Heather Robinson said she can't help but feel "a little bit sad" whenever she walks past fast food outlets and sees families with children sitting down for breakfast.
The 90-year-old is out pounding the streets of Levin to prepare for the annual Great New Zealand Forest Marathon, to be heldin Waitarere Beach in April.
Growing up in Marton before the outbreak of World War II, the meaning of fast food was the odd meal of fish 'n' chips, and that was only on rare occasions as a reward.
And there was no such things as Play Station, television or Facebook.
"If my mother couldn't find me I'd be outside hanging by my feet from a tree," she said.
"We always ate plenty of fruit and vegetables, too.
"But then it's a totally different generation now. A lot of kids don't know how to cook or how to sew."
That active childhood has never left her. Even now, on an given Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she swims. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, she walks.
Levin woman Heather Robinson swam 90 lengths of the Horowhenua Aquatic Centre pool in 90 minutes on her 90th birthday.
Robinson's health and longevity could also be due in part to her genes, too.
Aunty Inis Wing, from Levin, lived to be 107, while her maternal great-grandmother died when she was 105.
Robinson had always been an avid swimmer, and last year swam 90 lengths of the Levin town pool in 90 minutes to mark the occasion.
"Swimming is marvellous as you get older. There is not the pressure on your body. It's only your breathing," she said.
Robinson rekindled her love of running when she was 49 after her late husband suffered a heart attack.
She was apprehensive that she could never regain the ability to run a long distance, but her friend told her to start slowly - run one lamp post, walk one lamp post - until the body started to crave more distance.
"You just increase it until you eventually stop walking," she said.
Levin woman Heather Robinson, 90, has her sights set on the 5km walk at the Great Forest Marathon.
A few years later she ran the first of three marathons. Since then she has run 45 half-marathons and countless 10km and 5km events.
These days she has scaled down the distances but still loves the feeling of being involved in a marathon.
Robinson has entered the 5km event at the Great Forest Marathon and isn't planning on breaking out into a trot.
