I just refuse to give into old age says 80-year-old marathon runner Bob Wray

When most 80-year-olds are heading for the recliner, Bob Wray is hitting the road. Before his “knees gives out” he will be running the London Marathon this month. He was one of the lucky 40,000 plucked from a pool of more than 300,000 applications. He said this will be his ninth marathon, and his motivation remains simple. “I just refuse to give into old age,” Wray says. “You see people who are still in their late 60s and early 70s and have given up on life, I’m determined to not allow that to happen to me. “ My daughter thinks I’m mad. “I found out there’s an 83-year-old running as well in London. “I’m usually first in my age group (at marathons), as I’m the only one in my age group. ” He has been putting in up to 50 miles a week either on a treadmill — which he says is “very boring” — or on the footpath on cooler nights.

posted Tuesday April 3rd