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John Holst of rural Brownsdale went the first seven decades of his life without ever competing in a sport or training athletically, but a lot has changed.

Holst recently competed in the Senior Games in St. Cloud for the first time ever, and he’s also put in a handful of half marathons and a full marathon since retiring from farming. He ran his first half marathon at age 71, his first marathon at age 73, and after the COVID-19 pandemic slowed him down, he came back and competed in his first ever Senior Games at age 80.

“I was back to square one (after COVID),” Holst said. “I was preparing for another long run, but with my body it was out of the question. Then I looked into the senior games and thought maybe I could be competitive. I signed up for six events.”

Holst began watching YouTube videos on the events he selected and he trained at home and the YMCA in Austin. In the end, he took first in the javelin, discus and long jump for his age group. He also competed in the 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash.

“You really don’t go against your own age group,” Holst said. “In the 200, they had eight heats and there was a guy who was 50 on one side of me and a guy who was 90 on the other side.”

The Senior Games was the first time Holst had ever competed in a track and field meet and it was well worth the wait for him. He was a bit nervous going into it, but eventually he found his touch.

Holst started his journey towards competition 10 years ago when he and his wife found themselves bored in the winter months so they started going to the YMCA. Holst remembers making a goal of being able to run one mile, but he found himself out of breath after his first ever lap of running.

Over time, he grew stronger and after one year, he was running 13 miles in a half marathon. By the time he ran in the Med City Marathon three years into his runner’s journey, Holst was quite confident.

“I worked my way up to it for about three years. I was ready for it,” he said. “I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal when I got done, because I’d prepared.”

Holst has always tried to find runs where he can raise money for charity with his donation and he still looks back on a run he did with his granddaughter Emma as one of his favorite memories.

Holst is not planning on stopping any time soon.

“You’ve just got to keep active. You get to my age and there’s always little things popping up and you’ve just got to pedal through it,” Holst said. “(The YMCA) is a great place, and they have a lot of things from swimming to classes; the equipment is first rate. Come in and enjoy yourself and start out. You’ve got to keep going, you don’t have a choice. I know some of my friends who are not active and they’re going downhill.”