Po Adams still running strong at 79 years young

Many people regard distance running as work. Most people, actually. But 79 years young Po Adams is going to be in sheer heaven during the third annual Tahoe Rim Trail 50K/50-Mile Endurance Run on Saturday.

Adams, of Carmichael, Calif., will be back to run the 50K (31.6 miles) for the third year in a row and will be joined by more than 300 participants when the race starts at 6 a.m. (an early bird start is available at 5) from the Spooner State Park campground.

So, what's her secret?

"Just enjoy what you're doing," Adams said. "Nobody keeps up with anything unless they enjoy it. I don't look at it as work. I look at it as a challenge, just to finish and to do as well as I can do. That's the secret."

Adams makes running an ultra-distance race sound so simple. Then again, this is an extraordinary woman who has achieved numerous milestones since she began running at age 55. Among those, she has run 43 marathons, including Pikes Peak in Colorado, the Great Wall of China and the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., where she grew up. She was the first woman over 60 to finish the American River 50-Mile Run in Sacramento. Oh, and on Sept. 3, 2001, at age 77, Adams became the oldest woman in the world to summit Uhuru Peak on 19,335-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The Tahoe Rim Train Run, co-hosted by the Tahoe Mountain Milers and Sagebrush Stompers running clubs, tops out at 9,214-foot Snow Valley Peak, but that doesn't phase Adams in the least.

"I climb Mt. Whitney every year; I did Kilimanjaro, so altitude does not bother me, seemingly," she said. "I have a lot of stamina. I just don't have a lot of speed. I'm a terrible sprinter, but just get me in a long run ... I don't give up."

Adams tuned up for the Tahoe race by climbing three mountains in Vermont, no small accomplishment in itself.

"Last week I climbed Mount Mansfield, the tallest mountain in Vermont. It's only 4,300 feet, they don't have tall mountains but they are steep," Adams said. "I think it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. The hand holds and foot placements at the top; I'm only 5-3, which makes it harder to reach them. I didn't think I was going to make it, but my daughter, who's 57, was with me, she gave me a push to help me get up."

Interestingly enough, one of her proudest moments came on an oval at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento when she ran a special 800 meters race for women masters.

"I was the oldest woman to run at the Trials," Adams said. "I finished last and I remember thinking my legs were going to die, but you have 20,000 people in the stands and then look up and see yourself on the huge TV screen running on this wonderful track."

Adams prefers the longer ultra-distance runs on dirt trails over shorter distances on pavement.

"You're running slower so you actually get to see a little more and experience it more, I think," she said. "And I love the trail runs at my particular age. The street races are more more work, they're harder on your feet."

There have been some concessions to the passing years. Adams has cut back from running six days a week to five, and she now prefers 35 miles per week rather than the 50 to 60 miles she used to run.

"If I get tired, I take a day off," she said. "I rarely get hurt. I've never had any knee injuries, so I've been very fortunate."

Judging from the results of her two previous Tahoe Rim Trail 50K attempts, Adams isn't slowing with age. In 2001, she was 131st (out of 131 finishers) in a time of 13 hours, 18 minutes and 12 seconds. In 2002, she was 171st (out of 174) in 12:03:11 -- an improvement of 75 minutes.

"I don't know if I'm getting better, but I'm very happy to be healthy and I'm very happy with my my life," she said. "I am fortunate. I found what I like to do. I retired when from Pacific Bell when I was 65 and I thought, 'I can't wait. Now I'll have all this time to run.'"

Adams believes she can run faster on Saturday, but no matter what, she is looking forward to the Tahoe Rim Trail Run.

"Tahoe is glorious," she said. "When you first go up and see the lake below, and then up at Snow Valley Peak, you think you're on top of the world."

Dave Price is a sports writer for the Nevada Appeal