Starting today, 139 Kentuckians will be competing at the National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa.

The athletic competition is for adults 50 and older and features over 30 different sports, from track and field to bowling.

Our Mckenzi Spang spoke with some of the senior athletes competing this year.

This story is part of CTV's The Next Chapter initiative, focused on the rewards and challenges of growing older.

13,000 people will be participating in the National Senior Games this year, and for these athletes, age is just a number.

We had a lady from Lexington on her 89th birthday, when a bronze medal at nationals in the 1500.

You know, there be a lot of people who couldn't crawl a 1500 from record holding professional to part time pickleball players, athletes of all skill levels will have the chance to win a medal.

For some seniors, it's the first opportunity they've been given to compete at this level, especially women who were before title nine.

All of our women in their 70s never got that opportunity.

78 year old Jim Hutchinson is competing in track and field at this year's games.

He says running is in his genes.

My grandfather held the U.S. high school record in the mile back in 1914.

Hutchinson competed through high school and college, but fell away from running as an adult in his 30s.

He realized he needed a change.

I smoked five packs of cigarets a day, and I had, come to Jesus moment and said, this isn't going to work.

I may not make 40 at this rate.

Hutchinson picked up running again, but after a knee injury caused him to transition from long distance running to sprinting.

He was encouraged to look into the senior games as a way to focus on healing.

It was a great fit for his competitive spirit.

I heard of the National Senior Games and so I said, oh, this, this will give me a goal.

And it's not so much necessarily beating other people as saying, okay, I ran this time three years ago.

How close to a can I get?

Now, recovering from an injury is also what connected Meg Weiler to the senior games, but she didn't grow up playing her sport.

She only started playing tennis at age 43.

It is social.

It is, competitive.

It is fun.

You get your endorphins going, keeps you young and active.

Every time I play tennis, I get up in the morning and I look forward to that.

I have something to do.

Shunk Weiler says the competition motivates her to stay in shape.

A lot of my siblings have health issues because they are not active or weight bearing or they don't stretch, they don't.

I also work out with a trainer so that I can be better at tennis.

I don't use tennis as my exercise.

I go to the gym and get stronger so I can be better at tennis.

Both Hutchinson and Wheeler say they feel the health benefits of playing sports, and they hear it from their doctors, but they say another benefit to competing in the senior games is the social connection.

When the big thing right now is seniors you hear a lot about is loneliness.

And as I said in an interview out at the pickleball courts last year, I said, do any of these people look lonely?

It's in some ways it's very much like a track record high school, college, track meet because you're competitors.

But you're also, once you've run that race and finished and going across the finish line, you know, it's your friends.

I've had some folks that I've run a run against or run with since 2016.

Organizers say the mission of the Senior Games is to get older adults off of the couch and trying something new.

That kind of shows not only can you keep it going, but it's never too late to start.

You can find something.

And that's why we try to get the word out to people like that.

The physical therapist, the people running the Silver sneakers program to let them know, you know, send them our way.

We'll get them started.

Now, a lot of older people thank.

Well, I haven't done this, so I'm going to be no good.

We want people to get up, get off the couch and try it.

Just playing our Kentucky senior games is so much fun.

And then if you qualify, which if no one else is in your age group, you qualify and you get to go on a fabulous trip.

It keeps you in the game and the game of life.

When I say keeps you in the game, I mean the game of life.

The National Senior Games start today in Iowa and run through August 4th.

The competition takes place every other year.

For Kentucky edition, I'm McKenzie Spink.

Thank you, McKenzie, for that great story.

The Kentucky Senior Games will be in Lexington starting August the 8th, and you can learn more about our next chapter initiative that focuses on the rewards and challenges of aging online at Catawba.

The next chapter.