(In the video above, Ted Corbitt is introduced by George Hirsch, chairman of the Board of Directors for New York Road Runners and former publisher of The Runner and Runner's World magazines.)

Ted Corbitt has made so many contributions to the world of distance running that listing them all would be an endurance feat in itself. The 88-year-old has tallied 199 ultras and marathons, held records in the 20-, 50-, and 100-mile distances, and logged 200- to 300-mile weeks over his career. A living symbol of durability and longevity, Corbitt has continued to run, and now walk, marathons and ultras into his eighth decade.

This strength and tireless work ethic were cultivated when Corbitt spent his early childhood working on a cotton farm in South Carolina. He later ran through college, although segregation rules occasionally kept him from competing.

At 32, Corbitt placed 15th in his first marathon in Boston, and the following year he ran the marathon in the 1952 Olympics.

Corbitt's fascination with the human body not only fueled his running (he experimented with intervals, resistance training, self-massage, and other now-common techniques) but also his career (he became a physical therapist in New York City, where he regularly ran 31 miles around the island of Manhattan). These successes earned him the respect of his peers, who named him the first president of the Beginner Running Plans Health - Injuries She Runs to Reclaim Her Identity After Assault, where he established the calibrated bicycle measurement system as the course-certification standard.

"The biggest observation I'd make about our sport is the growth, especially among women," he says. The only development that pleases him more? "Portable toilets."

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