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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\u2019s wisdom philosophy she\u2019s 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.\xa0 Dr. Betty\u2019s 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).\xa0 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! \xa0She 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 \u201cAbandon Your Limits\u201d 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: https://www.worldfitnesslevel.org/#/ Prepare to be amazed and inspired by the one and only, Dr Betty Holston Smith!

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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!\xa0 Can you talk about how you first started running and how you came to adopt a plant-based lifestyle?

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12:12 How do you take your ego away from the finish line in a race?

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12:27 You've talked about your life being\xa0 structured around "Nature's Wisdom." What does that mean for you?

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23:24 You\u2019ve said that you\u2019re just a normal person that does a whole lot of good things. Well, I don\u2019t know. Four hours of sleep doesn\u2019t sound too normal. You said that you don\u2019t need any recovery and you can still run 100 miles a week at almost 80 years old?

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25:00 Have you ever been injured?

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32:37 What foods do you eat every day?

Questions I ask everyone:

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40:39 If you could go back and talk to yourself when you first started running, what advice would you give yourself?

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42:06 What is the greatest gift that running has given you?

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46:06 Where can listeners connect with you?

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\u201cI don\u2019t know how many marathons, I\u2019ve 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.\u201d

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\u201cMy running is passion. My running is perseverance. Those two things are great for all of life, not just running.\u201d

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\u201cI 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\u2019m eating what. Once I\u2019m into a six-day race and it\u2019s day three, I\u2019m not going to remember when I drank the last water.\u201d

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Take a Listen on Your Next Run

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claire@runnersconnect.net

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Follow Dr Betty on:

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drbettys@aol.com

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