Celebrating 60 at the Pool
After more than a half-century of swimming, Carol Restrepo can't imagine a better place to embrace the aging process than the pool.
After more than a half-century of swimming, Carol Restrepo can't imagine a better place to embrace the aging process than the pool.
"My goal is to swim a 100-meter race when I'm 100," says the respected South Jersey aquatics teacher and coach, who started swimming at 5 years old and turned 60 in May.
"I'm a faithful reader of the obituaries, and I notice the ages," Restrepo says. "You can't change how old you are. So I'm all about enjoying the ride, and being the best I can be at whatever age I am. My motto is, stroke or croak."
A Haddonfield mother of two grown sons (both of whom swam competitively) and a grandmother of two, Restrepo trains and teaches at the William G. Rohrer Center for Health Fitness at Virtua Health in Voorhees.
That's where I chatted with her and Dave, 63, her husband of 38 years. He's a financial adviser and an occasional swimmer; they met on a blind date at Gettysburg College, where she was cocaptain of the varsity swim team.
"My philosophy is about not giving up and not giving in," says Restrepo, a lithe, vital, resolutely upbeat woman who comes prepared for our interview with a resumé, biographical sketch, and other materials.
A private aquatics teacher since 2005, Restrepo swims between 1,500 and 2,000 meters four days a week, despite two spinal fractures that interrupted her lifelong aquatics routine in 2011.
"I was craving to get back into that turquoise box. Even just to put my feet in the water and walk in the exercise pool," Restrepo recalls. "I was very limited for four or five months."
Her condition has steadily improved - mostly through a professional physical rehabilitation regimen and an aqua therapy program she designed for herself. Restrepo continues to utilize both, a discipline she learned early.
She began swimming competitively at the Raccoon Valley Swim Club in Mullica Hill at age 6.
"Not too many kids were doing it in the agricultural area where I lived," the self-described "outside-the-box person" says.
By high school, Restrepo was commuting to practice at the YMCA in Woodbury twice a day. "Every weekend, up and down the East Coast, I spent in some gym, waiting to swim events. It's what you did.
Restrepo began coaching at Tavistock Hills Swim Club in 1990. Four years later, she helped establish the private, nationally sanctioned Hurricane Swimming Inc. program at the Coliseum in Voorhees.
"My avocation became a vocation," she says.
"Carol is one of the most determined people I know," says Haddon Heights resident Trish Zobel, 56, whose three children were coached by her.
"She became a champion for the kids," says Marilyn Patterson, 65, who also lives in Haddon Heights and whose son swam with Restrepo's son while they were students at the borough's high school.
Zobel and Patterson note that while Restrepo challenged young swimmers, she also was sensitive to a child's needs.
"Without Carol, my son would not have been the swimmer he was," says Cathy Gaul, 62, of Cherry Hill.
Her son Cary, now 29, has spina bifida and was using a wheelchair when Restrepo began coaching him 21 years ago. He went on to participate in an Australian competition for disabled swimmers in 2003.
"She was very caring," he says. "She knew what you could do, and she expected the best."
Restrepo says her experience dealing with her spinal injuries and the limitations that can come with age have sensitized her to the needs of older students she teaches privately.
"As you age, it's more about the quality of the workout," she says.
Nevertheless, Restrepo still loves to compete. She hopes to organize a family relay team to participate in a Master's competition for her 60th birthday.
And she says that if she ever has to go to a nursing home - which seems unlikely - "it will have to have a lap pool."