At 85, Ed Whitlock is still in it for the long run at Toronto Waterfront Marathon

So long as Ed Whitlock’s able, he plans to keep running along in marathons. Given his track record, he’ll probably keep setting records along the way.

On Sunday, the 85-year-old Whitlock will be taking part in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and is aiming to break the world record for the fastest marathon in the over 85-years-old category. It will be his first marathon since doing the same race three years ago and he hopes to go under four hours, which would be the envy of many people a third of his age.

“I’ve been blessed, I suppose, with good genes for it. I’ve gone downhill slower than most people have done,” Whitlock told Yahoo Canada Sports with a smile Friday, after being presented with his bib number (85, just like his age) for the race.

“There are still not that many people who are running at all at 85 but there are more and more. It’s getting more common.”

Despite being surrounded by Olympians and previous Toronto Marathon winners, Whitlock was a star unto himself at the pre-marathon press conference on Friday with a few competitors, including recent Rio Olympian Eric Gillis, asking for a selfie with him.

Whitlock has "about 20" world records to his name at various age groups and has run about 40 marathons since his first at age 45. He usually does just one marathon a year but has gone as high as three in mostly Canada and the United States, and also raced in Sweden and the Netherlands.

In an era of marathon running where calories are counted and heart rates are monitored, the Milton, Ont.-based Whitlock is decidedly “old school” (his words) where he eschews the technology and just runs without the fancy gear that is commonplace today.

If there’s a secret to his longevity, he’s not sure what it is.

“I don’t pay a lot of attention to my diet. I just eat what I eat by habit, I guess,” said Whitlock, who noted that a favourite is ice cream, something that other serious runners would likely avoid.

“In my overall diet, I don’t eat a lot of meat. I’m not a vegetarian but I don’t eat a lot of meat. I guess I have a fair amount of carbohydrates. I probably have more fat in my diet than would be recommended but I don’t do that deliberately.”

Whitlock became the first athlete over 70 years old to break the three-hour mark when he did it at age 72 in 2003.

He had always been a middle-distance runner prior to doing his first marathon at age 45 when his son developed an interest.

With many people quitting to run as time got the better of them, Whitlock just kept on running. He was the exception when he first started breaking records, but now he’s seeing runners continuing longer than they used to and knows his records won’t last forever.

“When I first started doing the road-running scene around Toronto 25 years ago, there weren’t many 60-year-olds running then and they didn’t have age groups of 60 very much whereas nowadays it’s common,” he said. “In a few years’ time I’m sure there will be more 80-year-olds than there are now running.”

“I’m surprised that no one else has run sub-three hours at 70. That was set quite a while ago now. Realistically, I should have been joined by someone else by now.”