Keller @ Large: Step Back And Enjoy Life While You Can

BOSTON (CBS) - What's that? It's only Thursday, but you're already dragging and wish this week were over with so you can collapse on the couch? I feel your pain, but here's a story that might gently shame you into sucking it up and turning on the juice.

This is Mike Fremont of Cincinnati, Ohio. He has run the Boston Marathon 16 times. And the other day, he set an American record for his age bracket running a mile-long race in just under 14 minutes. That time doesn't impress you? Maybe this will - Mike Fremont is 96 years old.

"I felt good but I didn't feel sprightly. I felt very good but not sprightly," he told a reporter afterwards.

I bet we all hope we feel half as sprightly as Mike when we're 96. But his amazing accomplishment is especially poignant for us here at WBZ in the wake of the sad news that longtime WBZ NewsRadio 1030 reporter Lana Jones passed away suddenly, leaving behind her husband Steve, many friends and fans, and a legacy of outstanding professionalism. Lana was only 62 years old.

When someone that young is taken from you, it inevitably makes you contemplate your own mortality. The average American life expectancy is 76 years for men, 81 years for women. And in a culture that glorifies youth over age, work over leisure, and financial success and status over smelling the roses, it's easy to lose track of the fact that the rat race can end abruptly at any time. When is the right time to step back, slow down, and enjoy all the pleasures of life that a busy schedule often doesn't allow for? There's a simple, if not so easy answer to that question - before it's too late.

Share your thoughts with me via email at keller@wbztv.com, or use Twitter, @kelleratlarge.