Each morning around 5 a.m., Dr. Cecil Pavey laces up his tennis shoes to run through streets in Clanton for several miles before heading to work at Chilton County Optical.

“I like to say the streets of Clanton are my playground,” Pavey said. “I really enjoy getting out there and running before the start of my day.”

In April, Pavey, 66, will test his strength, endurance and overall love of running as he prepares to run the Boston Marathon.

Pavey qualified to run in the Boston Marathon after finishing the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham in February.

“I finished the Mercedes Marathon with a time of 3 hours, 50 minutes and 22 seconds,” Pavey said. “The qualifying time for my age group of 65-69 had to be under 4 hours and 10 minutes.”

Pavey learned he qualified to run in the Boston Marathon through a postcard sent to him in the mail.

“I am really excited and looking forward to it,” Pavey said about gearing up for the race. “Right now I am in training. You have to build up your time. I will run 18 miles this weekend and then do 14 miles and then I will do a 20-mile run, which will be my longest run before the marathon.”

The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon with an average of 20,000 participants from all over the world participating each year.

Although an average run for Pavey each day is 6.5 miles, he didn’t start running until age 60, when his wife posed a challenge for Pavey to “get up and do something.”

“I was never a runner up until I turned 60,” Pavey said. “When I started, I started on the treadmill and would run for a few minutes and then I gradually worked my way up to running longer distances.”

Pavey attributes the “runner’s high” to getting him hooked on his love of running.

“A lot of people question if the runner’s high happens, and it does happen,” Pavey said. “I will go out and run each morning, and after my run I will feel so good. I feel energized for the day after I run.”

Pavey’s shoe of choice is the Brooks Adrenaline, which he has used since he started running six years ago.

“I love them,” Pavey said. “I even wear them to work.”