One Chapel Hill retiree has spent the last 25 years proving that age is inconsequential when it comes to living an active lifestyle. At 83-years-old, Robert Phay has just run his 42nd and final marathon.
Phay moved to Chapel Hill with his wife in 1965, joining the Carolina family as a public law professor in UNC’s school of government. After retiring in 2012, he moved into Chapel Hill’s Carolina Meadows retirement community in 2017.
Now, Phay has laced up his racing shoes for the final time, leaving the running to the youngsters that frequent his neighborhood.
“At Carolina Meadows, the best runners that we see are grandchildren who come to visit their relatives,” Phay said, “and I see them running hard.”
Over the years, Phay said running has not only helped to keep his body fit, but it has also served as a great way to maintain his mental health.
“My wife says to me, when I’m in a bad mood, ‘Robert, get your running shoes and go run,’” Phay said. “And every time I’ve done that, it’s been good advice. I’ve always come back from the run feeling better than I did.”
Competitive at heart, Phay has long kept a strict training schedule. To prepare for big races, he typically runs five miles a day four times a week.
“Then I have one day of the week that is a long run,” Phay said. “I end that up with a 60-mile run. And that is typical training for running a marathon because you’ve got to run 26 [miles] and you’ve got to do it competitively and hard.”
Even the pandemic didn’t stop Phay from competing. In 2020, he held his own virtual race as a part of the annual Richmond Marathon in Virginia. For that marathon, he created a race route through the streets of his very own neighborhood.
“I ran my second Richmond Marathon in 2020 virtually in North Carolina on the Carolina Meadows roads,” Phay said. “It’s the first marathon ever been run on these roads, probably the last one too.”
Since running his first marathon in 1996, Phay’s love for the sport has taken him to races all around the world – from the Great Wall in China to the Incan Trail in Peru. Although, after 25 years of racing, Phay said he and his wife decided it was time to call it quits with one last marathon in the books.
This November, the Richmond Marathon was once again held in-person. Bedecked in his Carolina Meadows gear, Phay said he was more than ready to run the 26.2-miles to the finish line; however, he got injured less than six miles in after running in the wrong direction and having to double back.
“I had to turn around after going a number of blocks that way and run back,” he said. “So, I did. But running back, I hit a pothole and there I badly strained the ligament in my left foot.”
But a torn ligament didn’t stop Phay from finishing the race, thanks to a little help from an unexpected friend. He said a Richmond running coach sitting on the sidelines got up to help him across the finish line.
“She saw me limping. She came up and says, ‘let me run with you so you don’t injure that foot again because then you’ll be out of the race,’” Phay said. “So, anything that was rough pavement she got me over to smoother pavement. Anytime there was a dip in the road or a pothole, she would point it out.”
Robert Phay and the Richmond running coach that helped him finish his final marathon (photo via Carolina Meadows)
While he was the last to reach the finish line that day, Phay said his final marathon is something he’ll never forget. Even though his active lifestyle may be on a brief hiatus, with his foot in a boot for six weeks, this Chapel Hillian isn’t slowing down.
Lead photo via Carolina Meadows.
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