On March 1, 2008, Fred Haigh woke up at Cleveland Clinic and his first words, written on a piece of paper were, “I’m alive.”

Haigh, a Fort Wayne resident since 1968, received a heart transplant at age 62. Nearly two decades later, on Nov. 8, Haigh, 80, and his donor heart completed the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in 7 hours, 6 minutes and 36 seconds.

“I just had a dream back in the spring that I could run a marathon again,” Haigh said in a phone interview. “I picked Monumental because it was in the fall. I didn’t think I’d have enough time to train for a summer marathon.”

Supported throughout the entire process by his wife of 40 years, Jan, Haigh ran three or four days a week with one long run, one 3-mile day as fast as he can, and a 5- or 6-mile run day. He takes one day to do low

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