“I used to travel all over the world, but now I’m traveling with a purpose,” says Romano. “I have a race to go to.” Her goal is to run all 50 states and all 7 continents—after Sydney this fall, she’ll just have Antarctica to go for the latter goal (yes, there are marathons on the white continent).
Retirement offers the flexibility to make these ambitious travel goals a reality. Now that she is semi-retired, working around 20 hours a week, Heaslett, a psychiatrist who’s been running since high school, has more time for races that are a little further away. “I would do local races as workouts before, but now I am more apt to say yes to trips to Spain or Paris.”
The race in Spain was an ultra that served paella at the finish line; afterwards, Heaslett and her friends took the bullet train to Paris, where they tacked on a 10k.
For Schochat, who grew up in Germany and runs around 30 races a year, the Berlin race has been his favorite of the Majors. Along with being fast, flat, and easy to navigate, it was the only race where all the spectators correctly pronounced his first name. “In Chicago, after two million people keep shouting out ‘Ray-ner,’ I [thought] maybe that is my name.” This year, he’ll complete his goal of running a marathon in every US state.
“I never had any plans of making it to all the States until this goal came within sight,” Schochat says. “I realized I could run a marathon in all of them and make each one a mini vacation and see these places.” He’s ticked off 41 states so far, and plans to run his last in Hartford, Connecticut, this October.
The relative ease with which he completed his first few races, in his late 50s no less, made Schochat realize, “there’s always been an ability in this body of mine that I didn’t know about.” Now, his priority is to just keep going. “The biggest goal for me now is to keep doing it for a long time and be able to run all over the country and all over the world,” Schochat says.
The logistics of getting into races can be tricky, given the qualifying times required for some and the sheer number of people entering the lottery for others. Making all six happen is no small feat, Schochat says: “I think you either need to be retired like I am or have a stash to do that,” he says.
In between races, it’s the run clubs back home that form the backbone of these retirees’ running communities. “I would not be running and I would not be a runner if it weren’t for all these run clubs,” Schochat says.
Maldonado-Delwiche, who is a certified RRCA coach and recently ran her 10th marathon in New York City on her 65th birthday, runs with Latinas Run Chicago, a group created as a safe space for women, Latinas and otherwise, to exercise together. “The main focus is all are welcome. Somebody is always there to talk with you, to make you feel welcome, to make you feel that you can do this.”
Some are chasing medals, and fast finish times—others, it’s just getting out there that matters. Romano sometimes runs as a pacer, and helps train other runners to achieve their own race goals as a coach, but when she’s running for herself, “I run for time.” She often places in her age group.
Regardless of speed, there’s no denying the benefits that come from continuing to run, both physically and mentally. “I’m going to be 66 years old on April 14. I don’t have diabetes. I’m not on any medication. I can squat, my balance is excellent. If you saw me, you would never think that I was the age that I am,” says Romano.
And as runners age and family dynamics shift—spouses pass away, kids are busy raising their own kids—the people pounding the pavement alongside them help fill in those familial gaps. “The running community has become my sole family,” Maldonado-Delwiche says. “Everyone knows me as mama Ruthie; I only have one son by birth, but I’ve adopted all these sons and daughters on the course.”
Similarly, Strong’s running community has carried him through some of the toughest times in life, including a bout with prostate cancer. “My partner in life kept me alive; the support that was given to me from her was a crutch; the running community was the other crutch that kept me standing straight up.”
