Editor’s Note: Ed Whitlock died in March 2017 at the age of 86. In a statement, his family said he died of prostate cancer. This interview was conducted in the fall of 2016 and is one of his final interviews. 

Ed Whitlock was a runner when he was younger, but then life got in the way. He picked the sport up again in his 40s and rewrote the history books. He became an international icon and is very likely the most successful runner 80 and over in history.

The Canadian runner didn’t just break records in a variety of distances, including the marathon and half-marathon — he crushed them. Most recently, in 2016, he broke the half-marathon record by more than 9 minutes.

The man who holds more than 80 age-group records remains the only person in history over the age of 70 to run a marathon in under 3 hours.

In one of his final interviews, Ed talks to Growing Bolder about his passion for running and why he continued to do it against medical advice. He explained why he always felt it more important to listen to his body rather than “the experts.”