An amazing fact about Fauja Singh was that he didn't start running until he was 89. And he showed up for his first training session in a three-piece suit.
His teacher had to tell him that, dressed like that, he would have police asking him what he was running from.
Fauja was a Sikh farmer from Punjab, an Indian state, and he moved to London to be with one of his sons. Seeing him lose his daughter, wife, and a younger son in the previous years, his family worried that he would sink into depression.
And so, he ran, completing nine full marathons and several shorter ones, literally running in cities all over the world, usually in his bright yellow turban. A lifetime of farm labor had made him strong enough to defeat younger people handily.
And this was at the age of 100, remember.
He retired from running and moved back to his three-story farmhouse in Beas Pind village, Punjab, surrounded by family, medals, and souvenirs.
Then, on July 14, just a couple of weeks ago, Mr Fauja was out checking on his rice fields when he was hit by an SUV. His death came at age 114, and how ironic that it was not jogging that proved fatal.
Some 150,000 people die annually on India's roads, and the number keeps rising. The police soon arrested a young man from a neighboring village for the hit-and-run.
That young man's aunt had a curious reaction to her nephew's arrest: "The media picked up the issue because he [Fauja] was a celebrity. Otherwise, accidents happen all the time."
How kind of her, sort of blaming everyone else.
Mr Singh took no medicine, ate three meals daily, and ate a lot of the mangoes he grew. He was old and bent over but got around without a cane of any sort, and if not for the actions of a foolish driver, he might still be with us.
Because, you never know. Enjoy everything as often as you can! And drive carefully.
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