‘I Will Prove That I Can’
Edith Murway-Traina of Tampa, Florida, celebrated her a hundredth birthday this 12 months by donning a glitzy gold costume, line dancing with associates and having fun with considered one of her two yearly martinis.
She has many accomplishments to replicate on. The previous dance instructor has gotten to see not solely her great-grandchildren, however great-great-grandchildren — a feat not many get to take pleasure in. In all, she has 5 kids, 11 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
She nonetheless lives on her personal, has outlived two husbands, and says one secret to lengthy life is humor.
“I’ve a few associates sitting right here making enjoyable of me,” she instructed the New York Post. “That’s how I preserve going. If I could make somebody smile and giggle, that feels fairly good.”
However she’s additionally having fun with the title of the Guinness World Record’s World’s Oldest Powerlifter (feminine). It’s a passion that she hesitantly stepped into simply 9 years in the past, however since then, she’s been hooked, and it’s stored her energetic and spry.
“I’m sort of annoying,” she mentioned. “Inform me I can’t do one thing, and I’ll show that I can. That’s kind of or my angle.”
That very same stubbornness got here by when her buddy Carmen tried to get her to go to the gym together with her when she was 91.
“She didn’t wish to go by herself,” Murway-Traina instructed the Put up of her buddy. “She dragged me kicking and screaming all the best way, in order that’s kind of how I obtained there.”
However when she arrived and noticed what was occurring, she grew curious.
“I noticed all these different women lifting weights, and it regarded attention-grabbing,” she continued. “I picked up a few weights and needed to show to myself that I might accomplish this.”
“Going frequently, I discovered that I used to be having fun with it, and I used to be difficult myself to get somewhat bit higher and somewhat bit higher,” she instructed Guinness World Records. “Earlier than lengthy, I used to be a part of the staff.”
Becoming a member of the staff meant beginning to compete, and the great-great-grandmother was reintroduced to one thing she thrived on: applause.
“As a performer and a dancer, applause was all the time a vital a part of my enjoyment,” she defined. “So long as I might get somewhat little bit of applause, I used to be happier every I time I obtained extra applause and extra applause.
“As soon as individuals discovered I used to be in my 90s and I used to be doing all of this stuff, it obtained to be extra noticeable. Individuals obtained to concentrate somewhat bit extra.”
She obtained stronger. She began bringing trophies residence. She amazed spectators together with her spectacular lifting.
“She bent down and picked it up prefer it was her purse,” Carmen mentioned of 1 notably large carry. “She won’t give up and something that’s laborious, it makes her extra decided.”
Murway-Traina says she didn’t count on to win something, however since her first competitors, she’s run out of locations to place her awards. Her daughter, Honey Cottrell, mentioned although her mom loves lifting, she didn’t brag about it, so the news that she was a world record holder was an exquisite shock.
“We knew she most likely was one of the oldest however have been shocked (and really pleased with her) to be instructed she holds a world report,” Cottrell mentioned. “Our whole household is honored that our mom is a report holder, and Guinness World Data has given her this honor.”
“I believe in my 90s, I turned extra conscious of the necessity that individuals must be acknowledged for who they’re, or what they’re, or how they’re, and it’s essentially the most lovely factor on the earth,” Murway-Traina defined. “And I, I believe I survive on that, largely, myself.”
The pandemic threw a wrench within the works for her, however now she’s again at it, hitting the fitness center a number of instances per week and planning to compete in November.
“The docs insisted I cease lifting or going to the fitness center due to the virus, so I backed off for some time,” she instructed the Put up. “Now I’m ranging from scratch and seeing what I can accomplish.”
“There’s nothing extra that I can ask for than to open my eyes within the morning and know God gave me one other day. You’ll be able to’t ask for greater than that.”
https://www.westernjournal.com/100-year-old-record-setting-weightlifter-shares-secret-staying-young-will-prove-can/ | ‘I Will Show That I Can’
