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What Makes Olga Run? Lessons From a 90-Something Track Star

90-track-starThis past year I turned 50, and although I try not to focus on the inevitable, it is happening. Since the only alternative to aging is dying, I stoically manage the gray hair, crow’s feet, joint pain and accompanying muscle loss.

Nobody outwits Father Time. Or do they?

what makes olga run book

Meet Olga Kotelko, the 94-year-old track star who currently holds more than 23 world track records and suffers none of the maladies most people seem to inherit with age.

For most folks, somewhere on the backside of 30 our bodies turn on us and slowly start to deteriorate. Over time, bone and muscle loss leave us shorter and weaker, stamina wanes and hormone levels plummet, even our neurons eventually slip away, leaving us with frail memories and poor concentration skills.

But Olga Kotelko isn’t most folks.

Unlike the majority of nonagenarians, she’s not only escaped the “Big Five” killers — cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cardiovascular and pulmonary disease — that come so often with age, but has managed to increase her overall health.

How can Olga continue to add muscle to her 130-pound frame when others, 50 years her junior, struggle to maintain their muscle mass? How is it that her flexibility, power, speed and coordination all continue to improve as she ages, often surpassing those of a much younger person? Why, at 94, is Olga’s brain growing, when other seniors’ gray matter is shrinking?

To answer these questions, Olga allows some of the world’s leading scientists to poke, probe and dissect her very essence with a battery of physical and psychological tests designed to unravel the mystery of ageing.

In an age of superfood nutrition, specialty diets and cutting-edge exercise science, Olga relies on good ol’ instincts to navigate her healthy lifestyle. She doesn’t follow a certain diet or eating plan. She eats everything and anything that tastes good to her — carbs, dairy, even alcohol — all in moderation. She drinks a butt-load of water and doesn’t believe in pharmaceutical supplements.

Olga is self-aware and listens to her body. In one hilarious virtual-reality test designed to measure Olga’s ability to multi-task, she was asked to cross a busy street while talking on a cell phone. Olga, who doesn’t own a cell phone scoffed at the test claiming it was ridiculous. “Do people really do that? That’s nuts!’”

Olga’s got more going for her than good genetics. Her indomitable spirit and character play a major role in keeping her active.  She encourages everyone to get out of one’s comfort zone and to continually try new things. Her mantra is to simply keep moving.

From her formative years growing up on a farm, through her life as a single mom, to her current exercise regime, Bruce Grierson’s, What Makes Olga Run, is the smart, humorous account behind the numerous theories of what makes Olga special. While some chapters do get a bit heavy with scientific jargon, there are enough amusing antidotes peppered throughout to keep one engrossed — and there is much to be learned from Olga.

But still, a track-star at 94? The question remains. What makes Olga run?

The outcome will intrigue, inspire and make us question if some aspects of aging are truly unavoidable after all. I guarantee you will fall in love with Olga.

Fit Bottomed Line: It’s never too late to improve! And Olga’s nine rules for living a healthier, happier life are proof that you can do it.

Do you know any “super seniors”? How do they inspire you?  —Karen

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