High mileage - Benefits of a healthy lifestyle

Asked to imagine a typical grandmother, most people would probably envision a grey-haired old dear in a gingham dress and wolly cardigan, sitting in an armchair by the fire and doing her knitting, or watching television.

Joan Brady is not anyone’s notion of a typical grandmother. She has just clocked her 350th kilometre as a passionate sportswoman and runner. She hardly broke a sweat yesterday as she completed the Dublin mini-marathon, a race she has contested for 35 years.

Joan, who is 78, is as fit as a fiddle, while many Irish people half her age are shaped like a cello, due, largely, to a sedentary lifestyle.