85 Years-Young Ed Whitlock: You Are Never Too Old To Run a Record (or 40!)

85 year-old Ed Whitlock has shattered the "too old to run" theory by breaking over 40 world records, including running a 2:54 marathon at age 73, and 1:50 half marathon at 85. Hear his story and what motivates him to keep chasing those world records.

Today we are talking to Ed Whitlock, who is 85 and still breaking running records.

Ed began his running career when he was 14. He continued running when he went to University, but took a break from running after he injured his achilles. Ed started running again when he was 40, breaking all sorts of running records to this day.

85 year-old Ed Whitlock has shattered the "too old to run" theory by breaking over 40 world records, including running a 2:54 marathon at age 73, and 1:50 half marathon at 85. Hear his story and what motivates him to keep chasing those world records.

Some of the topics that you’ll hear about include:

  • What motivates Ed to keep running
  • When is it a good idea to take a break.
  • The importance of listening to how your body feels
  • Why age shouldn’t be a reason to stop running
  • Ed’s best advice, favorite books, and what he likes to eat before a run

Questions Ed is asked:

3:44 When did you begin running?

4:44 Have you ever have at time where someone has said to you it’s maybe time to stop running?

6:20 You mentioned you had quite a long break from running. Did you miss it during that time? Or what was the reason?

7:24 How do you know when it is time to start running again?

9:20 Why do you choose to run around a cemetery?

12:11 How do you keep yourself motivated? 

13:45 How many age records do you own?  

14:30 What stands out the most?

17:35 You have never run the Boston Marathon. Why?

20:04 What does your training look like? 

21:10 Do you keep it to the easy runs as you are older? 

27:45 What has been your biggest lesson?

29:34 What is it about the racing situation that you enjoy? 

35:12 Do you have a biggest running regret?

35:55 What would you have changed back then? Would you keep running?

37:26 Is there a certain record you want to set?

41:21 What is the greatest advice you have ever received?

41:58 What is your favorite running book? 

42:52 What would you like to tell a new runner?

44:00 Do you have any favorite running products? 

[bctt tweet=”What an inspirational interview! Ed Whitlock recently ran a 1:50 half marathon at 85!” username=”Runners_Connect”]

Quotes from Ed:

“I’ve been running, more or less continuously, since I’ve been 40, up to 85.” 

“In my experience, various attempts at therapy for various injuries where I’ve had don’t seem to do much good for me.”

“The only thing that seems to cure me is to take a bit of a rest. I would take a rest for a day or a week according to how it feels.”

“Several reasons that I run where I do. One, it is that it is convenient it is about 100 yards from my house.”

“I don’t get it in competitions with myself. Whereas when I used to have a route around town I saw how long it took and you get into competitions that way with yourself.”

“The form of training that I do seems to work quite well for me.”

“Everyone has to find out for themselves (what type of training) works for them.”

“I don’t like to run that many marathons. When I run a marathon I try to set a record and Boston isn’t record legal.”

“I’ve found that I can handle lots of volume, but not much speed in my training.”

“One’s never too old to start again.”

“I don’t have any regrets. I wonder what I might have done if things have been different when I was young.” 

“I wonder what I have might have done when I was younger. I wonder if I could have done a lot more than what I did back then.”

Take a Listen on Your Next Run


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Links and Resources:

Last week’s podcast with 
Dirk Friel


Ed Whitlock Facebook Fan Page


Runner’s World Ed Whitlock, 85, Runs Half Marathon World Record

Interview with 
Brad Beer on injuries

Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember you can always email me   tina@runnersconnect.net if you have any suggestions, feedback, or guests you would like to hear from.

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Next week, we will be talking to Jim Vance about power meters, and how they will lead to every world record being broken. You won’t wanna miss this!

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