{"id":112519,"date":"2026-01-06T08:09:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/112519\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T08:09:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:09:21","slug":"fred-ward-is-living-proof-that-its-never-too-late-to-get-moving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/112519\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Ward is living proof that it’s never too late to get moving"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — 82-year-old Fred Ward is one of the oldest runners registered for the 2026 Chevron Houston Marathon. A sport he first got into at the age of 50, when he noticed his waist expanding after a promotion had him sitting behind a desk.<\/p>\n

“I started running around the block, and my neighbor challenged me to do a 5K in The Heights. I did that 5K. I never ran a race before, and that thing almost killed me, but I felt a little better that next week,” Ward said.<\/p>\n

Ward continued to say that the same neighbor inspired him to train for the Houston Marathon. A training that started with a self-help book and ended with Ward completing his first Houston Marathon under 4 hours.<\/p>\n

That was in 1995. Fast forward to today, Ward is heading into his 25th Houston Marathon.<\/p>\n

He credits running with helping him stay youthful.<\/p>\n

“God’s blessed me really well with my ability to stay physically active,” Ward shared. “Running has done that for me, that is, it has kept me young.”<\/p>\n

About 2026 Chevron Houston Marathon<\/p>\n

With all races, including charity entries, officially sold out, the Chevron Houston Marathon<\/a> is set to make yet another major mark in our city.<\/p>\n

Watch ABC13’s Chevron Houston Marathon coverage on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 live at 6:30 a.m. on TV and anywhere you stream<\/a>. Just search “ABC13 Houston” in your app store.<\/p>\n

In 2026, race weekend is Jan. 9-11, with the schedule of events as follows:<\/p>\n

Friday, Jan. 9<\/p>\n

Houston Marathon Health and Fitness Expo presented by Houston Methodist
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
George R. Brown Convention Center<\/p>\n

Saturday, Jan. 10 <\/p>\n

We Are Houston 5K presented by Aramco and Chevron
McKinney and Crawford
8 a.m. start<\/p>\n

RunFest
Discovery Green, Jones Lawn
7 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

Houston Marathon Health and Fitness Expo presented by Houston Methodist
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
George R. Brown Convention Center<\/p>\n

Sunday, Jan. 11<\/p>\n

The Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon<\/p>\n

Start at Congress and Fannin
6:35 a.m. Marathon & Half Marathon Wheelchair & Handcycle Division
6:45 a.m. Aramco Houston Half Marathon Elite Field
6:55 a.m. Chevron Houston Marathon Elite Field
6:55 a.m. Marathon & Half Marathon Open Field
<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — 82-year-old Fred Ward is one of the oldest runners registered for the 2026 Chevron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49829,49826,56,58,43082,57,28404,12743,49827,13161,4396,49828],"class_list":["post-112519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-49829","tag-fred-ward","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-marathon","tag-houston-news","tag-jogging","tag-marathon","tag-oldest-runner","tag-race","tag-running","tag-self-help-book"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}