Sept. 30, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness.

Randall Olson had a bit of a Goldilocks problem when it came to settling on where to spend his retirement.

After a lifetime in the Twin Cities, “I had decided that that wasn’t the place for me,” he said.

“So I moved to a small town in Iowa, and I was there a year and a half, and for excitement I’d see the tractors and watch the corn grow. So I knew I had to compromise.”

Sioux Falls became that middle ground. But Olson moved here almost three years ago not knowing anyone.

That changed when he drove a short distance from his new apartment to GreatLIFE’s Woodlake Athletic Club and became a GreatLIFE member.

“Someone told me about GreatLIFE when I moved here, and it’s only a few miles from my apartment, so I checked it out and loved it,” he said.

He usually arrives at the gym between 6 and 8 a.m. at least six days a week.

“I come in, say hi, shoot the breeze for a few minutes with whoever is on, they get me a cup of coffee so I get caffeinated, and usually somebody will come chat with me and hang out for about 20 minutes.”

One of those people is Randall Hill, GreatLIFE’s vice president of fitness.

“We see him park and get his coffee ready,” Hill said. “He knows each person who works in the morning by name, and they all know him too. He’s usually one of the first people many of us see, and we’ve gotten to know him really well.”

Olson’s goal in coming to the gym is to manage his arthritis. While he sometimes does cardio or lifts weights, his main activity is going back and forth between Woodlake’s pool and hot tub, “and it does wonders for my pain management,” he said. “If I don’t go, the pain is double, so it’s a big blessing for me.”

The social interaction brings its own benefits, Hill said.

“Our big focus is first and foremost on creating relationships with people,” he said. “It’s more than saying hello and knowing your name. It’s getting to know people on a personal level. Everyone has stuff going on in their life, and you never know when someone might need to have that connection and conversation.”

At GreatLIFE, “we talk about being that third place for people — home and work and then what else,” Hill continued. “For him, being retired, it’s probably his second place.”

For Olson, who lives alone and has no family in town, GreatLIFE has become a center of his new life in Sioux Falls.

“It’s gone great moving here. I love it, and it’s a wonderful town,” he said. “And this is my social time. I get to have coffee and chat, and I’m friends with everybody — the employees and a lot of the members — so it’s become my daily routine. I come in and see my friends, and then when I leave, I feel dramatically better.”

To begin making GreatLIFE part of your life, stop in any location, or click here to learn more about membership.