They summit Mt. Tam before breakfast, and now they’ve topped the national rankings: Marin County’s over-65 population are officially the spryest in the country. Not that locals are all that surprised. “One almost ran me over on the Dipsea Trail,” said Alison Easton, of Sausalito. “I had to jump out of the way. Old fucker was bounding over tree roots in a pair of bright green Hokas.”
The rankings released Monday rely on specific benchmarks to measure a population’s “Spry Score”, which include miles walked briskly per day, hours of pickleball played in a row, among other metrics, divided by age. Marin County’s average score was an astonishing 92, a score that might have been a perfect 100 if it weren’t for the nursing homes scattered throughout the county. “They do slow down eventually,” said Tom Sherman, Head Administrator for San Rafael’s Falling Oaks Assisted Living. “Once they get into their 80’s and 90’s, most of our patients can only do 10-20 burpees.”
Some residents were surprised, however, that Marin County’s seniors weren’t rated higher in other categories. “I thought for sure they were the most numerous. Like, there are just so many of them!” Said Sarah Ong, of Mill Valley. But experts say the seeming ubiquity of oldsters in Marin is a kind of mirage caused by their unusual vigor. According to Eric Tiesel, director of Marin’s Pre-1960 Association “With all the outfit changes required by our active lifestyles, you may in fact be seeing the same muscular grandma 5-6 times without knowing it.”