you're too old, it's too late, you will be correct. But listen, my friend, you're writing your book, so keep your journal to yourself if that's what you're writing, because I got a whole different book going on. My guest today, Lauren Hurst, is the author of North of 40: Inspiring Stories of Older Athletes. Lauren is a lifelong competitive athlete herself and independent personal trainer. She's trained clients of all shapes and ability levels from ages 7 to 96, currently specializes in clients over 60. She celebrated her 62nd birthday with us in this episode. She holds a bachelor's degree in corporate fitness from Central Connecticut State University. Throughout her athletic career, Lauren has been a competitive tennis player, swimmer, bodybuilder, martial artist, runner, dual athlete and triathlete. Can't wait for you to listen to this episode, and I'm curious to know if you, like me, will be reading this book. Lauren Hurst, thank you so much for joining me today.

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be with you.

Well, this is so fun actually for, uh, an age group enthusiast and athlete to kind of talk with someone who's really done so much somewhat in parallel, but probably I would imagine you're— you probably finished a little earlier than me. You had more likelihood of being on a podium than me. But tell, tell all of our listeners, so at this point, you know, my mother told me never to ask this, but now I'm asking everybody because we want to know, are you in the club? Like, where are you age and stage-wise? And what's a typical week like? Are you still competing?

Okay, so it's a perfect day to ask me that question because today I am 62.

Today you're 62?

Yes.

Oh my goodness, happy birthday!

So I'm happy to be spending it with you. And so I am still competing. I've competed in a various number of sports throughout the years. Currently I am a swimmer. I used to do triathlons as an individual, and then I had some health issues, so I put together a team of mixed relay team, and I'm the swimmer on the team. And I've also just taken up rowing. I've started erging with a friend of mine and doing some indoor competitions and hope to get out onto the water in the spring.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we cannot just hop over that. You're gonna have to tell us what that is.

So I don't know that much about it. I haven't— I have a rower, I have a water rower, and okay, I— something I was always interested in. A friend of mine actually the photographer of my book, it's his wife. She coaches rowing and she kept wanting me to join her because I'm small and light and old. And it would be perfect in the, to help her in categories 'cause she's young. And so finally I bit the bullet and I started rowing. And so we're gonna do 2,000 meters. And so every day I go down and I really like it because one, it's low impact, two, it's a, phenomenal workout, much better than I thought it was even going to be. And 3, I like that there's feedback. You know, I have my— I know exactly what I need to do and what time, and I like to watch. And, and it's, um, I'm just enjoying it.

Very, very cool. I love it. What, what distance triathlete were you?

I did sprint and Olympic. Okay. Um, never further than that. I, I like the idea of changing activity. Just on my body, it was much better. So I did sprint triathlons and duathlons, which was really my thing because I was a strong runner back in the day. And so now this year, my team and I, we did a couple sprints and we did a couple Olympics. And like I said, I do the swim. I have a very strong runner and biker. So we've done really well and it's a lot of fun. It's, it's a different focus being part of a group as to individual. I was never much of a group person, but I'm really enjoying it. It gives me a chance to get out and still compete without, you know, beating my body up too much.

Yeah, love that. Okay, so you describe yourself as not an author. So what made you decide to take on this kind of project?

So yes, it's true, I am definitely not an author, although maybe I can categorize, you know, classify that now. But I am an athlete and also a fitness person. I've been in the fitness field since 1985. And I think what made me want to do this project was I kind of felt compelled to do it. I know I was a pretty competitive 5Ker, and it bothered me at the races when I would go to races and we would finish and, you know, they'd do the awards and the older people would come in and, you know, everything was shut down. They, you know, they were closing up shop. And I didn't like that because I always felt like they should be honored like the younger athletes. And so I just felt like I wanted to get out there, and I became determined to find a way to honor older athletes and to share their stories, really an attempt to inspire others and relay the message that it's really never too late to get started.

I love that. Yeah, mic drop, right? Never too late to get started. So without teasing all of it, you know, are there a few stories that for you really stood out maybe tugged on your heart as you were writing about them?

You know, it's so hard because we had over 50 senior or older athletes. I hate to say senior, but older athletes ages 54 to 103 in our book. And they were all wonderful and amazing at what they did. But I think if I had to choose some favorites, I would go with two. One is Susan Towlinson. And I love her story because she's really an unlikely athlete. She's in a sport that's not known for having a large older population. And she explains that she was a combination of genetics and environment, and her parents were not athletes, so she was destined to be a couch potato. She says as a kid she had poor vision and she wasn't coordinated, and so she didn't do anything athletically. And by her 30s, she was having health issues. She had arthritis. And when she was in her early 50s, knees. She was walking with a cane. She was so debilitated by the pain of her arthritis. So she did get involved with a faith-based group and she began exercising. And what's really amazing about her was that at 67, she started lifting weights, which is unusual because not only did she lift weights, but she connected with a powerlifting coach and he saw in her a lot of potential. And they began training together. And in just 2 years, at 69, She'd broken all the Texas state powerlifting records in her USA Powerlifting Federation. And, for example, she did a deadlift of 210 pounds. So she's really good. And I just love the story because how many, you know, people approaching 70 take up powerlifting?

Yeah, very cool. Well, hopefully more and more.

Yeah, well, it would be nice. And I think there are more. And that was her goal. So to get more women into the sport. And I think that those divisions, those, you know, 65, 70-year divisions are starting to get some women who are out competing, which is fabulous and so good for their body. And then the second one that I picked out was Pat Gallant-Charette, and she is a marathon swimmer. She owns numerous Guinness Book of Records titles for swims that she's done. And I liked it because she, she gave me a quote that says, I was a spectator mom. When I wasn't working, I was driving my children to their events. One day I woke up and I realized that 30 years had gone by. And so in her late 40s, she decided to swim the Peaks to Portland. She lives in Maine, swim, and that's a 2.4-mile open water swim. Swim. And she swam it in memory of her brother, Robbie, who'd won that race a couple of times and had passed away from heart attack. She didn't think she could do it, but her son talked her into it. And she did. And she says that it really changed her life, that she not only fell in love with open water swimming, but she was good at it. And so she started to train. And You know, as of now, she holds so many titles that I can't even name them all. But I will say that at 66, she became the oldest woman in the world to complete the English Channel swim. And that's 21 miles from England to France. And it's done in extremely cold water and punishing tides and stinging jellyfish. And these open water swimmers or marathon swimmers swim with just a bathing suit, a cap, and goggles. And she completed that 21-mile swim in 17 hours and 55 minutes. Most recently, she went on to be the oldest woman to swim the Sea of Galilee, which is a 20.5-kilometer swim, and she did that in 8 hours and 22 minutes. And she just keeps breaking records and performing what I consider superhuman feats of strength, endurance, and, and to me, the most challenging part for me would be the mental focus that it requires to be able to do that type of, type of swimming.

Yeah. So curious about this sidetrack. So talking about swimming, have you seen the movie, the Diana Nyad movie?

I have not seen it yet. It's on my list.

Me too. Okay. So we'll have to compare notes when you—

Yes, that would be great. Yeah.

Okay, anything else? Any other stories from the book? I didn't want to move on too soon because these are so good.

Oh yeah, I also have Kathy Martin, and I came across her— you know, everyone that I connected with, I, I either knew or got through somebody that I knew, or I would just Google people. Kathy Martin was on a Blue Cross Blue Shield ad, and I saw it, caught my eye because it was amazing. They said Kathy Martin is an 8 8-time world record holder in her age group. At that time, I think she was in her mid-60s. And she— I don't know how much you know about running, but she holds every record from the 800-meter to the 50-kilometer. So that's a half a mile to 30— I think it's 31 miles. And it's unbelievable that anyone could have that depth in a field like that. And yeah, You know, I love her story too because she's— I'm little, I'm 5'2" barely. She was smaller than I was. She's a very unlikely athlete also. You look at her and, you know, she's super fit, but you wouldn't think of her as being, you know, able to complete the feats that she's done. And she didn't start running until she was in her 30s. And I guess her husband, who ended up being her trainer, They went out one night for a run, and she said that she laid down in the middle of the street because she just couldn't do it. But she got up and she thought, you know, if I can't do this now, what will I be like when I'm 60? So she went out at night by herself and started running, you know, telephone pole to telephone pole, mixing walking with running. And she entered some 5Ks and was successful. And then got into track and field. And she was competing and doing really well and not even realizing that she was on world record pace. And so she got into doing very serious training and serious competitions. And so to this date, she holds all those records. I think at 65, she did the fastest mile in the world for a woman of her age. And if I can recall correctly, it was about 5 minutes and 57 seconds, which if you run is a pretty fast mile.

Yes, it is.

Right.

I think I was probably doing twice as much as that when I was 30.

You have to do 10 minutes. But she's very nice and just, just generous with her time and, you know, humble. They're just a nice, super talented person, but so humble about what she did. It was a pleasure to meet her and get to know her a little bit.

How did you do these interviews? Did you do them like this? I mean, we're literally virtually interviewing only with voice, not even with video. Or did you meet these women in person, or a little of everything?

Well, a little bit of both. I have a— I had a photographer, Nick. He was young, which was helpful because he could drive me around. And we, we basically— the ones that were close, which was the furthest we went, was out to George Etzweiler, who's a who's a legend in running. He's 103 years old. And we went out to him in State College Park, Pennsylvania, or State College, Pennsylvania. So that was our longest trip. We would try to group the trips. We did different states on the East Coast, and we try to group the athletes so we could do 3 or 4 in a day. So most of them we met, some of them I already knew. I have Dominique Barbier, who's a classical dressage trainer out of California. I knew him because I have a barn and horses, and he is our trainer. And others that I didn't know, like Susan Townsend, for instance, who's in Texas. We talked over the phone, and because we couldn't take her photograph because she was too far, she had a photographer take her photo. Most of the photos have been taken by Nick, but Susan, and then I have another great athlete, Laura McDonough, who's an ultra extreme ultra athlete in Alaska. They had photos taken and we talked on the phone. Some we did FaceTime, so I got to see them. But on the whole, I would say 80% of them were done in person.

Very cool. I— can you tell me, so I'm curious now that you've mentioned men versus women, is it about 50/50? Was that planned on purpose, accidental?

You know, the funny part is it came out about 50/50 and it wasn't planned. It just— it kind of came together. You know, I have an editor who helped me. Probably as we got closer to the end, she took all my crazy notes and made them nice and neat and sound good. And then we came up with some categories and, and It was funny that out of all those 50 people, they seemed to fall into— we had 5 different categories and 5 or 6, I don't remember off the top of my head, but they fell into those groups and they seemed to fall evenly into the groups. And I think it just worked out that way. I didn't go out with any agenda to have an equal number of anything. And we actually didn't— when we started, I didn't even have an agenda on when I would stop or how many I even wanted. We ended with Kathy Martin. She was probably athlete 52 or 53. And it just worked out that way. It was a beautiful day. It couldn't have been better. And when we finished, I said to Nick, that's it. We will not top this, this day. And so that was the end of our— that was the end of this version anyways.

Very cool. What What did you learn that most surprised you?

You know, I'd say there's probably two things that I learned that most surprised me. One was how gracious and wonderful these people were with their time. They, they just, you know, they spent a lot of time with us. They, they posed and were so forthcoming with people that they knew that might be good for the book. And, you know, a lot of these people have been interviewed by Sports Illustrated and Runner's World, and they're in books. And, you know, here I was, just little old me. And they were just, they were great people, nice people, humble people. I was surprised at the humility of some of these phenomenal athletes. And then, the second thing was that, you know, how their ability to evolve and change in their sport. Based on where they were, that they could be, you know, a runner at the top of their field and then have something happen and just deal with that and switch to another sport that might have been more conducive to where they were at that time in their life and be able to do it, you know, just comfortably.

How has it changed your own perspective about your own athletic endeavors and goals?

You know, because I had some health issues in my later 50s, which had made me back off of my competition. I'm very competitive, so that was a little bit tough. So I took— I still trained. I always trained no matter how I felt, but at my ability, whatever it was at that time. And it was not at a level that would have been to where I could compete at the level I wanted to. So I didn't compete for years. And it kind of bothered me to have to, to have to change up. But I see now that that's, that's what happens and it's okay. And if you were at the top of your game, I'm grateful for the years that I could compete so successfully. And now I just realize that it happens to everybody and you just find what you can do and it's okay. So I think it really, it really made me see more clearly that that you can just reinvent yourself as you go along.

I love that, and I want to probe that a little bit. So when you say at the top of your game, I mean, so I'm guessing that Lauren Hurst's game today at 62, when you might not feel you're at the top of your game, is at the top of the game for a lot of other 62-year-olds.

That's true. Yes, I have high— I have high standards for myself. And because I, you know, people say, why don't you just go out and run a 5K and just, you know, enjoy it? But for me, unless I'm doing well, it's not enjoyable. I will train. I'm happy to go out and train and run, but I don't want to compete unless I can do well. That's just for me. Mentally.

So come back to that again though. So when you say do well, is that comparing your, like, your score, your time now to what it used to be, or is that like comparing your time to others in your age group right now?

Comparing my time to others in their age group. I do look back a little bit. I was a very competitive bodybuilder, and so I look back at those pictures. I stopped competing when I was young, I was 24, was my last show. And I look back at those pictures and I say, oh, where'd that body go? That's different. I mean, I know that's, that's never going to happen again, but I look at my times, you know, I do run. So I'll look at what people are doing in races and I'm just not there. So really it's compared to my age group. So that's probably part of the reason why I'm going to get into rowing, because I seem to be pretty good at it. And I know I'll be able to do okay. I think we'll see what happens when I actually get out there.

Yeah. Well, there's human nature, right? We love to do those things we're already good at.

Yeah. And that's why, well, I think this will be a good thing, but I've always been, I mean, I grew up competitive. I had a grandfather that was an amazing athlete. He was, I think, my own personal Jack LaLanne. He had us really, literally, I was 3 years old and he had us my brothers and I competing against each other in sit-ups and push-ups. And, and with my grandfather, there was no participation award. You know, he taught us to, to be good with competing. And, and I'm always humble about competing. And if I lose, I'm never a bad sport, but I, I like to do my best.

Yeah. Yeah. What advice would you give to somebody? First of all, I recommend everybody read this book because I think it's going to be inspiring to so many people, but You know, what if somebody wants to read this book, is picking it up, but doesn't think of themselves as an athlete or even athletic, you know, but yet is inspired to get more fit? What do you suggest that they do to make that happen?

Well, first of all, I feel like the book— what I hope comes across is that there's so many different athletes. And if you've read the book, you can see that a lot of them have had different issues throughout their life. And, you know, that everybody can find someone that they could connect with in that book. And that's why I have a mix of, you know, world-class athletes with your next-door neighbor, like ladies in their 80s, which are women who played together, tennis together for 50 years. And they're not, you know, going to Wimbledon, but they do it for social and, you know, that type of story. But I think my advice I would give to people would be one, and most importantly, is to find an activity that they enjoy. There is no one right activity, you know, walk, run, swim, dance, pump iron. You know, as you know, the list is endless of things that you can do. And I just feel like the best exercise really for any one person is the exercise they'll actually do. What's best for me may not be best for you. Secondly, and I think through the years, I really feel like consistency is so important. You know, it's better to have 3 short sessions a week of training than to train, you know, 1 time a week for an hour like a weekend warrior. So, you know, commit to just being consistent. And my final point would be You know, there are those days when you get up and you have your workout time and you say, oh, I can't do this today. And you have a million excuses. My suggestion is to just say you're a walker, you know, just go out, put in your head that you're going to do 10 minutes. You know, your usual walk is 30 and say, okay, I'm going to cut it in a third. I'll walk for 10 minutes and get out. And I will guarantee that 98% of the time, once you get moving, you'll feel better and you'll do what you, what you, intended to do. So don't write it off and get— and there's no, um, I don't know, I just kind of feel like there's no perfect way to do it. You just do what works for you and don't be overly hard on yourself, but be consistent. If it's 20 minutes, it's 20 minutes, and that's great.

I love that. You know, I call that the 10-minute rule. Yeah, you know, on those days, right? You know, all you have to do is promise yourself 10 minutes And if at 10 minutes you still feel badly and don't want to go on, but in spite of yourself, most of us have already triggered endorphins and blood chemistry, brain chemistry will keep you going.

Yeah, absolutely.

Or you're probably sick, so you should go home anyway.

There you go. That's right.

I'm dying to come back. So clearly I need to get this book and read it. I mean, is there any chance that you see another book, a sequel, or a documentary? In the future?

You know, it's funny you say that because I think a documentary would be wonderful, but I'm not there yet. And then I just connected with somebody from the UK who I'm meeting with next week because he's very much in the, in the fitness field and he has all these great athletes. Now, I don't know how that will all work out, but it's worth a meeting. It would be nice. Right now I'm just focused on this one. Because it's a lot, as you know, just to get it out. And, you know, it's a tough subject because it's not a big seller, this sports for older people, unfortunately. But, you know, this is really, to me, an inspirational book. It's not a how-to book. It's not a fitness book. I'm not, you know, I could write you a program and I'm not writing programs. It's just, inspiration for anything in your life.

So talking about like competition for older adults and places where they can go and collect, are you familiar with the Senior Games and have you been involved yourself?

I have not been involved. I'm familiar with them, um, to some extent. I have an athlete in my book who is a pickleball player and he was heavily involved in the Senior Games, but I don't have a vast amount of knowledge about the Senior Games, no.

I one year had the good fortune of coming into contact, and listeners, I will link to prior episode. Gosh, you know, the pandemic is a time warp. I've said this too many times, unfortunately, but I think there was pre-pandemic, a couple of years, and met the sponsors or hosts of the Huntington World Games, they call it, in St. George, Utah, which later I find out is actually not the World Games. That's just their name. The, the actual national game host called me and said, let me tell you the real story here. Yeah, I said you should interview us, you know, and but they were such gracious guys, and after I got done talking with them, I was so excited about the whole thing, and I said Can I just come and be like media? I just want to come and walk around and interview athletes the whole time and share on social media or do some kind of a write-up about it. And so I did, and it was the best time all weekend. I had more fun doing that than had I been going to compete myself.

Yeah, that you did.

That's life-changing. Life-changing.

Yeah, it is. And that's a lot of these athletes for life-changing, like George Etzweiler, who was my favorite in the book, at 103. It was life-changing. He was an amazing person. And I have— I just— it was such a special day to be able just to be around him, somebody who at 103 was still doing, you know, relay races of, you know, ultra relay races. And just like you said, it's life-changing.

And what was their takeaway on day to day? I mean, if, if there had to be one collective kind of mindset about why still are you getting up to doing this, why are you still getting up to train when you could just, you know, sit around and truly eat bonbons on the couch if you wanted to? You've earned it.

You know, it's funny because I asked everyone that question and predominantly the answer was super simple, and they said, "Because I can." And that was it, you know, that they could still do it, and they knew that time was precious, and that was it. It was— I'll tell you that probably half of the people said the same thing. "I do it because I can." It's a privilege. Yes, it is. And it was a simple answer, and it surprised me, but it was repeated over and over again.

And maybe we leave every listener with that. You know, if right now you're choosing it, you're struggling to get to your own point of fitness or get to consistent activity, remembering that right now it's— it is a privilege.

Yeah, it is. And when you be at choice, I think, you know, when you have injuries or you're sick, you really realize what a privilege it is. Yeah, you're, you're fortunate to have a healthy body, or as healthy as it is, that you get out and, and do things. And we are fortunate to be able to move.

Lauren, where can listeners get their hands on the book, and where can they follow you, stalk you, as they will?

I know, um, the book's on Amazon, and they can find it. It's, uh, North of 40: Inspiring Stories of Older Athletes by Lauren Hurst. And then I also have a website It's not expensive, but I do have one. It's North Forty Fitness and Forty in both of those cases. Well, let me finish with the website, northfortyfitness.com. And the Forty in both of those cases is spelled out F-O-R-T-Y. It's not the number 40.

Perfect. Well, and I think they ought to get that right. So listeners, so you know by now we're at Flipping 50, all spelled out, no numbers, no spaces. So hopefully you will be right on track. With this. Lauren, it's been a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to talk with you today.

Love it. Okay, listeners, if you have a question— and most of all, I hope you are inspired, and I hope that while you're listening, you are walking, maybe you're lifting, but doing something active. So, so much better. So, Inspiring Stories, that's your show notes today. Flipping50.com/inspiringstories. What are you waiting for? Let's start flipping 50 today.