👵🏻 95 half marathons at 82 years old

After 2 years of living here, our garage is officially the cleanest it’s ever been - and it feels amazing! Highly reccomend doing that run to the dump or goodwill you’ve been putting off. 🙂 

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Bonnie Sanford is probably in better shape at 82 years old than you’ve ever been in your whole life.

How?

She walks. A lot.

Like 7-10 miles on a slow day.

She’s on track to do 12 half marathons this year alone.

Which you might think is a lot, and I’d forgive you for thinking so.

(It’s way more than probably 99% of people do in their entire life)

…but it’s nothing compared to the 95 she’s already done.

Not to mention 10 FULL marathons.

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Like I said, she’s an absolute beast - and she was so kind to let me interrogate her over the phone last night for 28 minutes straight.

Here’s just a few of the highlights from that conversation:

Q: Why’d you get into walking?

A: I was visiting Victoria, Canada and they had a marathon going on there. I said to my friend, “I wanna do that. I wanna do that.” So I went back home to San Diego and got involved with a group called Walk About and just started walking. Then I signed up for my first Marathon at 65 [years old].

Q: What’s been hard about staying consistent walking?

A: You know, that’s a hard question because it hasn’t really been hard. I enjoy photography so much that as I’m walking I’m constantly looking for cool photo opportunities. And I enjoy nature as well so just being outside and taking pictures is fun for me. And then I pray a lot too while I’m out there.

Q: Were there any specific strategies that helped you build your walking habit?

A: I kept charts to track how many miles I walked each day and when I’d see a blank day, it just made me want to walk the next day to avoid another blank spot on my chart.

Q: Has walking impacted other areas of your life?

A: It’s kept me healthy, I don’t take any medications. It’s saved me a lot of money cause I don’t drive my car very much. And It’s just opened my eyes to all the beauty around.

Q: What life advice do you have for my readers?

A: Have a positive attitude. Trust God. Eat healthy. Sleep well. Exercise daily. Oh, set goals - every year I set goals at the beginning of the year. Last year I set the goal to walk 2,022 miles and I was short 156, but I was still happy with what I did. I blamed a little of it on the weather we have up here - but those are just excuses. I try not to make excuses.

And here’s a few golden nuggets she dropped that weren’t a direct answer to a question I asked:

• “You know, I had the goal to do a race in every state. I finished the 50 states on my 80th birthday. It took 15 years for me to complete that”

• “One time I was on my son’s boat when we hit a wave and I fractured a vertebrae, but I already had a race scheduled in Monterey, California. So I told the doctor and he got me a back brace. I wore the brace under my clothes so nobody would know.”

• “The only time I ever drive is to the golf course. And I’m golfing better than I ever have.” (she’s been golfing for over 60 years)


I dunno about you, but Bonnie is my new hero.

Hope she inspired you like she did for me.

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A few of my own biggest takeaways:

1. You’re never too old to get active.

2. If you want exercise to be fun, find a way to move your body that makes you happy.

3. If you don’t enjoy walking on it’s own, mix it with other things you do already love (like photography, nature, music, audiobooks, or talking with a friend)

4. Find a simple way to track your progress - maybe even as simple as old-school paper and pen.

5. There’s always a reason not to do something… find the reason to do it.

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Wife: Hey Siri, add alfredo sauce to the grocery list.

Siri: Ok, I added alfredo sauce to the grocery list.

Daughter: Wow, Siri is SO nice.

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Thanks for reading!

- Kody

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P.S. These habit examples take me 3 hours to write.

It only takes you 3 seconds to share.