'If you love something, you never get tired': 91-year-old Schaumburg runner best in his class at Shamrock Shuffle
As a runner, Iggy Cascio is nearly in a class by himself.
Competing in Sunday's 42nd running of the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, a simultaneous celebration of St. Patrick's Day and kickoff to the outdoor running season in Chicago, the 91-year-old Schaumburg resident finished tops among the two men aged 90 and older competing in the 8K run. The oldest runner in the race, Cascio crossed the finish line with a time of 1:19:50, four minutes ahead of his competition, Robert Janus.
Cascio's daughter, Stefanie Dell'Aringa, also pointed out in an email about her "Superman dad that "a lot of runners didn't show up due to the bad weather. My dad powered through the cold and at one point it was snowing! Nothing stops him, although he did pause to drink some Gatorade!"
Speaking by phone Monday, Cascio said he would have run in the 90+ category last year but missed the event due to COVID. However, he said he received a nice letter from some top runners saying they hoped to see him in 2023.
This year, Cascio mainly was competing against his own body.
"I was not feeling too well," he said. "I didn't run for five days. I said, 'Hey, maybe the rest will do me good.'"
The rest seems to have worked.
"I went steady all the way," he said, adding that toward the end of the race, "I had some old-timers that were running and checking me out."
One runner yelled at him, "How old are you?"
"I says, 'How old are you?' And I thought this guy was in my bracket, because he really looked 90 and older. He says, 'I'm 77.'"
Cascio told the man his age.
"He says, 'You're 91?' He's screaming at me. A lot of people don't believe my age. And I'm closing in on 92," Cascio said.
Running has been Cascio's passion since he was a physical training instructor in the Air Force in Europe during the Korean War.
He and a lot of other runners were inspired to compete by Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter in the 1970s.
Cascio ran his first marathon, the New York Marathon, when he was 55. Since then, he has run such events as The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, earning the race's coveted shirt.
Attitude is important in running, he said.
"If you love something, you never get tired," he said.
Cascio said his mind dictates how he runs in the morning, whether he goes three miles or five.
"I program myself to run a certain distance all the time," he said. "I usually do it. I've run out in some brutal weather."
Cascio isn't done setting his competitive goals - he doesn't plan on shuffling off his mortal coil anytime soon.
"My goal now really - it sounds absurd - is 100," he said.