ABCNews.com has the story of a 95-year-old grandmother who set a world record for running 60 meters in 29.86 seconds.
Ida Keeling, of Bronx, N.Y., is only 4-foot-6 and 83 pounds. She is only on one prescription drug and appears 20 years younger than she actually is. And she said she feels even younger than that.
“Like a puppy,” she said. “I feel younger now than when I was in my 30s and 40s and had all those problems. Then I was aged!”
Keeling didn’t take up running until her late 60s. Since then, she has won numerous medals and trophies and has set a few world records. Three years ago, she set the record for fastest sprint in the 90-and-over age group.
Keeling attributes her good health to eating a light breakfast for dinner and a dinner (usually a hamburger, liver or fish) for breakfast.
“Gives me fuel for the day,” she said.
Keeling trains in the long hallway of her apartment building, rides an exercise bike, lifts weights and jumps rope.
“My secret is, feel good about yourself [and] have a good attitude about yourself. … Do what you need to do, and not what you want to do, or what you’d like to do,” she said.
“I just close my eyes and say, ‘Count your blessings Ida, count your blessings.’ Stay alert, stay focused, and that’s it. It clears up a whole lot of things. You’d be surprised,” she said.
Keeling said she is not sure how much longer she will run, although she said she hopes to “make it to 108,” which would give her four more years than her father’s mother, who lived until the age of 104.
“Every year I am going to keep doing what I am doing, and when running time comes, if I feel I am ready, I will go at it,” Keeling said.
