Doctor who started marathoning at 55 completes his 100th race
By Lauren Seaver
Click here for updates on this story
MONTEREY COUNTY, California (KSBW) — Dr. Michael Davis, a longtime physician at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, has completed 100 marathons and is sharing his passion for running to inspire others.
When you walk into the inpatient rehab unit at the hospital, you will likely see Davis greeting patients.
“How you doing? I’m good,” Davis said.
Davis has been a doctor at the hospital for 32 years and the director of its inpatient rehab program for the last nine.
“We help people get back on their feet, literally,” Davis said. “Folks who have had stroke or brain injury, amputation.”
The former Army doctor and pediatric physical therapist is passionate about his work and finds inspiration in the resilience of his patients.
“To see the struggles they go through is motivation for me,” Davis said. “Just to be able to be physically fit, I feel so fortunate, and I feel a responsibility to use that.”
At 72, Davis is also an avid runner who has completed 100 marathons.
“I didn’t start marathoning until I was 55. But I got hooked,” Davis said.
Davis, a former soccer player, signed up for his first marathon on a whim less than three months before the race. He received training advice from a colleague who introduced him to Olympian Jeff Galloway’s run/walk method.
“Before run/walk, I always thought of running as being punishing, it’s punitive, but run/walk isn’t,” Davis said. “Run/walk is joy-producing for me. I don’t even listen to music. I don’t feel like I need to. I just enjoy the process.”
Davis met Galloway the day before his first Big Sur International Marathon and ended up running it with him. Since then, every marathon Davis has completed has been done using the run/walk method.
He now teaches the method to others through his Fleet Feet running group.
“Folks who really never thought they could ever be a marathoner have now done marathons,” Davis said. “Jeff Galloway, my hero and mentor, he made running and distance running accessible to the general population. And what a gift to humanity.”
From 2009 to 2026, Davis has completed 100 marathons, including 15 Big Sur International Marathons, as well as races like the California International Marathon, Honolulu Marathon, and Austin Marathon.
“I’m proud of having done that. Marathons are hard. Everyone I’ve done is hard. But so is life,” Davis said. “Life did, does, and will give us challenges. And how do we prepare ourselves to overcome obstacles? Marathoning is a way to do that.”
He added, “Where is the accomplishment in doing only what we’re good at, what’s easy? The accomplishment is in challenging oneself and overcoming that challenge.”
Davis also uses his running to promote fitness, citing a recent Harvard study that concluded physically fit individuals can add four to eight years of healthy longevity to their lives.
“I want to promote fitness for longevity, for healthy longevity, for feeling good, for good mood. And I love supporting people to accomplish something they never thought they were going to be able to do,” Davis said.
It is a message he is determined to share, one mile and one marathon at a time.
“I don’t know if I’ll make it to 100, but at least I want to give it a stab. I want to keep going,” Davis said.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.