91-year-old Robert Rodez completes Bolder Boulder
Robert Rodez, took his first steps when Herbert Hoover was the president and he hasn't stopped moving ever since.
I'm just living life to the fullest and doing the best I can," Rodez said.
Robert is the fastest runner in the Bolder Boulder for his age group at the youthful age of 91.
"I just love doing the Bolder Boulder. This will be my 19th consecutive Bolder Boulder in a row," he said.
Robert wasn't always a runner but a musician. He started running in his 60s to improve his health.
"I first started running because I had a weak respiratory system and I noticed that I couldn't breathe good. So, I just started running. I started going to all the different parks and running around different parks like Sloan's Lake and Rocky Mountain Lake Park," he said.
His goal was to run a mile. That grew to 10K or 6.2 miles. In 2021, at the age of 89, Robert took first place in the Bolder Boulder for the first time in his age group. The race was the first one back after the traditional race was canceled and runners, like Robert, participated in Bolder on the Run, which was a 10K race that took place in different sites around the state.
"I was running with my daughter and if it would have been downpouring we still would have ran. Because we wanted to run the Bolder Boulder," he said in 2021.
Robert, crossed the finish line battling not only father time, but also stage 3 colon cancer. His source of strength was in something stronger than any chemo treatment.
"My family was my support group while I was sick with cancer and to be honest with you, and I mean this, if it wasn't for my kids, my grandkids and great grandkids, I never would have made it. Because it was the hardest thing I ever went through in my life. I got the best support group in the world," Rodez said.
The cancer is still there and his doctors say he is improving. It's not slowing him down on the track. After running his 19th consecutive Bolder Boulder, Robert says he finished the race in a blistering 1 hour and 35 minutes. Shaving 11 minutes off his time from the previous year.
As he continues to overcome the odds, Robert now lives to inspire his family and others to keep moving forward, right down to his last breath.
"When I see him run I'm happy and I'm also encouraged and motivated to get up and do my part for my body because he does it for himself, but he also does it for us," said Jamie Lujan, Robert's granddaughter.
