There he is on page 156 of the book "Death Defiers" by Selene Yeager, telling his story, one I already knew.

In 1983 Bob Littky was 48. "I was a smoker - three packs a day - and I was fat," he told me. "I was a Type-A businessman, running the family print shop."

Looking back, it's not surprising he had a heart attack. But the rest of his story is.

He began rehabilitation with CardiAthletes at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, walking, jogging and running - a formula he still uses. "I lost 50 pounds and decided to do a marathon," he said.

Littky trained in the summer and fall of 1984, aiming for the Detroit Free Press Marathon that October. Disaster then struck again.

A week before the marathon, he returned home with "a terrible headache." That headache turned out to be an aneurysm: two blood vessels had burst in his brain.

He lapsed into a coma even before he was rushed to the hospital. Doctors held little hope.

"They cut into my brain," said Littky. "I had another stroke while recuperating in the hospital." Doctors said he visited the "nether world" twice; he returned from the dead two times.

Thirty days later, after two surgeries, Littky was sent home. "I couldn't walk, read or write," he recalled. "I had aphasia, an inability to use or comprehend words. This conversation we're having, we couldn't have had it then."

Compounding matters (Can anything be worse than dead?) for someone planning to run a marathon, he had lost the use of his right leg and hand.

Littky resumed rehab still determined to run a marathon. "It was running that saved my life before, and I wanted to do it again," he said.

The going was rough. "With the stroke and aphasia, I didn't even know what a watch was," he remembered. "When I ran, I kept drifting to the right; during races, runners who didn't know me got nasty when I bumped into them. Eventually I used guide runners, which I no longer need."

Littky persevered, acknowledging, "I was lucky. I couldn't even use a car back then.

"My wife (Loretta) was terrific. She was always patient." Loretta drove him to runs, sat and waited for him to finish, then drove him home. Again and again.

Littky did run the Free Press Marathon, although a year later than he'd intended. "I finished in five hours, 30 minutes. Six of my doctors ran five or six miles with me," he said.

"I feel better than ever these days," he said.

Since dying twice, he has completed 19 marathons. "I average 4:05 to 4:10," said Littky. "My PR is 3:30."

That effort qualified him for his second Boston Marathon. He did his first Boston as an American Medical jogger. Littky completed the Freep half- marathon, at age 69, last fall.

Littky, now 70, gets a big kick when "I'm the oldest runner out there," as was the case at the Plymouth Father's Day 10K June 19. Since then, he and Loretta have moved from Farmington Hills to Madison, Wisc., to follow his daughter and family.

"On July 4 I did a 5K in the park there," said Littky. "I was the oldest guy in the race."

He still runs in his new surroundings. "The streets in Madison have biking lanes. You can use them for running and walking. No one in cars is looking to kill you," he said and laughed.

"There are lots of hills, but I'm out there about an hour each morning to walk, run and jog. Then I'll do another four miles in the afternoon."

The Littkys plan frequent returns to Michigan. Another of their children lives here, and they are expecting their fifth grandchild. "I'm a grandpa; I'll have to be there," Littky said.

He has worked with others in rehab, served as an exercise leader for senior citizens, and does motivational work with stroke victims. "They sit. They get fat. They hate everyone. They need motivation!" Littky said.

His outlook is always sunny, even for a runner. "I've been very lucky," Littky said.

Ron Marinucci can be reached by e-mail at ron- marinucci@comcast.net. MR