Tips For Your Family's Health

Who: Gladys Burrill, 92, Prospect; 5 feet 6 inches, 130 pounds.

Making Oregon proud: The next edition of Guinness World Records will include an Oregon woman who has earned her nickname. Gladys “Gladyator” Burrill finished the Honolulu marathon Dec. 12 in nine hours, 53 minutes, 16 seconds (you can see video of it) to become the oldest living woman in the world to complete a 26.2-mile race. She’s finished the Honolulu marathon five times in seven attempts since she took up serious running at age 86.

Glady, as most people call her, was the youngest of six children born to Finnish immigrants. By the time she was born, her father had black lung from working in the Colorado mines. She grew up on a farm in Washington and had a mild form of polio at age 11. “So much of my life was spent in poverty,” she says. “It’s just the way it was.” But the hilly farm provided endless opportunities to run, hike and climb.

Burrill moved to Prospect, an unincorporated community on the Rogue River, after marriage to Eugene. They had five children, 18 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren. Eugene, who was always supportive of her running, died in 2008.

She spends more and more time in Hawaii now and has been honored with a proclamation by Honolulu’s mayor. Pat Bigold, spokesman for the Honolulu Marathon Association, says he gets calls about Burrill every day from around the world. Even Ellen DeGeneres’ and David Letterman’s shows have come calling.

Workout: She has a track on her Oregon property, so she’s run in all kinds of weather. She deals with Hawaii’s humidity by training early, almost before daybreak. Her training partner, George McCarthy, is 66. “We do a lot of laughing,” she says, “and laughter is so important.” Burrill power-walks 30 to 50 miles a week, three days with McCarthy and three on her own. Three months before a marathon she steps it up, and three weeks before the race she backs off again. She says she never has any pain, including after a race. She gardens a lot during her time in Oregon.

Past adventures include climbing Mount Hood six weeks after giving birth. And, 15 years ago she and her husband hiked above the Arctic Circle and waded in the Arctic Ocean.

Feedback: “I’m fortunate to be in good health, but age is only a number. People can be old at 40. It’s important to think positive and to dream.” Burrill’s Seventh-day Adventist faith also is important to her.

Nutrition: She has fish or fowl “once in a great while” but otherwise eats vegetarian. She doesn’t drink alcohol and, beyond a little ice cream, doesn’t eat desserts. Breakfast is always a banana and cold oatmeal with milk. She takes a multivitamin for women and eats a lot of yogurt and fruit. She drinks coffee now and then but mostly has water or juice, including carrot juice.

Another? The Gladyator would like to get into walks and runs for charity, but she hasn’t yet committed to another marathon. She’ll be there to cheer on her friends, though, even if she doesn’t run.

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