My grandfather can swim laps around you!

Natural Health, Jan-Feb, 1998 by Etta Clark

Out to prove that age is a state of mind, these five people celebrated their 75th birthdays just like their 25th -- actively. Very actively.

JOE BRUNO 83 SWIMMER

Joe Bruno swims in the cold, treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay every day. He's done the 1.25-mile Golden Gate Swim 63 times-the first in 1933-and he figures he's completed 363 competitive swims, covering a total of 2,659 miles, in his lifetime. The "Number One" pendant he's wearing is a gift from his girlfriend.

ADA THOMAS 82 RUNNER

Ada Thomas is a familiar face to regulars in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where she runs every day. She's raced all over the state, and has won her age division twice in the San Francisco Marathon. She's played tennis all her life, but didn't take up running until she was in her sixties. As a child, she wasn't allowed to run, she says, because her mother believed that "running was for boys."

WOODBRIDGE R. "WOODY" BROWN 83 SURFER

Woody Brown has achieved legendary status among the surfers in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii. His training regimen: no candy, soda, drugs, tobacco, or alcohol-and an early bedtime. He's also a vegetarian who says he tries not to overindulge in sex (he does, however, have a six-year-old son).

ADELINE SHRAPNEL 75 SURFER

Adeline is a painter who's known as "Tiger" to the crowds on Waikiki Beach. She surfs every day but Sundays, and credits her sport with keeping her alive. Facing breast cancer in 1975, Adeline had a radical mastectomy-and a second mastectomy two years later. She's in vibrant good health today. "Surfing kept me going," she says. "There's always another wave."

JOHN TURNER 79 WEIGHT LIFTER

John, a practicing psychiatrist in San Francisco, is a walking advertisement for exercise-and he appears in ads for Nike. He's worked out all his life, and still goes to the gym three days a week to walk, stair-climb, and lift free weights. "Exercise is necessary to full enjoyment of life body, and mind," he says. "I hope I can encourage others, young and old, to use and enjoy their bodies."