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Runners on the Way Up
Octogenarian Xie Heads to the National Senior Games
Runners on the Way Up: Nianxiang Xie
By Jim Hage
Nianxiang Xie has not been running all his life. Although after more than four decades of pounding out the miles, it probably seems that way to him. At 81, Xie runs three miles through his Rockville neighborhood nearly every morning.
"He's unique in that he's so persistent," says Xie's daughter Jennifer, who interpreted for her father, who speaks some English. "He runs in the cold, when it's 3 or 4 degrees, he runs when it's raining heavily, he runs on the Chinese New Year and Christmas, too, day in and day out."
Nianxiang Xie (pronounced NIAN-SHUNG SHY-EE) was born in China in 1927 and enjoyed a career as a university professor specializing in oceans and rivers in Nanjing near Shanghai. A physical education teacher at the university started Xie on the road to running when he was 40.
"In China, I often ran 10K under 40 minutes," Xie wrote in an E-mail. "Most of the time, I was the age-group winner." In 1977, Xie, then 50, ran a marathon in 3 hours 50 minutes.
Xie came to the United States in 1990 as a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley; Jennifer, his only child, was on the East Coast and working toward her PhD. Xie decided to stay in the United States, and in 1991, he joined his daughter and her husband in Rockville. Although he began a new life at 63, his already strong running life helped him adjust to the new environment.
Over almost two decades in the United States, Xie established a few favorite races that include the Army Ten-Miler, Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, Pike's Peek 10K, Rockville Twilight 8K, and the Kensington 8K. Xie's nearly perfect attendance at many of these races makes a powerful statement of his remarkable athleticism, health, and consistency. In a more somber light, the steady deterioration of his times provides a painfully comprehensive account of one man's race toward the ultimate finish line.
"We all get old," Xie says, cheerfully acknowledging our collective mortality. Still, he makes few concessions to competition as an octogenarian. In recent years, he has skipped the Kensington race in order to focus on Army, saying, "It used to be a good tune-up, but it's harder now."
But do not count Xie out. On August 30, he ran 27:06 at the Kentlands 5K, beating age-group stalwart Alvin Guttag (89), who was running his final road race. Xie's time qualified him for the Summer National Senior Games in San Francisco, where he will travel with his daughter and her husband to compete in August. "He's registered for both the 5K and 10K now, but the events are on two days in a row," Jennifer says. "I think he should just do the 5K."
That may be good daughterly concern, but the elder Xie can still go the distance, as he demonstrated last fall at Army, running 1:42:17 and placing among the top two-thirds of all of the nearly 19,000 finishers.
Xie protests that he is not doing anything extraordinary. "My training is not rigorous," he says. "I am running only 12 minutes per mile." Xie's morning run is clearly a focus of his daily routine, but more than that, running and racing help define him as a person. He loves to compete-note that his 12-minute training pace dropped to 10:14 per mile at Army. The fire still burns; he watched with special interest last summer's Olympics from Beijing. After his own races, Xie checks his official time on the Internet. Even with a full and challenging racing calendar, Xie says he would like to race more.
When not covering ground outside, inside Xie is the family cook, and he indulges in Chinese specialties, "all fatty foods," complains Jennifer good-naturedly. "Eggs, oil, butter, sugar, he eats everything and still his heart rate, blood pressure, all his measurements are better than anyone."
So can three miles a day and Chinese food keep an 81-year-old racing as fast as someone half his age?
"He's definitely an inspiration, whether you're a runner or not," says granddaughter Sherri Geng. "My grandfather has never made his running a big deal; it's just something he does. But I think it says everything you need to know about him."