Marital Blitz

At the 106th Boston Marathon last April, Ruth and Walter Bortz, M.D., of Portola VAlley, CA, did something no other 70-plus married couple had ever done there: They finished. "It was tough for me," says Ruth, who ran 5:31, 11 minutes behind her husband. "I wasn't as prepared as Walter."

Walter was prepared all right. He's run a marathon each year for the past 30 years. "It's my annual physical," says Walter, past president of the American Geriatris Society, associate profesor of medicine at Stanford University of Medicine, and author of several longevity books including Dare to Be 100. For years he has written and spoken about the positive benefits of exercise for the elderly, and frequently answers questions for Runner's World's Ask the Experts column.

Finishing Boston was doubly satifying for Ruth, because she won the 70-plus age-group, the first time Boston had ever designated such a group. Eleven years earlier, she won the 60-plus category among women, and then proceeded to lobby Boston organizers to create the 70-plus category for both sexes. "I pushed all the buttons I knew," says Ruth. Boston Marathon officials made the change just in time for Ruth to take advatage.

"Race officials need to encourage us older runners," says Walter. "Exercise for older people is an imperative. It's the key to reamining self-sufficient as we age."

*Reprinted by permission of Runner's World magazine. Copy written 2002, Rodele Press, Inc. All right reserved.