80-year-old keeps jogging

Associated Press/L.G. Patterson

Walter Schroeder, a retired University of Missouri geography professor, showed off a old map of Missouri in the geography library on the Columbia, Mo., campus. Schroeder is the chairman of a state commission that is responsible for approving new place names for the sake of consistency.Daily American Republic

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Back in the late 1920s, it wasn't unusual for Reynolds County residents to see Carl Johnson running through the woods or running along a back road two miles to the grocery store.

It's still not unusual to see Johnson running.

Johnson, 80, jogs five miles three days a week at the Black River Coliseum. Three years ago Johnson was running eight miles each outing.

"People kept saying you're too old to do that much, so I dropped it down to five miles," Johnson said. With a sly grin, he added, "Does that mean I'm declining?"

He jogs his five-mile workouts in 50 minutes.

On a typical workout morning Johnson routinely runs by, in and around walkers several decades younger and often yells out to them, "Youth and vitality are wonderful assets" or some other quip.

"I think he's fantastic for what he does," said Gail Bullington, coliseum walker. "I couldn't hardly believe it when he told me his age."

Johnson actually didn't start running as an adult until age 70, after tiring of walking.