With the sun just beginning to peek over the horizon Saturday morning, Duane Tice, a resident at Garden Spot Village near New Holland, laced up his walking shoes and attached a race number to his shirt as he prepared to take on a 6.2 mile journey alongside two generations of this family.
Since 2009, the 81-year-old Tice has raced in Garden Spot Village’s annual ½ Marathon & 10K, an event he looks forward to each year. What started initially as a one-off challenge has become an annual tradition, one that has pushed him to focus on his health and connect with his neighbors.
Duane Tice, 81, waits for the start of the Garden Spot ½ Marathon & 10K on April 11, 2026.
NATHAN WILLISON | Staff
“I had to be talked into it at first,” Tice said. “The first half-marathon wiped me out.”
Tice now races in the 10K, one of only two participants over 80 this year. He said the annual race gave him a goal to train for throughout the year. Six days a week, he is either taking long walks around Garden Spot Village, hitting the gym or playing pickleball. The 10K race serves as a benchmark for his progress but staying fit is a year-round goal.
On Saturday, Tice was among around 1,000 runners and walkers from 22 states participating in the 17th annual race to raise money for the retirement community’s benevolent fund, which provides financial assistance for residents who are no longer able to pay the costs for daily living, through no fault of their own. Last year, the event raised over $20,000 for the fund.
Emma Coward, the race’s director, said the options allow all age groups to participate, bringing together residents, their families and the local running community.
“This event means more than you can say,” Coward said. “It shows the type of community we have here that there’s so much enthusiasm for it each year.”
Originally from Kansas, Tice moved to Garden Spot Village in 2008 with his wife of 60 years, Sharry. Though Sharry was unable to participate in this year’s race, Tice said she, their children and 14 grandchildren have been supportive of him each step of the way.
This year, 11 family members joined Tice in the 10K, calling themselves the Daddo’s Dozen Walking Club, after the nickname given to him by his grandchildren.
Racing alongside his family was a special opportunity, with some traveling over 3 hours from New Jersey to participate.
Tice said a recent diagnosis of heart disease motivated him to take his health more seriously.
“I denied it for a while,” Tice said. “I had a stent put in and I told myself that everything was fine. I know now that I have to be more regular in my exercise.”
Living in a community with so many other residents focused on their health has made it easier.
“I’m rarely exercising by myself,” Tice said. “There are always others around.”
To give back to the community at Garden Spot Village, Tice helps lead a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance team helping residents file their tax returns. Tice said he operated an accounting franchise for over a decade prior to coming to Lancaster, and now that expertise benefits many of his neighbors.
A Garden Spot Village spokesperson estimated that the volunteer tax assistance program had saved residents and team members around $120,000 in tax preparation fees.
Tice said he felt he had a responsibility to use his knowledge to help others endure the sometimes grueling marathon of tax season.
“You can see the tension in their faces when they come in. Getting your taxes finished is always stressful,” Tice said. “To see their relief once it’s all finished, that’s what makes it all worth it.”
Tice said it was his way of repaying a community that had welcomed him and his wife since they arrived in 2008.
“I grew up in a small town in the Bible belt,” Tice said of his hometown of Abilene, Kansas, “And it’s not too different here. This is a great place to live and people have been wonderful to us.”
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