Photos by Christine Hochkeppel Rain doesn't stop Joe and Hannah Miller from running down Touisset Road as training for their anniversary marathon in Providence this Sunday.

Although gold is the typical 50th anniversary gift, Touisset Road residents Joe and Hannah Miller aren't the typical couple — the 71-year-olds will spend their anniversary running 26.2 miles Sunday at the Cox Providence Rhode Race, with personal goals of finishing within five hours.

"We thought it would be a wild idea," Mr. Miller said, laughing. "When you get to be 71, you don't know what's going to happen."

"The concept of running to most people is a strenuous and stressful activity," added Mrs. Miller. "But it becomes somewhat addictive to some people. We were motivated and I could push myself."

The couple met while they were students working at the dining hall at Brown University, and they graduated the same year they got married — 1958. Mr. and Mrs. Miller both worked as teachers in various Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut school districts, for 27 and 31 years, respectively.

Mr. Miller said a friend convinced him to run his first marathon in 1970.

"I weighed 210 pounds, but it was all muscle, and I needed to get rid of it," he said.

Marathoner Hannah Miller, 71, stretches her calves before a run early Tuesday morning.

Mrs. Miller, a former smoker, said she was convinced to start running when she tried to complete a lap on a track with her husband.

"He convinced me to run around the track, and I was surprised at how hard it was," she said. But after she started running, she found it hard to stop.

"Your body gets used to it and doesn't like not doing it," she said. "It was easy to get competitive. It was rewarding to run because so few people were doing it."

Mr. Miller added, "We were really on the ground floor. I went to [a marathon in] Yonkers (New York), and if we had 100 people, that was a lot."

Both are re-entering the marathon circuit for their 50th wedding anniversary despite some past health issues. In the past two years, Mr. Miller had a blood clot in an artery and a serious strep infection. Mrs. Miller is a breast cancer survivor. However, both said their doctors encouraged them to exercise and gave the OK for the marathon.

"That's something that a lot of people need to understand," Mrs. Miller said. "He's encouraging me and he's happy I'm staying active."

Running isn't the only activity for either of the Millers. They said they are very good at starting projects, but not so proficient at completing them. In addition to his work as a teacher, Mr. Miller was a Presbyterian minister, and still helps out at a church in Barrington. He has also dabbled in rock climbing in Bolivia and the Rocky Mountains, and playing and coaching ice hockey. Mrs. Miller said she loves to garden, and their house on Touisset Road provides plenty of opportunity to do so.

To practice around Warren, Mr. Miller said he typically either cuts down Route 103 to the East Bay Bike Path, a 12-mile circuit, or tries a shorter stretch across Route 103 to Old Warren Road. The rain doesn't stop them, either. Mr. Miller said he prefers it in the summer, since it cools him down, and he hates running in the heat.

Hannah Miller looks on while her husband Joe laces his shoes before a run. The couple, who have been married 50 years, plan to celebrate by running 26.2 miles. Neither are first timers, though the last time either ran one was more than 20 years ago.

Mrs. Miller said when they were both in their prime, they would try to run about 35 miles a week, but they have toned it back recently. This is the couple's first marathon since the mid-1980s.

While both said they were competitive about their running, Mr. Miller said his wife is the better of the two amongst her contemporaries. At one point, she held the course record for her age bracket at a Manchester, N.H., half marathon. She also won her age bracket at the Rochester, N.Y., marathon. Even though there is typically a difference between men's and women's marathon times, Mr. Miller said his wife did beat him on one occasion.

"I do have a competitive streak, but I never was a good runner," Mr. Miller said, laughing.

By Stephen Greenwell

sgreenwell@eastbaynewspapers.com