16-Year-Old to Run Marathon with 80-Year-Old Grandpa

It's special for a 16-year-old boy to run his first full marathon.

But what makes it even more special for Victorville's Joseph Flores is that he's running with his 80-year-old grandfather.

Flores will participate in today's Los Angeles Marathon with 20 other or so Academy of Academic Excellence students as part of Students Run L.A., an organization that sponsors teenagers to run the marathon and provides guidance.

He began running last year when his grandfather asked him to run in a Redlands half marathon together.

"I started training for that and since then, I got hooked on it," Flores said.

He joined the AAE team in August to run the L.A. Marathon. He has been running about 20 miles per week to prepare for the race.

"I'm a little worried about breaking down in the last few miles," Flores said.

Flores' grandfather, Jack Moore, celebrated his 80th birthday on Thursday. Working as the general manager of a Lake Arrowhead resort, Moore is running his fifth straight L.A. Marathon today.

He began running l o n g d i s t a n ce a f t e r he moved to Big Bear from Rowland Heights 12 years ago.

"I just felt like I wanted to do that, and my first year up here, I was spending a lot of time walking on trails. I wasn't working. I wanted to be busy and I felt like I had energy to do that," said Moore, who's written five books and is working on his sixth.

He runs six miles two to three mornings per week, and on weekends, he runs 13 miles, Moore said.

"If I don't run to a certain level, I just don't feel this good, physically or mentally," he said. "If I don't do some of that, I feel like some things are missing."

Moore said his knees are stronger now than they were a few years ago. His time in the L.A. Marathon has improved over the five years.

In his first race, he finished 26.2 miles in six hours. Now he does

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it in about 5 /2 hours. He's shooting for the five-hour mark today, Moore said.

"Once it gets to 18 or 20 miles, that's where you hear some people say they hit the wall. It becomes a struggle for a lot of recreational runners like me," Moore said. "This year, I'm going to try to push it a little bit further."

The AAE team invited Moore to train with Flores and others in Apple Valley. Flores said his grandfather could beat some of his teammates.

"It's a very cool experience to see a guy that old and still be able to do something like that," Flores said.

Although Moore has experience on his side, he doesn't expect to beat his grandson today.

"In the half marathon, he leaves me in the dust," Moore said. "Joseph is a really good runner. He has a runner's body.

"It just means the world to me that he's exc i t e d a b o u t t h i s ," Moore said, "and that I'm still around."