Kyoto-born running phenomenon Toshiko D'Elia, 77, who has consistently placed at or near the top of her age group in U.S. and world competitions for the past 30 years, says the secret to her remarkably long running career is to "run to live, not live to run."

In 2006, D'Elia set age-group records in the 10-km (55 minutes, 13 seconds) and 25-km (2:29:33) races and was awarded the Outstanding Athlete Award for the 75-79 age group by USA Track and Field.

D'Elia also received the age division Runner of the Year Award from the 40,000-member New York Road Runners club for an unparalleled 26th time in March.