If you’re looking for some great inspiration and motivation, meet 100-year-old runner Mike Fremont, who is truly Living life to the limit. “I’m having the time of my life,” Fremont reveals to PEOPLE, and he doesn’t seem to be exaggerating one bit! Read on to learn more about the Healthy habits live to be 100, according to a runner who has lived more than a century and is running strong.
Mike Fremont has been run for more than one a whopping 60 years. Impressively, the centenary he holds four running world records, having held world records at both age 80 and age 90 for setting the fastest times in marathons. Totally amazed? Read on for Fremont’s healthy habits to live to 100, because there’s so much more to learn about this total fitness star.
Related: Top 5 Running Habits That Slow Aging, Fitness Expert Reveals
Fremont started his running trip some 30 years after enduring the heartbreaking loss of his first wife to a brain hemorrhage. The widowed father of three (including a 2-week-old newborn) was devastated and determined. he shares with PEOPLE, “I was very stressed when my wife left me, and I needed to do something every day to de-stress. Usually I would grab one of my young children, and she would grab my little finger and we would run.” He reveals how therapeutic it was and how pleasurable it was, saying, “It was so much better than the two martinis I used to have.”
These days, Fremont runs his favorite courses close to home and greets just about everyone along his journey. Those she crosses paths with are quite familiar with the energetic 100-year routine. Fremont explains, “Everyone is used to me. They say, ‘I’ve seen you here for 40 years!'” Hello too, Mike Fremont!
Related: Lifestyle Habits That Slow Aging, From a 100-Year-Old Neurologist
This track star also shines far beyond his own home state, setting multiple records ranging from mile runs to marathons. And if he’s still not too impressed with this power, Fremont enjoys long-distance canoeing too!
Many of us can learn a lot from Fremont’s positive attitude, zest for life and healthy habits to live to be 100 years old. In the early 1990s, he was told that he had colorectal cancer and only three months to live. He remembers PEOPLE“It was a terrible, terrible thing to say to me.”
But life prevailed, and two and a half years after the fatal diagnosis, surgeons removed the cancerous growth. Fortunately, they found no signs anywhere that it had metastasized. “The surgeon said that he had looked for metastases in 35 places and found none. Zero,” says Fremont.
The extraordinary news prompted Fremont to participate in 10Ks, marathons, and everything in between. With a lighter weight and smaller build, he soon discovered that he was decent enough to run and even started winning some races!
Fremont immersed himself in the fun sport and was even motivated to follow a macrobiotic vegan diet. According to Plant-Based NewsFremont feels, “There is no question in my mind, absolutely, it is the diet that has determined my existence. My continued existence and my beautiful health.”
This running icon takes pleasure in running simply for his health and enjoyment, sharing with PEOPLE“I think I’m sensible enough not to try to run 100 marathons,” adding, “Why should I have anything to prove?”
Fremont is marathoning life in a totally different way, running for pleasure and living a full life with his current wife, Marilyn Wall, along with five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He celebrated his century-old birthday in February with a cake (vegan, of course!) and a run on the beach in Florida. Her best advice from him? If running or running marathons intimidates you, give it a try like he did many years ago. Fremont also sends an invitation to everyone, saying, “Come with me. I’ll walk with you. I’ll run with you. Whatever you want to do.”
alexa mellardo
Alexa is the Mind + Body Associate Editor for Eat This, Not That!, overseeing the M+B channel, and providing readers with engaging topics on fitness, wellness, and personal care. Read more about Alexa
