Staying fit after 60 - Pair proves age is no excuse

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Staying fit after 60
Pair proves age is no excuse
By JOHN J. ROBERTS
JohnRoberts@coloradoan.com


At an age when most people are beginning to savor their golden years, Bob Fulton keeps going for the gold.

Fulton, 66, recently finished fourth in his age group in the 2006 Decathlon Championships in Shoreline, Wash. His curiosity led him to tackle track and field sports in the past few years.

He's run many 5Ks and has tried triathlons but said he "wasn't a good swimmer."

Fulton wanted to try decathlons, heptathlons and pentathlons because he wanted to "start to learn parts of track that I haven't done before." He is proof you're never too old to try some new tricks.

Staying active as we age is key to preserving our independence, said Meghan Willis, an exercise physiologist and coordinator of Aspen Club, a program for older residents that is run through Poudre Valley Health System.

She recommends strength training, particularly for the legs.

"It's a huge key to maintaining independence," Willis said. If people's legs are strong, they are able to live independently longer ... they can get up and down stairs and in and out of the car."

Fulton said it is "real hard on the knees running that many miles, at least the amount of miles you need to run to be competitive."

"I'm a competitive person."

Staying young at heart

Fulton's training partner is Rich Larkin, "an older fellow ... Jeez, I call him older, and I'm 66.

"I just don't think of myself as old."

For the record, Larkin is older, at 72, but he also competes in events such as the pole vault.

Larkin doesn't like to think of his as "an advanced age," though.

"Let's say master ages," he said.

Fulton and Larkin work out together at the Colorado State University indoor track. Fulton is a former assistant under Doug Max for the Rams sprints and hurdles athletes.

Larkin and his wife, Dotti, retired from the Des Moines, Iowa, area to Fort Collins in 1990, and soon after, Larkin increased his athletic pursuits.

He has run a couple marathons and a nice batch of half-marathons. Like Fulton, Larkin wanted to shake things up and give the track and field events a try.

"Everybody says I'm crazy to do (the pole vault)," Larkin said.

A six-year study of adults older than 55 reported in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society found those who were physically fit at the beginning of the study scored better six years later on mental function tests than those who didn't exercise regularly.

Staying in shape mentally and physically are the obvious benefits, but there is so much more to be gained from staying active, Fulton said.

"I love the competition part of it," he said. "I like the camaraderie. It becomes a family.

"There's the obvious health benefits. Maybe more than that, I think you stay young. I don't think you'd pick me out as a 66-year-old. I do a lot of different things than most 66-year-olds. It's great for the confidence, and it's fun."

A lifetime of sports

Fulton came to Fort Collins from Emporia, Kan., where he had been the head football coach and assistant track and field coach.

Prior to that, he was the track coach at Lawrence High School and a football player on Pittsburgh State's 1961 Division II national championship team.

When Fulton moved to Fort Collins, he became an assistant track and field coach under John Martin at Fort Collins High School. He worked about 25 years in that role.

"I coached track all my life," Fulton said.

Now, he coaches himself and coaxes himself to get out and do it almost every day.

He said he lifts weights three or four days a week and trains for his events almost all other days, too. Fulton estimates he works out on average "2½ hours a day."

That type of energy is contagious. Fulton's wife, Sharon, doesn't compete, but she is no slug.

"She's a supporter (of mine)," Fulton said. "She lifts weights. She's very active."

Dotti Larkin has arthritis, Rich Larkin said, "but she's nice and trim and probably walks more than anyone."

It's truly a lifestyle they all work at.

"We watch our eating habits, too," Rich Larkin said. "(The doctors) are happy that I'm in good shape."

Larkin said he has lost about 12 pounds since retiring at 172 pounds, but "I'd like to get my waist down a little. That's something you're always working on."

That they would continue to be athletically inclined as time goes by is not surprising.

"I've always been like this, so it wasn't much for me to get into (track and field)," said Larkin, who played basketball and swam in high school.

But Fulton admits it's not as easy as it used to be.

"If you're a decathlete, you're injured all the time," he said. "Normally, you get a lot of aches and pains. They slow you down. I didn't get these injuries before I was 60."