At 79, Dr. Betty Holston Smith is Fitter Than You Are
AT 79, Dr. Betty Holston Smith has the fitness level of your average 30-year old and looks at least 20 years younger than she is! How did the former 200-pound couch potato and cigarette smoker transition to a vegan 50 years ago when hardly anyone even knew the word vegan and become a highly fit ultra-marathon runner?
Dr. Betty shares with Coach Claire her nature’s wisdom philosophy she’s developed and lived by over the last 50 years, how she eats and trains, and her lack of need for much sleep or recovery time despite running 60 to 100 miles per week. Her overall health proves the benefits of strict vegan diets and highly fit lifestyles; the bottom line is that you do not need meat and junk food to stay healthy and fit.
Dr. Betty’s top rankings in the national ultra-running community continues even as she ages. At ages 76 and 78, she set and later broke official USA-TF ultra-marathon national age group records for the 48-hour and 6-day ultra-marathon races. She is in the USA-Track and Field permanent record books. Currently, at age 79, she continues her national ranking by the ultra-running community (91.46% age group ranked and 49.06% overall ranked).
This strict plant eater has been a top-ranked ultra-marathon runner since she began running ultra-marathons in 2007. She took to running ultras after she completed 85 marathons run throughout the USA and on all seven Continents (a marathon on six including Antarctica), and a half marathon on the Great Wall of China. Now she trains for and uses marathons to train for ultras!
She has completed 30 ultras run in: Boston, San Francisco, Rhode Island, Vermont, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. She is the founder and coach of the “Abandon Your Limits” land and deep-water running programs.
Dr. Betty is currently running virtual races due to the pandemic and will continue to do so until the pandemic is controlled. She recently used a fitness age calculator developed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The expected fitness level for her age of 79.6 is 26 VO2. According to the calculator, her fitness age is 45 VO2 and she has the fitness level of an average 30-year old. The free calculator is available at:
Prepare to be amazed and inspired by the one and only, Dr Betty Holston Smith!
Questions Dr Betty is asked:
2:35 You are a 79 year old plant-based ultra runner and I suspect that you are healthier and fitter than most people listening to this show! Can you talk about how you first started running and how you came to adopt a plant-based lifestyle?
12:12 How do you take your ego away from the finish line in a race?
12:27 You've talked about your life being structured around "Nature's Wisdom." What does that mean for you?
23:24 You’ve said that you’re just a normal person that does a whole lot of good things. Well, I don’t know. Four hours of sleep doesn’t sound too normal. You said that you don’t need any recovery and you can still run 100 miles a week at almost 80 years old?
25:00 Have you ever been injured?
32:37 What foods do you eat every day?
Questions I ask everyone:
40:39 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?
42:06 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?
46:06 Where can listeners connect with you?
Quotes by Dr Betty:
“I don’t know how many marathons, I’ve lost track, but I do know at some point I was at 85 marathons, and I have run marathons on each of the seven continents.”
“My running is passion. My running is perseverance. Those two things are great for all of life, not just running.”
“I bring all of my food to all of my races. I also have a log with the food items across the top, and across the left side going down, I keep track of when I’m eating what. Once I’m into a six-day race and it’s day three, I’m not going to remember when I drank the last water.”
Take a Listen on Your Next Run
Want more awesome interviews and advice? Subscribe to our iTunes channel
Mentioned in this podcast:
Vivobarefoot Shoes
Clif 90% Organic Lemon Lime Powder
Lifestyle by Nature book
Danny Dreyer, Chi Running Founder - Runt To The Top Interview
Runners Connect Winner's Circle Facebook Community
RunnersConnect Facebook page
claire@runnersconnect.net
Follow Dr Betty on:
drbettys@aol.com
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Run to the Top.
The best way you can show your support of the show is to share this podcast with your family and friends and share it on your Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel you use.
The more people who know about the podcast and download the episodes, the more I can reach out to and get top running influencers, to bring them on and share their advice, which hopefully makes the show even more enjoyable for you!