For most of her life, Gloria McCoy has been an avid runner.
Taking that to half and full marathons around the world, the La Jolla resident has run in more than 105 marathon-level races, including the Boston Marathon (her 100th race) and the 2016 Pyongyang Half Marathon in North Korea.
Now that she’s 80, she’s not about to slow down. She’s preparing for the 13.1-mile America’s Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego on Sunday, Aug. 17, and a few weeks later, she’ll be running or hiking at least some of the 485-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
“I’ve been running for 55 years,” McCoy said. “I believe we owe it to ourselves to be the best we can be … which comes from paying attention to our fitness and diet as we age.”
McCoy first started running in high school, where it was one of the few athletic offerings for females. She recommitted to running when she was in her 20s and found she still enjoyed it.
“It offered exercise and a time I could be outside my body and think and go into meditation,” she said. “It helped me that way. It kept me fit mentally and physically. I got hooked on it and kept running.”
Soon she realized she could compete in longer races and travel the world at the same time.
She has since reached more than 215 countries and territories and experienced a gorilla trek in Uganda, the Pyongyang Half Marathon and the Olympic Stadium in Athens. The “most frightening thing” was swimming in the Devil’s Pool at Victoria Falls in Zambia, she said.
“[It] has been a blessing,” McCoy said. “The huge benefit of my running has been increasing my stamina for travel. So for me to travel to that many countries and have the flexibility and make changes at the last minute or something physical at the last minute has given me so many opportunities.”
Though McCoy got into fitness in her youth, she says “it is never too late to start.”
“How do you want your senior years to be? What do you want to do with that time? Do you want to be ambulatory and do what you want?” she said. “It’s so important to have that core strength and flexibility to try and control or prevent those falls that can happen as we get older. It’s a quality of life thing. If you want opportunities and good health, you have to make a commitment to … stay as fit as you can.”
That can mean everything from chair yoga to starting a running club, McCoy said. “We all are built differently and have different capabilities, so just keep moving.”
Gloria McCoy and her granddaughter Anna Sepkovic at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in San Diego. (Treat Public Relations)
McCoy now runs with her two grandchildren, ages 12 and 15.
“My granddaughter has run two marathons,” McCoy said. “So I think I have set an example for them to lead a healthy life with a healthy attitude and commitment. And the influence has moved on to my friends, and that’s what I want in my life. I want to live by example.” ♦