After a decade as the oldest finisher of the country’s largest 8K, Bob Taylor finally achieved a new Shamrock Shuffle milestone at this year’s race in Chicago: He won his age group.

Though most age group categories in the race have five-year brackets, until last year the oldest was 80-plus. When Taylor turned 90, he asked race organizers for a new division so he would no longer have to compete with men nearly 10 years his junior.

They agreed, and on Sunday Taylor claimed the top and only spot, finishing in 1:21:33—it was the first time in all the years he’s participated in the event that he claimed first place in his age group. His biggest challenges were freezing temps and tight muscles. “That’s what they make Excedrin for,” he told Runner’s World after the event—part of his postrace ritual, along with a warm bath, brunch, and a hot cup of cocoa.

Taylor, who was an engineer before he retired, was proud of his time—three minutes and one second faster than last year—but said he was even prouder of his wife, 72-year-old Stacia Taylor. Of the 16 women competing in the 70- to 74-year-old age group, her time of 51:18 earned her first by a margin of nearly four and a half minutes.

The two, who live in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, started running together in 1978—their first race was the second annual Frank Lloyd Wright 10K in Oak Park, and that race celebrates its 40th anniversary this fall. Bob Taylor estimates that he’s run 650 races in that time, and did two marathons, one at ages 64 and one at 79.

They cofounded the Oak Park Runners Club and remain active members as well as competitors in local races. In fact, they’re the only married couple in the Chicago Area Runners Association’s Hall of Fame, which honors regular age-group award winners.

The sport has brought them “a lot of younger friends,” along with good health and extra years, Stacia Taylor said.

“With age, you’re going to have creaks and pains and little things that you deal with all the time,” she said. “You can’t baby yourself too much, or you’ll never get out of your rocking chair. We figure as long as we can control our pain with a Tylenol or something like that, and by sleeping and resting well—and we do take our naps—you have to keep those muscles active.”

After their customary postrace nap—Stacia usually sleeps more than an hour, while Bob catnaps for 15 minutes—the two were back to training the next day: Two miles of walking for him, three miles of running for her.

And they don’t plan to rest on their accomplishments. They’ll compete again in Oak Park’s Good Life Race 5K next weekend.

Cindy Kuzma Contributing Writer Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013.

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