Social Workout

 [Introducing Angela Jimenez, our new resident photo-blogger. That's her in the photo above, running as a child. We'll be working with Angela in the coming months to put together a series of photographic essays covering the urban workout scene in New York and beyond. To kick things off, she's gathered together images from her wonderful ongoing investigation of the wild world of senior athletes. We're thrilled to present them here for you. -Oliver]

I always loved to run. I was that kid, crouched deep in starting position, waiting for the whistle to go off at field day and backyard birthday parties. I discovered that my spindly little legs were fast, and there was glory in crossing the finish line first. I loved the nervous feeling in my stomach, the wind in my hair, and the weight of a cheap trophy in my hand. I loved to win.

I was at it all through college, competing in the Division I track & field heptathlon for four years. When that was over, I decided I wasn’t good enough to make the Olympics, and I hung up my track spikes forever.

The point is always to get faster, higher, farther, better. Isn’t it? And once you reach your pinnacle it’s all over. Isn’t it? Well...

A few years ago, I photographed a doctor giving anti-aging oxygen treatments to seniors on an assignment. I thought it was unnatural and depressing, but I discovered the doctor was a masters track & field athlete, and I was intrigued.

Soon I was going to meets. I wound up in Kentucky, then in Italy, then in East Stroudsburg. The more I saw, the more I was amazed. Masters track is a sport for athletes aged 30 and up...and up...and up. Athletes are divided into 5-year age divisions, with 99 and over as the oldest grouping. The older athletes, seemingly elderly people racing wholeheartedly around the track on spindly and wrinkly legs, moved me.

I saw in them my deeply competitive inner child, still alive and running. Why were they doing this? At their age? What was the point?

A unique aspect of track & field is that, beyond the simple win-loss column of most sports, it measures concrete, objective, human performance. You run the 100 meters in 12.5 seconds. You high jump 5 feet 10 inches. You throw the shot put 42 feet.

Masters track & field athletes are, literally, exploring and expanding the capabilities of the human body at a given age. Every time a new age group record is set, which is often, it is the redefinition of how fast or how far a body that old can go. People are living longer. They are doing things at advanced ages that once seemed impossible.

In the Book of Genesis, Abraham is ninety-nine when he and his equally old wife, Sarah, bear a child. This is meant to be a fantastical, impossible age at which to bear children, made possible only by the will of God. A few months ago, while doing a story on the sport for The New York Times, I watched a 95-year-old man (who happens to be on Viagra) break the age- group world record for the 400 meter-run. I think Abraham would have been impressed.