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Ray Murphy, pictured above with his most recent swimming ribbons, competes in the state and national Senior Games.
What's the secret to healthy aging?
Ray Murphy, MD, DSc, competitive swimmer and former Pulmonary Service chief at BWFH, believes the answer is physical activity.
Eighty-one-year-old Murphy swam competitively in high school, at Holy Cross, where he was a swim team co-captain, and later in the Navy.
"And then I took a 44-year break," said Murphy, an epidemiologist by training. His clinical practice and research, marriage and parenthood, and travel, teaching and other life opportunities kept Murphy busy enough to stay out of the pool. To stay in shape, he took up running, joined a running club and lost 20 pounds in the process.
"I was the only physician in the club, and I started writing medical articles about the benefits of running for the club's newsletter," he said.
Murphy later compiled these articles to create the book, "If You Felt Like I Did...You'd Start Running," which he published in 1990. The light-hearted, informative book is organized into three sections: why, how and where. It reviews the science behind running and basic tips on everything from stretching to running clothing and footwear. The last section chronicles the varied and exotic locales Murphy ran.
"The running club had a condition where if I ran out of town, I had to write an article out of town," he said. "I traveled a lot for my medical research and found myself running in Japan, Australia and other places. It was a lot of fun."
Despite his physical fitness, doctors discovered a blockage of Murphy's left ventricle in 2000.
"My 40 years of running likely led to the multiple additional blood vessels that were seen on my X-rays and saved my life," Murphy said. "I am particularly grateful for the excellent medical care I received at BWH.
Not long after this incident, Murphy decided it was time to get back into the water. He's been swimming in the annual Massachusetts Senior Games for the past eight years. His first state race qualified him for the biannual National Senior Games, in which he's competed four times, swimming the breaststroke, 50 meter and 100 meter. This past summer, he entered four events in the state games, earning three gold medals and one silver. He also competed in five races in the national games in Cleveland this summer, placing sixth and seventh in two races.
Murphy, who retired from BWFH in 2000, plans to compete in the next national games in 2015, to be held in Minnesota. In the meantime, he walks to keep in shape-setting a goal of two miles per day and sometimes reaching four miles at a time-and particularly enjoys spending time with his family.
"I've been blessed with six wonderful children and 13 grandchildren, and have been married to a lady who's put up with me for 55 years," he said, laughing.