Member-only story
If someone had told me that I’d be interviewing a 61-year old who could hold himself up sideways from a sign post, I would have called shenanigans. But that’s exactly what Todd Spradlin did, right in front of Body N Sole Fitness in Colville. Todd is just one of over a dozen “seniors” who converge on Body N Sole a few times each week to work out.
I dropped in at 8 AM on a Tuesday morning to see what this was all about. Things started out calmly as I sat and visited with Dick Goe who’s been working out there for about ten years. Dick, who is 69, said he enjoys working out, “but the camaraderie keeps us going. Some days you don’t feel like coming, but you do because everyone else is here.”
Many of them have become really good friends and get together outside of the gym. Some go fishing together, but mostly they help each other out as needed. “Staying fit is important for us as seniors,” Dick explained.
The use of the word “seniors” to describe these folks just doesn’t seem right, and if you’ve ever met June and Joe Machala, you’d understand what I’m talking about. June just turned 88 and has been written about in the Spokesman-Review a number of times because of her phenomenal running skills, which she started honing at age 56 because “walking takes too long.” And with that attitude, it’s no wonder that by 67 years-of-age, she’d accomplish…
