B.C. man runs 62 km on his 62nd birthday as part of annual tradition

Instead of counting candles on a birthday cake to celebrate the completion of another year, Dave MacDowell laces up his shoes and counts kilometres.

He runs one kilometre for every year of his life. On his birthday this year, that meant 62 kilometres.

"I've always tried to celebrate my birthday by doing something outside, whether it's going for a long run, or climbing a mountain and skiing down, or riding my bike as far as I could go," MacDowell said on CBC's Daybreak North. "It's just to start off my next year by achieving a goal, and it feels great."

MacDowell — an avid distance runner for most of his life — started doing the birthday run when he was in his 50s.

MacDowell and wife Tracy Garneau divide their time between Valemount, B.C., and Jasper, Alta. On the morning of MacDowell's 62nd birthday, April 3, temperatures in Jasper were "horribly cold" so he jumped on his treadmill and ran about 30 km. Once conditions warmed up, he headed outside and finished his run on some of the local trails.  

It was MacDowell's second long run in the span of a week. 

Garneau turned 54 on March 28 so the two of them ran that distance while visiting friends in Squamish, B.C. MacDowell said the day was quite hot, and that led to an unplanned stop on the drive back to Whistler, where they were staying.

"It hadn't been hot yet this year, and I sort of emptied my tank [on the run]," MacDowell said.

"When we were driving back to Whistler, I had to ask my wife to pull over so I could dry-heave on the side of the highway."

'You've got to keep moving, and he does that every day'

MacDowell and Garneau met through running and have been together for 12 years.

Garneau is an internationally-recognized runner of ultra-marathons —  a race that is any distance over the standard marathon distance of 42.2 km — and takes inspiration from her partner in life and training.

"He also works really hard in his business, so to take the time to still get out and train as you age, it doesn't get any easier so you can never stop," Garneau said.

"He practises what he preaches. He gets out there and wants to live a long and healthy life. You've got to keep moving, and he does that every day."

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology notes that physical activity in older adults is good for physical health, mental health and overall lifestyle. It also says people can start being physically active at any age, as plans can be customized for specific health status and abilities.

MacDowell chooses 'to be ageless'

MacDowell said his birthday run gets tougher every year — "One of my lines is, 'The older I get, the faster I was'" — but it's a challenge he embraces and something that remains important to him.

"I'd rather not quantify my years with a number that's just a random number — this is how old you are — because I think there's so many boundaries that people attach to age, and I choose to be ageless and pick that [birthday] number as a new goal — an ever-growing goal," he said.

"To me, it's more about the 364 days between birthdays that I'm looking forward to, and spending time outdoors, and doing what we love doing."