What does it take to mix things up for you? Do you feel stale, stuck in a routine that took years to build and now is at the point of being monotonous, mundane, a prison?
Some people have mid-life crises and buy sports cars while others just feel like a change of pace and scenery so they sell all of their possessions and soon find themselves in Tahiti or Timbuktu. A recent movie sparked a trend with the public to compile their bucket lists of grand and exciting things to do with their lives before they kick the bucket.
Instances of 65-year-olds trying skydiving for the first time skyrocketed. Pieces of paper were filled with bullet point fantasies about travel and adventure and romance and exotic delights. Many of those pieces of paper are now yellowed with age as they remain peppered to corkboards, else they litter the landfills. Dreams, possibly hastily drawn up dreams, remain unfulfilled.
For St. Albert resident Nancy Watt, it was simple. She had a dream of her own. All she wanted to do was something that she'd never done before.
She wanted to do 50 sports that she'd never done before during the year of her 50th birthday. It was a simple thought that stuck. She's now well over halfway toward accomplishing her goal.
Watt's list wasn't a race against death but rather her way of fully enjoying her life.
"Dying is no big deal. The least of us will manage that. Living is the trick," she said, echoing a Red Green quote that is one of her all-time favourites.
A lifelong runner and a very active person in general, she figured she was in prime physical condition and needed not just a challenge but to see what else the wide world of sports had to offer, without necessarily having to travel the wide world to do it.
"When I turned 50, I just wanted to commemorate the year somehow and a lot of people suggested that I should run the Boston Marathon," she said. "I've done marathons before. I thought that running is what I've always done so I wanted to do something that would push me in a different direction."
The new path, or paths
"Part of the purpose of this for me," she explained, "was just to be outside of my comfort zone a little bit because I've been a runner all of my life and that's very comfortable and easy for me."
Since her birthday was right at the beginning of January, she figured that she had the whole year to check each item off — 52 weeks in a year and 50 new ways to challenge her body and her mind.
It's not like she doesn't have better things to do. She's already a busy piano teacher and even busier co-chair of the popular and still growing St. Albert Celebrates the Arts (AKA StArtsFest) and the Mayor's Celebration of the Arts Gala, all of which take place next weekend.
Because of her schedule, Watt wasted no time getting down to business. The Pilates course started right after the new year so that was her first new sport.
Since then she's done snowshoeing, rowing, skating, squash, badminton, tai chi, zumba, river kayaking, lawn bowling, five-pin and 10-pin bowling, tennis, fencing, table tennis, trap shooting, cycling, mountain biking, golf, disc golf, horseback riding, canoeing, swimming, hiking, sea kayaking, beach volleyball, stand-up paddle boarding, and parasailing.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a sport as any pastime, activity or competition. With that liberal swath to apply her focus on, Watt managed to get in a few competitions including an indoor masters mile footrace, a 10-mile road race, a golf tournament, and the City Chase. A yearly event, it operates like the TV show The Amazing Race except contestants use the transit system just in their own cities as they try to solve riddles and find secret treasures.
Watt still has many sports on her list: rock climbing, yoga, racquetball, trail running, archery, volksport, ringette, flag football, orienteering, curling, baseball, rollerskating, street hockey, paddle ball, basketball, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, luge and a five-kilometre resolution run.
That last one is not necessarily a new sport for Watt, but rather a new take on the sport she's known all along. She has it planned for New Year's Day, the significance of which is not just that it's near her next birthday.
"I purposefully planned it as my final event as a reminder to resolve to stay involved and active in life and to be surrounded by others who are making an active lifestyle their goal as well," she said.
This Saturday she's doing two sports but not at the same time: a trail run that she calls the five peaks race ("a very rugged and challenging 7.3K") and archery.
The home stretch
While Watt continues checking off sports, including skeet shooting last week, she envisions others hearing her story and removing themselves from beer halls and entertainment rooms to simply move, lest their bodies become stiff from disuse.
"I hope it will encourage others to get out and experience life to the fullest, whatever their dreams and aspirations are," she said.
At the very least, Watt's quest has provided another level of connection between her and her immediate family members — husband Craig and daughter Justina. Already close, they all have found that exercising together is great for their bodies and souls.
"I think it's great," Justina said of her mother's pursuit. "She's always been active and trying new things."
"She's been a great influence ever since I met her, but especially going through these events," said Craig, who has accompanied his wife for more than 20 of the new sports.
He wants to keep going with the adventure himself.
"It's fun to look forward to the event for the week or the next few weeks. It's been exciting all year."
