For Jean Healey, running has always been the best medicine.
Now 74, Healey is an all-season runner with a contagious enthusiasm for the sport. She’s a familiar face with the Top Notch Masters program, Saskatchewan Senior Fitness Association and weekly Mendel Riverbank parkrun and loves encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds to give the sport a try.
“I think my body behaves better once I’ve been running,” Healey says. “Running helps me stay healthy … and the endorphins that result put you in a good mood.”
Healey fell in love with running when she was growing up in rural Saskatchewan. Her small school didn’t have an indoor gym and track and field was more fun than playing volleyball on a dirt court.
When Healey moved to Saskatoon to pursue her Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Saskatchewan, she ran to stay active. Later, when she and her husband operated a rental car business, she regularly ran from their home in River Heights to the airport to pick up cars left there by clients.
Healey ran through her pregnancies and, when her daughter Adrienne was young, mapped out a 10-minute loop so she could run in short bursts while Adrienne napped. Some days, Adrienne slept long enough for Healey to do three laps. “I figured if she did wake up when I closed the door, 10 minutes of a baby crying is not that bad,” Healey says.
Over the past two decades, running and the friendships she’s made through the sport have been anchors amidst turbulent times. Healey ran after treatment for breast cancer in the mid-2000s and after her husband, Alf, died in 2020 following a battle with dementia.
Through it all, Healey has avoided serious injuries, which she attributes to her attitude of running for fun instead of chasing performance targets. “I think I have an internal governor that doesn’t allow me to overextend,” she says. “So far everything’s working.”
These days, Healey enjoys sharing her love of running with younger generations, including her daughter and grandchildren who sometimes join her and other members of Top Notch Masters at parkrun. Being part of Top Notch — which Healey describes as a group of “like-minded individuals of my same vintage” — has been an endless source of inspiration for Healey and she hopes the team also motivates others to find enjoyment and longevity in the sport.
“It’s so inspiring to see the participation,” she says. “We don’t think about age; we think about: Let’s just do it.”
