NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — If you need a little inspiration to get up and move this week, just wait until you see what this woman did. She's been inspired by a story you probably know. Now, she hopes her own story can inspire someone else.
"At first I prayed about that," said Terry Coulter, speaking between doing chin ups and push ups. "How did God want to use me and how I'm made?"
There is a story that's just spoken to Terry Coulter.
"Who does not love the story of Rocky?" she smiled, talking about the 1976 film.
Even though Terry's story isn't set in a boxing ring, she knows something about being an underdog.
"I am 64-years-old," she said. "When I was in my 20s, 30s, I thought 64 was old. That's not so! Rocky and that story inspired me to not give up. He persevered when the odds were stacked against him. He never gave up. He kept on going. He never threw in the towel. He had that dream, and it came alive. Who doesn't resonate with that?"
To put it in Rocky terms, it's almost like Terry would be both underdog Rocky and trainer Mickey rolled into one.
"There you go! Way to go!" she called after a client lifting weights.
Terry is a certified physical trainer at Avalon Athletic Club in Murfreesboro. She's a motivator like Mickey in the movie, just minus the gruffness.
What Terry wants you to understand is she didn't become a physical trainer until she was 52. She's just kept running toward new adventures ever since.
"Here I am 64-years-old, doing something I never, ever dreamed of," she smiled.
Terry is the reigning Ms Senior Tennessee and is competing in the Ms Senior America Pageant later this year.
The way she sees it, a true Rocky-inspired underdog story needs something. She wasn't going to punch raw meat or drink a glass of six eggs. What was speaking to her, was run up a long flight of steps just like in the film.
Donned in star spangled USA boxing trunks, Terry warmed up for her run up the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol building. Getting ready, Terry had something in her mind she said would get her up those steps.
"I think because we're older, we seem to fade away, right?" she said. "People don't pay as much attention to the older folks."
Well, to that, Terry said; gonna fly now.
Her red sequin tennis shoes thundered up the steps.
"Why not get the message out that us senior people are still out here?" Terry said. "We're still active. We're still aging with grace. We're still making an impact on our communities. Say, 'why not me! Why not try? Let's just see.'"
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
The line ''see something, say something" took on new meaning recently in Bowling Green. Two alert neighbors helped tip police to stolen Corvettes from the nearby assembly plant. That led law enforcement to find 8 stolen Corvettes worth over $1 million. We may all be able to learn a little lesson from this.
-Lelan Statom
