A Co Down grandmother is showing no signs of slowing down in retirement as she prepares to cross the finish line on her sixth 10km race in three months.
Former teacher Ann Savage will turn 70 in a few months.
But rather than taking it easy, she’s been testing herself with a personal challenge.
Ann has been taking part in the Born2Run series of 10k events from the end of November and has completed five, with the final race coming up next weekend.
Born2Run hosts its runs in popular beauty spots, from the banks of the Lagan to Tollymore Forest Park.
“I was searching for events because I fancied doing some longer distance running over the winter,” explained Ann.
“I knew of the organisation Born2Run, I think I might have run a couple of their events in previous years.
“They’re always well organised, there’s quite large numbers of people at them, it’s good fun.
“There’s been five so far. Minnowburn was probably the toughest, maybe because it was the first 10k I’d run in a while.
“I’m a sort of a steady runner, I don’t really go all out and wreck myself.
“The different events, some of them have been hillier than others. Yesterday was relatively flat.”
One of the events had to be moved due to the disruption caused by Storm Éowyn, so the Donaghadee woman will only have seven days to recover from the weekend.
“That might be tricky enough, because I am feeling a bit stiff.”
Most runners do feel some stiffness the day after a long-distance race.
But by keeping up high levels of sporting activity close to her eighth decade, Ann is keeping mentally as well as physically fit.
She said: “I always did run, it’s very good for the mental aspect of your wellbeing.
“I would have been doing a fair bit of running from my mid-30s.”
Taking part in Born2Run has been one way of keeping active.
After a career as a geography teacher at Glengormley High School, she is now “definitely retired”, and enjoying life with her children and three grandchildren.
Ann sometimes runs with one of her sons, Connor, and also enjoys cycling and orienteering.
Running over 50km at an age where you qualify for a bus pass might seem a big commitment, but Ann is modest about her efforts.
“I’m not a serious runner by any means,” she explained.
“I really do a bit because I do some other sports, and running is quite useful for that.
“Orienteering is a sport that you can compete at any level.
“You can walk around, you can jog or you can race.
“Some of the top runners are running at quite a speed, but it all depends on how you match your map reading ability.
“If you’re very good at map reading, then you need to be fitter to do well.
“It’s quite a balance, because if you run too fast and your map reading isn’t very good, then you’re not going to complete the courses very easily.
“Orienteering is a combination sport of mental and physical. Running puts the body under less pressure.
“You’re able to keep going, because there would be quite a lot of climbing in a lot of orienteering events, and the endurance aspect of your running is quite important.”
The cardio-training also helps her to keep up with her three grandchildren.
“It is very, very useful, because it means you can join in with them,” she added.
“Ours are quite young, but you do need a certain amount of stamina to chase around after them all day.”
She has no plans of pushing her grandchildren to join her in runs in the coming years, but she “certainly would encourage them, because I think the benefits are excellent”.
“It has kept me more balanced than I might otherwise have been, but it would be great if some of them did,” she said.
Whether with her family alongside her or by herself, Ann plans to keep exercising.
“Exercise and sport is a big part of how I spend my retirement. Without it, I don’t know what would happen,” she added.