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Ed Whitlock is 85 years old and going strong in ways that scientists struggle to comprehend. In October 2016, he participated in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and completed it in just 3 hours, 56 minutes, and 34 seconds.
He is the oldest person to run the 26.2 miles of a marathon in less than four hours.
Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic is one of the many doctors who has performed tests on and extensively studied Whitlock in hopes of better understanding how he has managed to maintain his body so well.
“He’s about as close as you can get to minimal aging in a human individual,” Dr. Joyner said. “There are biological factors… But the message with [Whitlock] is not that [he’s a freak]. It is that a whole lot of aging, with a bit of luck, is under some volitional control.”
But all of these studies have proved to be inconclusive.
Whitlock is 5’7” and weighs just 110 to 112 pounds. He wears 15-year-old running shoes, doesn’t train or follow a special diet, nor does he make any effort to specially prepare for any of his races. He just goes.
The main difference that sets Whitlock apart from his peers in their 80s is the fact that he manages to retain a massive amount of oxygen and muscle mass.
Aside from that, Whitlock credits his successes – and his greatest masters race time of 2:54:48 (After being adjusted for age, this time only sets him two minutes slower than the current world record marathon time of 2:02:57) – to determination.
“I believe people can do far more than they think they can,” he said. “You have to be idiot enough to try it.”
Following this marathon, Whitlock is uncertain whether he will complete another 26.2 miles – but he’s not vetoing the option. “The real feeling of enjoyment [in racing] is getting across the finish line and finding out that you’ve done O.K.,” he said.
