This Running Couple is Still Going Steady

By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller

Tim Vigil, 61
Rita Vigil, 58
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Tim and Rita Vigil love running almost as much as they love each other. They are living proof that you enjoy your best quality of life by doing all the right things, and they are still doing it together in their 35th year of marriage.

The prescription is deceptively simple: eat right, exercise regularly, have faith and maintain a positive outlook on life. It has served the couple well, as they have had few health issues and rebounded well from injuries in their running life.

Tim grew up in Colorado and became involved with track and cross-country in middle school. Rita, a New Mexico native, was prodded by her brother to start in high school. They met at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado, when both were on the cross-country team, and their friendship grew into a budding relationship. They married after college and continued running road races and marathons while pursuing careers and raising a family. Rita was a first-grade teacher and Tim became a district retail manager.

After the couple moved to Santa Fe, Rita’s brother once again urged them to compete in the New Mexico Senior Olympics in 2018. The couple made an immediate impact, racking up state medals with their performances in road races and mid-distance track events, often capturing gold and rarely missing a podium.

While they were overwhelmed with the magnitude of the 2019 National Senior Games presented by Humana held in Albuquerque, they were ready for the big stage. Since 2019, Tim has earned three gold, four silver and one bronze finish in national competition. Rita has done even better with four gold, four silver and five bronze finishes, and seems to be trending upward. At the 2025 Games in Des Moines, she streaked to first-place results in the 5K, 10K and 1500-meter races in the hotly-contested women’s 55-59 division.

Clearly, both are rising elite senior athletes bringing recognition back to New Mexico, and the couple was selected as the state’s flag bearers for the 2025 Parade of Athletes. As they tell us in the following edited conversation, Tim and Rita believe they were also chosen for their healthy outlook and the encouragement they give to their racing peers. That’s also why we selected them to be profiled, because they exemplify what pursuing your Personal Best life is all about!

Tim and Rita, one thing that attracted our attention was your selection as New Mexico’s Flag Bearers for the 2025 Parade of Athletes in Des Moines. Why do you think you were chosen for the honor?
TIM:
When we came onto the senior scene in New Mexico, we recognized there are some really solid runners, but I don’t know that they had as many top finishes as we had, and we did it year after year in the state games and at the national games.

Overall though, I think they really felt like we exemplified New Mexico and the commitment to healthy aging. I’m 61 now and still running competitively, even against the younger guys. I mean, the top three finishers in my last 5K were 60-year-olds.

RITA:
It’s definitely an honor. I am glad to be involved with the Games, and I think we represent New Mexico very well, not just as athletes, but also helping and encouraging other senior competitors. Ceci Acosta, the New Mexico Senior Olympics director, can always count on us. It’s always an honor to represent New Mexico not only here but also at the National Senior Games. We love being involved and are always glad to help in any way we can.

Like Tim mentioned, there’s been a lot of different competitors throughout the years, but as far as I know, I don’t think there’s been that many New Mexican senior athletes that have placed as high in the road or track races as we have at nationals.

What was your impression of the National Senior Games and competing against the best people in your age group?
TIM:
Our first one was in Albuquerque in 2019, and it was absolutely fantastic. It was like being in a true championship with elite competition. I ran nationals in college and this was even beyond that. I was amazed, and honestly, super nervous because this was my first national competition since college. It was like I was a freshman in high school.

RITA:
We had not run track events since our college years, so I was kind of nervous and excited at the same time, too. It was a wonderful feeling to be back on the track and competing at the national level with some very competitive athletes. I prefer the road races, and that’s where I see myself placing in the top three, but I have started to really enjoy the track races. You have to compete against the best and that’s what we are up against every time we go to Nationals. There are some very talented senior athletes in every age group. I’ll be in the 60-64 age bracket at the next National Senior Games, and there are some tough competitors in that age group!

Everyone tells us you two were made for each other. How did you meet?
RITA:
We met at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. Tim and I were part of the cross-country team there. I would see him on campus, sometimes in the computer lab, but mostly at practice. I was friends with his cousin, who was my roommate at the time. Tim invited us over just to have lunch at his little dorm apartment, and we became really good friends. After a few months, we started having feelings for one another and dated for three and a half years. We got engaged and then married right after I graduated from college. I married my best friend and love of my life, a match made in Heaven.

TIM:
Well, I was pretty introverted and started to break out of that shell in college. I wasn’t really looking for a relationship. But as we became friends, we started hanging out a lot more. I loved her big, beautiful smile – everybody compliments her on her smile. They compliment me on her smile. [Laugh] We really had a connection, and it just grew, and all of a sudden it was just like a rose blooming.

RITA:
We had a daughter a year after we got married, and we also had a son a few years later. I was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years. When my son was four, he was able to get into preschool, and that’s when I started my teaching career.

Did you always want to be a schoolteacher?
No, to be honest. My degree is in psychology with a minor in athletic coaching. It wasn’t until I was 32 that I decided to get my teaching certification. My kids were my priority. When they were old enough to attend school, that was when I started teaching. They attended the same school as where I taught, this was convenient and I loved that I could see them during the day.

I teach first grade and have also taught second grade. It makes me very happy when I see my students excited about learning, plus they keep me feeling young. I just like to see those ‘Aha moments’ when they get a certain concept or learn a new strategy. I tell them that they can do hard things when they work hard and not give up.

So you grew to love teaching and went back for your master’s degree. When was that?
In 2021. I decided I wanted to get my master’s degree so I can continue to improve as a teacher so I can better serve my students. I also wanted to move up to being a Level 3 teacher, which means a higher salary. I graduated this past May from New Mexico Tech with a Master of Science for Teachers degree. I am very proud of that!

Congratulations! Tim, where did your career run after college?
TIM:
My degree was going to be in math and computer sciences, and I had two classes left, but I had started working in convenience stores part-time to pay for college and to save money because we didn’t want to take out any loans to pay for our own wedding.

Right after our wedding, I got promoted to store manager for the Loaf n’ Jug convenience store chain, and we moved to Pueblo, Colorado. I was a district manager with Loaf n’ Jug until I left them and moved to Santa Fe in 2001. I was pretty much tired of convenience stores, so I accepted a job with a sports apparel company called Fans, which merged with Lids. I’ve been working under the Lids title for the last six years as a district manager.

Coaching has been an important part of your sports journey. Who has done it more?
I started while I was in college, and I was hired as an assistant coach at a high school in Sanford, it’s a small town in Colorado. The head coach there didn’t really know much about coaching track and field athletes. The next year, they asked me to be the head coach, and I did that for three more years.

When we moved to Walsenburg, I coached the cross-country team and was assistant track coach for three years there. Rita was my assistant cross-country coach for four years there. Then we moved to Santa Fe, and I helped Rita coach the junior high and high school cross-country and track teams here. Right now, I’m not doing any coaching due to my work schedule. I would do more if I could; I really enjoy developing young athletes.

You have your own senior athletic career to pursue, Tim, so you are devoting your time wisely. What’s your coaching experience, Rita?
RITA:
I started coaching when our son was in sixth grade. We both coached him through middle school and high school. I continued coaching at the high school level for 11 years. Tim was promoted at his work and due to his work schedule he was unable to continue helping me, so I had to hire another assistant coach.

I stopped coaching three years ago. It was a lot for me to be coaching while taking master’s classes, teaching full-time, and training for upcoming races. I do have a lot of free time now, and I can focus more on my training and prepare for upcoming races. I might consider coaching again if the right opportunity presents itself, but for now I’m really enjoying all this free time. [Laugh].

You’ve made many friends. Do you recognize that others are inspired by you?
TIM:
Absolutely. You know, the competitors I talk to are highly interested in the training that I do and what keeps me healthy. They follow me on Strava and Facebook so they can see my training, and I follow them back. So it’s just building those relationships. Every time we go to Senior Games or running events, we just enjoy spending time with them talking and getting caught up. It’s like, we’ve been friends since high school.

There’s something about this camaraderie thing.
You know, there’s always somebody out there that is in shape and ready to compete. You can learn and grow from meeting these new people, and I just enjoy seeing what they’re doing. I look at their training and compare it to mine and see what I can do to improve myself.

Do you feel you push each other as a couple to continue, or is it just because you love running and competing?
It’s a little bit of both. I’m on a seven-year streak without missing a day of running. I don’t want to say I’m motivated because motivation comes and goes, but it’s helped me build discipline in my training.

I would also say that if I had this kind of discipline when I was in high school and college, I would have been a much, much stronger and better runner. But that’s what keeps me going. And being able to talk to Rita about her training and how she feels. It’s just kind of self-supportive and influential between us both.

Rita, would you agree that the reason why you guys haven’t been all that sick through the years is that you’ve been so active?
RITA:
Yeah, I think that is correct. Being active and eating healthy. You have to eat right in order to perform at your best. Most senior athletes don’t eat very healthy. And as you get older, you know, you really have to watch what you eat, you also have to incorporate strength training and listen to your body. Those little aches can turn into serious injuries.

Being disciplined and consistent is the key to running well when you’re in your 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, even over 100. But for me, my faith is very important. I know God has given me a gift, and I want to use that gift to honor and to glorify His name. And a lot of people see that and are drawn to that, they come and ask for prayer or spiritual advice.

TIM:
I’m also a person of strong faith, and that’s what really motivates me and encourages me daily.

It’s a holistic thing, this aging. We don’t like to just talk about people’s athletic stuff because there’s a whole person there. And in order to successfully age, the activity is one part of it, but the social interaction is another part of it.

We totally agree, Tim. Everything you mention helps create a positive mental attitude, including your faith. So what would you tell people about the importance of putting this all together?
You know, I have a lot of great friendships with guys from college. When I see them today, some of them can barely even walk – they’re overweight and fell into bad habits. I just want people to understand that if you stay active, make healthy choices, stay positive, then your senior years don’t have to be in a wheelchair or a cane, or sedentary. Be out there, stay active! I put God first.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an elite runner, in the middle of the pack or the last one across the finish line. The bottom line is that you came across the finish line. How many people haven’t even started or are sitting on the couch?

We saw a nice quote on your Facebook page: “Commitment doesn’t happen in a day, it happens daily.” Is that your saying?
It’s a saying that’s been around a long time. Anybody can say I’m committed to doing this, but you know, three months later they’ve stopped. The only thing that builds that commitment is discipline, and discipline happens only when you do it regularly. Habits are built by doing it day after day after day.

Rita, do you have a fave expression?
RITA:
Yes. ‘The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.’ We all want to run great races and post great times, but you have to put in the work if you want to win races. As a coach, I would always hear my athletes tell me, ‘I want to qualify for the state meet,’ and I would tell them, ‘You have to put in the work, show up every day, trust your coach, and trust the process.’ There are no shortcuts, and it’s not going to be handed to you.

Obviously, you both plan to be standing on the podium in about 20 years still doing this, right?
TIM:
That’s the beauty of Senior Games. You know, your ordinary person kind of dreads hitting that next age number. To me, it’s a new challenge going to a new age category. There’s always new opportunity!