Look What We Have to Look Forward To: Winning Marathons at 80+

Joy Johnson, former physical ed teacher from San Jose, California, won the New York City Marathon in her age group (80-90). See this video. She just keeps smiling as she's running. Although active, she didn't start doing marathons until her late 50s. Then she just couldn't stop, competing in up to 3 marathons per year.

She didn't really build in regular exercise until 1985 when a 3-mile walk energized her so much, made her feel so good, she decided this is the recipe for feeling good all the time. These walks turned into 10-K road races and on to marathons.

Her routine is this: she gets up at 4am to beat the sun. reads her Bible for an hour, then gets outside for her pre-dawn run into the citrus-grove fragrant roads. To challenge her last time, she made sure to strengthen her quads for this one by running up and down stairs in a local high school stadium.

Mary Wittenberg, CEO of the NY Road Runners Club, said, "These are the sunniest people... Maybe you have to be that way to run marathons in your 80s, or maybe it's just that running makes you so damn happy.

Whatever it is, I know that feeling, having started riding horses 15 years ago, at age 50. When I'm on my horse, whether practicing a new dressage move or trail riding out on a gorgeous wooded path strewn with still-colored leaves on the ground beneath me, I'm smiling and not thinking of anything else except being in the moment. I'm expecting to do that at age 80!

How about you? What are you doing now that will keep you smiling, vibrant, and active at age 80 and over?