Motion Is Medicine

At this year’s banquet for the induction into the Minnesota Senior Sports Hall of Fame, Patsy Lillehei’s supporters took up multiple tables.

It’s no surprise that the 82-year-old Blue Cross member was being inducted for her talent in swimming. Patsy is a multi-medalist in the National Senior Games. She holds six Minnesota State Masters records and was selected to carry the torch at the opening of the 2015 National Senior Games in Minnesota.

But her success is marked by more than medals. The amount of support she received from her friends and family demonstrates the community of kindred spirits she’s built.

“The community is the number-one reason that I continue to look forward to the Senior Games,” she says. “They are a star that shines on a path that leads me to fun … the Senior Games are my beacon.”
 

Diving in

Patsy was always a swimmer. Growing up in Clay Center, Kansas, she would go to her local pool almost every day. She moved to Edina in middle school and still enjoyed the water when she could. But something was missing.

“I’ve always been a competitive person, from childhood on,” Patsy says. While there were no girls’ sports teams to join before Title IX, she channeled her competitive nature in other ways, like entering Spelling Bees and art contests. Even as a counselor at the camp where she met her husband, Bruce, she was ready to compete.

“While I was up there at that camp, another boy and I competed to see who could swim the furthest,” Patsy recalls. “And I did outdo him!”

Eventually, she was given the opportunity to take life-saving lessons and become a certified lifeguard.

There was something more that kept bringing Patsy back to the water. “It’s a spiritual experience, to be in the water swimming,” she says. “You’re swimming in a big beautiful lake, and it’s you, the sky, the trees and the clouds — just nature all around you.”

Finding kindred spirits

After attending the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Patsy became a financial advisor. She was the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave, spending more time than she would’ve liked sitting at her desk.

“I will tell you that I have always wanted to be active every day of my life. But as life unfolds, responsibilities and duties come first,” she says. “Sometimes you don’t have the opportunity.”

Fitness was still important to Patsy and her family. Her husband played volleyball for decades. Both of her children, now adults, are active as well. Her daughter set softball records — still unbroken — at Augsburg University.

It came as a shock when both children were diagnosed with the same autoimmune disease, Multiple Sclerosis. Her son’s condition is manageable and he still competes in marathons. Her daughter’s is more severe, and Patsy now helps as a caretaker. Seeing firsthand the effects MS had on her children, she wanted to take care of her body and stay healthy enough to continue supporting them.

In 2008, Patsy’s daughter became an ambassador for the Multiple Sclerosis 150 Mile Bike Ride. She told her parents that she signed them up for the bike ride, which went from Duluth to Minneapolis. They agreed without hesitation and finished the race. Patsy found a renewed interest in fitness.

Soon after, some of her daughter’s friends invited Patsy to do a triathlon with them. She was excited about swimming and biking, but the running aspect made her pause. The friends pointed out that if Patsy could bike 150 miles in two days, she could certainly run a 5K.

At the race, competitors over 60 were invited to line up together at the start. Patsy noticed she was the only woman standing alongside nearly a dozen men.

Regardless, she won a first place trophy for her age group. And when she got to the finish line, she saw her daughter and her dog waiting for her.

Patsy considers that the moment she began this new chapter in her life. She started meeting more people who were just as excited about triathlons as she was — kindred spirits — as she calls them.

Over time, she’s continued to find them in other races, even hosting a few when they’re in town. She’s found kindred spirits just working out at the gym. In fact, after a few minutes of chatting with a high school junior, the girl said she was going to invite Patsy to her graduation in a year.

“There’s only friends we haven’t met yet,” she says.

Starting again

Over the next few years, Patsy traveled across the country to participate in different competitions — bike races, 5Ks and more than 50 triathlons, one of which was international — and frequently brought home new medals. She met new friends and enjoyed competing, but she noticed something was off when she was training in the spring of 2020.

During a typical bike ride, she realized she wasn’t able to go as fast as she normally goes. The next day, she went swimming and couldn’t catch her breath. She got out of the pool and felt like her chest was constricting.

She took herself to the hospital and found out she was having a heart attack. She had a 98% blockage, also known as a “widow maker,” and had two stents put in.

Motivated by the desire to get back to swimming as soon as she could, Patsy worked hard at physical therapy. When she returned to swimming, she approached it more meditatively than aggressively.

“The doctor convinced me, ‘Go ahead and live,’ and that’s my attitude and outlook right now,” she says. “I do try to be smart. You know what your body is telling you when it’s saying, ‘I don’t like this, don’t do this,’ and I don’t take it to that limit.”

Now, she makes sure to stay hydrated and replenish electrolytes. She’ll put a packet of Fusion IV in her water and drink it throughout her workouts.

Additionally, she now takes her heart medication and checks her heart with her doctor regularly. “I have a diseased heart, so I have to live with that,” she says. “But I’m looking at life like I have another day to do what I want to do.”

Patsy remains mindful of what it means to compete as someone in her 80s, considering relay races rather than full triathlons and making sure not to endanger her health. But she has no intention of stepping away from competitions entirely.

“My attitude is if you invite me, I'm coming,” she says.

The beacon ahead

To stay fit between triathlons, bike races and any other competitions she has on the agenda, Patsy works out at the gym most days. A few days a week, she’ll get to the gym at 6:30 a.m. for Masters swimming. In addition, she’ll do two hours of water aerobics. She also occasionally does polar plunges.

One of Patsy’s catchphrases is “motion is medicine.” It’s a source of both health and joy, and she recommends that others go out and do their best to start.

For older adults who want to make fitness more of a priority, she recommends finding a community and exercising with them. She saw it firsthand at the YWCA. “Lots of people there that would cheer you on and be with you — trainers as well as participants.”

She says swimming and aqua aerobics are low-impact, gentle ways to stay active. In fact, many of her older friends in the swimming community continue competing and staying socially active well into their 80s, 90s and even past age 100. It’s something Patsy hopes to emulate herself.

“I look to them to motivate me to stay active because I do want to continue participating in the Senior Games until I am over 100,” she shares.

And as long as they keep inviting her, Patsy plans to keep showing up.