Runners in Their 60s, 70s and 80s Reveal Their Running Secrets

September 10, 1972: Maury Dean, a 29-year-old English professor at a New York community college, sat transfixed in front of his 12-inch, black-and-white TV set, watching a mustachioed law student named Frank Shorter cross the finish line of the 1972 Olympic Marathon, becoming the first American to win the event since 1908. “It was riveting to watch,” recalls Dean. “I got marathon fever that night.”

He wasn’t alone: Shorter’s gold medal performance is widely recognized as the spark that lit what would become known as the first Running Boom. Over the next few years, an estimated tne million runners—mostly white-collar, well-educated males at that point—laced up pairs of newfangled running shoes and hit the roads.

Dean was one of them. He went on to finish 14 marathons and became a competitive age grouper in the New York area.

Like another octogenarian, Mick Jagger, who, as a young man, once said that he’d rather be dead than sing “Satisfaction” at 45, Dean never really imagined that he’d continue to be pounding the pavement at age 83.

“I figured I was going to stop running when I was 60,” he tells Outside Run. “And then I ignored my own advice.”

“I’m getting slower and slower, faster and faster,” he jokes.

But he’s still at it. And, he says, still enjoying it.

People’s Athletic Ability Naturally Slows Down with Age—and That’s OK

Dean’s epoch-spanning running career reminds us that, while we may indeed be slowing down—an average of one to three percent of people per year start around age 40, researchers estimate—running can be a lifetime sport. While you can’t outrun Father Time, you can keep him (or her) at arm’s length.

“Runners, whether we like it or not, tend to slow down over time,” says kinesiologist Hank Williford, emeritus professor at Auburn University-Montgomery in Alabama. “However, the decline is not the same in everyone.” And if it can’t be completely avoided, it can at least be ameliorated.

“If you put in the work, on and off the roads, you can still get a lot of satisfaction from running,” Williford says. “I’m 79, still racing and proud of it.”

That said, you might need to make some changes in your training.

4 Ways to Keep Running Safe and Fun As You Age, From the People Actually Doing It

“As runners get older, they’d be wise to do more than just run,” says Jason Karp, PhD, an exercise scientist, coach, and author. To explain what runners should incorporate into their training as they age, he points to a 2022 study of best practices for aging competitive runners.

The study, published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, examined the running habits of 68 competitive female athletes, between the ages of 45 and 60. The researchers found that these women—most of whom continued to compete in races of various distances—ran an average of three days a week, totaling no more than 15 to 30 miles of running per week. Most of the women followed a warm-up routine that included stretching. About half logged at least some of their mileage on treadmills or off-road. A whopping 97 percent did at least one form of cross-training—primarily strength training, but also stationary biking, elliptical, and yoga—an average of two to three days per week.

This less-is-more regimen didn’t make the women in the study immune to injuries, but it did allow them to keep training and running competitively. However, for runners imbued with the idea that the answer is always more mileage, it might be a daunting prescription.

“As a young runner, you can get away with six or seven days a week,” Karp says. “But you probably can’t do that your whole life as a runner.”

Here are some ways that an older runner can refocus and revitalize their running career.

1. Decrease Your Mileage to Reduce Pain and Injury Risk

Mike Keohane, 61, was locked in a vicious cycle: “I was running in pain,” Keohane says. Keohane is a New Jersey runner who competed in the 1992 Olympic Trials Marathon and is now a coach and certified pedorthist, a running shoe expert. “I’d actually be limping after a run. So I started running less. As soon as it felt better, I’d up the miles. And then I was running in pain again.”

Keohane finally broke out of this rut by cutting his mileage dramatically (from 25 to 30 miles per week to ten to 15). He also began hitting the gym in earnest: lifting weights, cycling, doing the elliptical. Now, he says, “For the first time in over ten years, I’m running without pain.”

2. Remind Yourself That Running Any Distance Is an Achievement 

Attitude adjustments might be in order for the older runner. “Everyone should have an attitude of gratitude towards their running,” says Gordon Bakoulis, a five-time Olympic Trials marathoner and New York Road Runners coach. “We should run because we love it.”

Gail Butrymowicz is a prime example. She loves to run. A retired nurse from Green Bay, Wisconsin, she completed 43 marathons over three decades.

Although never in Bakoulis’s league, Gail was a solid, middle-of-the-packer. But as she approached 60, she noticed a marked drop-off in her time. “I thought, ‘Maybe my marathon days are over.’”

She ran her last 26.2 at Big Sur in 2019. But she kept on running—just not as far. Now 63, Butrymowicz runs three times a week on a four-mile loop near her home. And enjoys every minute. “I come home after my runs, and I feel really good about myself,” she says.

Her advice: “If you’re an older runner, and you’re still able to get out and run, be thankful. You’ve been able to maintain your health and fitness, and you’re still out there! That alone is an achievement.”

3. Incorporate Short Bursts of Fast-Paced Running Into Your Training to Keep Bones Strong

As older runners slow down, they assume that’s the way they should henceforth do all their running: Slowly. Not so, says Karp.

Shorter, faster running increases force production. “That means recruiting some fast-twitch muscle fibers, improving hip extension and flexibility, and helping build bone density,” he says.

This kind of shorter, higher-intensity training doesn’t have to be done on a track. “You could do a Fartlek run, which means doing little spurts of hard running during an easy run,” he advises. “It could just be running 30 seconds hard, or running from one telephone pole to the next. You can make it free-form.”

However you choose to do it, consistent, short-but-higher-intensity efforts will help put a little pep in your running step.

4. Rediscover Why You Started Running

Chances are, chasing PRs wasn’t the only reason you started running. You probably felt less stressed when you ran, more in touch with nature, refreshed and renewed. Why not try reconnecting with those feelings?

Maybe it means a run without your watch. Or perhaps a run where you stop and smell the proverbial roses. In 1977, Eileen Barnes Corley was the first female member of Fordham University’s cross-country team. Like Dean, she has seen the breathtaking growth of her sport. And she continued to train hard and race seriously into her early 60s, but injuries and aging prompted a different perspective: one that encompasses the entire breadth of the running experience—not just performance.

“I used to say, gotta get the run in, gotta get the run in, no stopping,” says Barnes Corley, now 67. “Now I’m like, ‘ Oh, there’s a waterfall. Let’s stop for a minute and enjoy the view.’”

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