80-year-old doctor set to run his 45th Marine Corps Marathon

A doctor, 80 years old, is scheduled to compete in his 45th Marine Corps Marathon, having missed the event just twice since his debut in 1977. Dr. Glenn Geelhoed has completed more than 170 marathons on each of the seven continents, but his main passion is healing lives via his non-profit organization, Mission to Heal.

Mission to Heal delivers medical supplies and training to the world’s most remote regions.

“We have done what we can to help not just to heal the folk that we see immediately by cutting and sewing, but by teaching those skills such that it continues beyond us,” Geelhoed said.

He said that his runs motivate his medical missions.

“The marathon is a good metaphor because it takes discipline, it takes effort, and it takes a commitment,” he said. “That’s what health care is.”

He said that he expects to continue doing these grueling marathons for the foreseeable future “Until the subsequent one. And the next and subsequent ones as well.”