Older runners lacing up in greater numbers

“In terms of health and keeping moving and having those accomplishments later in life, it’s absolutely self-empowering and a huge accomplishment,” Stone says. “More power to them. Let’s keep

it going.” “I often think I’ll be the oldest person. But I’m usually passed by somebody who’s older, with grayer hair,” says Jill Jamieson, a runner and triathlete from Arlington, Virginia,

who is 57. “There’s a discriminatory mindset out there that after a certain age you should sit back in the BarcaLounger and just wait for death.” Jill Jamieson, running in the Brazil World

Marathon Challenge. World Marathon Challenge RUNNING AS THERAPY Jamieson, the CEO of an advisory firm, took up running as a way to process emotions after her father was diagnosed with

Alzheimer’s disease. (Watch Jamieson tell her story in the video below.) In late January and early February, to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association in his memory, she finished the

World Marathon Challenge: seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. With age comes wisdom, Jamieson says. Older runners, she says, have the experience to pace themselves. Dan

Jaworski, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s himself, competed in the Ironman in the fall. At 57, he runs in the hope that exercise will slow down the disease. “I feel when I’m running,

biking and swimming like it’s a counterpunch,” says Jaworski, an investment advisor who lives in Orlando, Florida. “I just want to win each day.” Other motivations are simpler. Jeannie Rice

started running when she was 35 to lose a few pounds. She has since claimed the world marathon record for women 70 to 74 (3:24:48) and broke the marathon record for women 75 and older in

the 2023 Boston Marathon with 3:33:15, beating previous record holder Vera Nystad, who ran in the same race. “It’s healthy, and I’m not one to sit around doing nothing,” says Rice, who

spends her winters training in Naples, Florida. “Running is motivation. It gets you up in the mornings.” Video: Daughter Ran Around the World in 7 Days to Honor Dad BENEFITS OF AGE For Rice

and other particularly fast endurance athletes, getting older is a good thing. That’s because “aging up” progressively moves them into new age-group divisions in which the competition begins

to thin out. “I’m competing pretty much with myself,” she jokes. “We have to accept that I’m not going to run as fast as five years ago. And that’s OK. The point is that I’m still out

there.” She’s not entirely joking, though, when she says that races ought to add a “grand senior masters” division for runners like her. Gene Dykes, running in the 2017 Rothman 8K, part of

the Philadelphia Marathon Weekend Courtesy Dave Broadbent Gene Dykes would benefit from that, too. Dykes held, until recently, the marathon record for men 70 to 74. “When we start getting

prize money then I’ll know old people are appreciated,” says Dykes, now 74, a retired computer programmer who has run 77 marathons and 76 “ultras” — usually runs of 31 miles or longer. He

has a 50-mile ultra coming up, and a 200-miler in August.