MILFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — He’s 77 years old, but don’t sleep on Milford’s Doug Goodhue if you come across him at the track.
Nicknamed the “Silver Bullet,” you may think the moniker is a joke. That is, until you see him fly. Goodhue will be the first to say that he was faster, once. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s still running long-distance races and keeping his miles below 7 minutes.
“Oh, I’m enjoying every minutes of it,” said Goodhue, with a chuckle comparing where he’s at to where he came from.
In his early years he enjoyed running, he was a big enough fan that he watched Steve PreFontaine run in the 70s — a famous name in running circle that created a boom, and in part, Nike’s brand dominance.
Viewer challenge: if you watch this story, listen closely on-air. I've run 3 marathons and plenty of 5Ks, 10Ks and 10 mile runs over my own running career... dude had me WINDED while trying to keep up. He's roughly 45 seconds faster and has 40+ years on me. pic.twitter.com/smhK03Yvxo
— Matthew Smith (@MattSmithWXYZ) September 27, 2019
Goodhue, however, wasn’t always a runner. He got married, had a big family and a long career. It was in the early 80s when he was 41 years old that he decided to take up running, really as a way to drop a few pounds.
“I ran that race and it almost killed me,” he said of the 1983 Detroit Free Press Marathon.
He stuck with it, and quickly realized he had a knack for it. Coming from a competitive family, he couldn’t give up. That meant more running, and more races. Eventually he became a mainstay at the Ann Arbor Running Club, a group he still runs with to this day. Now he’s a world-champion, the number one runner in the USA Track and Field Masters Grand Prix series.
What does he credit with his success? Good genes, a competitive spirit and focus. He’s not above a burger and a beer after a run, but he said moderation counts.
“I do make sure that when I’m running, and running on my more serious days, I put a serious effort into it and remind myself this is why I do it. I want to compete and be where I’m at, which right now is number one in my age group.”
As for training, Goodhue told 7 Action News that he does a speed workout on a track once a week — that’s typically with the 501 Running Club, which he founded with his friend Susie Stock more than a decade ago. In the winter, he’ll move his training indoors — but he doesn’t stick to interval training, alone. He’ll do longer runs once a week too. For instance, he’ll run 45-50 miles this week as he prepares for the masters cross-country championships in mid-October. That includes a 12-14 mile run on the weekend.
“He doesn’t slow down,” said Jim Cremering, a fellow running club member.
“Doug is a phenomenon,” said Stock. “77 years old and as competitive as ever. He encourages and inspires all of us out here, we can’t use age as a reason we can’t be running.”
