At 85, She’s Not Running Scared

--At 85, Ruth Rothfarb is on the run and it can get lonely. In this year’s Boston Marathon, she’ll set out four hours early and alone because of her age. “I’m not remarkable,” insists Rothfarb, a widow who took up running at age 72. “I have slowed quite a bit in the past few months. Now I’m a 12-minute mile. It’s natural. My age has a lot to do with it. But I feel good. I feel great.” Three years after she began running, her son, with whom she lives in the summers in Cambridge, Mass., suggested she try a 10-kilometer race. Since then, she has broken 19 road-race records. Monday’s Boston Marathon will be her second entry in that race and her seventh marathon. Last year in the division for women 60 and older, she came in third. Both women who beat her were 60. The fourth entrant dropped out. The lack of many competitors can be irksome. “I can’t compare myself with anybody else,” she said. But that doesn’t mean she wants to take off her running shoes and be like her elderly neighbors in a Miami condominium, where she lives in the winter. “They stare at me. They ask, ‘Are you still running?’ ” she said, mimicking a voice full of derision. “Their hair is just so. They have the latest clothes. Well, that’s not doing anything for yourself. I’m not bothered. I’m bored with them, really.”

--What’s in a name? For the state of Kentucky, it’s a chance to publicize its tourist attractions and for Ken Tuckey of Australia it’s a free trip. Kentucky Tourism Secretary Wendell Combs invited Tuckey, a commander in the Australian navy who is stationed at his nation’s embassy in Washington, and his family to visit the state. “We both benefit from it,” Tuckey, 39, said. Tuckey said he has been very impressed with his accidental namesake, especially “the rolling hills, the white fences, the Ohio River and the friendly people.” While growing up in Perth, Kenneth Stirling Tuckey, who prefers being called Ken, never gave the name much thought until a Kentucky Fried Chicken opened. “People started calling me ‘finger-lickin’ ’ and ‘fried chicken,’ ” he said.

--The residents of Palm Beach, Fla., like things to be discreet and quiet. So the town council insisted on some restrictions before allowing the National Assn. of Chain Drug Stores to launch fireworks for its annual convention during the last week of April at the posh Breakers hotel. “The fireworks people have very loud, booming fireworks, and they have very quiet ones,” Town Manager Douglas Delano said. “The quiet ones wouldn’t be able to be heard outside the premises of the Breakers. They may be boring, but they’re quiet. Picture yourself watching a typical Fourth of July fireworks display with your fingers in your ears.”