In 1975, Sylvester Stachera fled Poland and sought a new life in the U.S. Four decades later, 66-year-old Stachera is on the run again as he defies doctor’s orders to slow down and finishes his third New York City Marathon.

The New York City Marathon is just one of nine races Stachera runs every year, in addition to the almost 25 miles he logs in each week’s training. One of his standard routes — a run from his neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, to Central Park, around the park and back — is 16 miles. Stachera is more active now than he has been in his entire life.

“When I was a teenager and in grammar school I used to play soccer. In Europe, soccer is popular, but I really wasn’t into sports much,” Stachera said.

Stachera’s doctors have cautioned him against running. “They think that something can happen to me, that it’s dangerous to run at this age,” he said. “But I read stories in Runner’s World about a man running at 90 years old. I also run with older people, and I see how fast they are. They are really strong, and they are motivating me, too.”

The final push of motivation came during a soccer game in McCarren Park. Stachera went after a stray ball during the game. As he struggled to run toward the ball, he saw a young woman snickering from the sidelines and realized she was laughing at him.

Armed with a subscription to Runner’s World that was gifted to him by his daughter, Statchera set a New Year’s resolution to run a 5K. Unlike most resolution-makers, who fail to meet their lofty goals with every passing year, he kept his resolve. Stachera joined a running club, and soon he was running every Wednesday.

Determination is not unfamiliar to Statchera. He left Poland when he was 24 because he didn’t like the lack of opportunity in the communist country. So, when he got the chance to vacation in Vienna, he went and never came back. In Vienna, he applied for immigration into the U.S. He arrived in New York City in 1975 and ultimately settled in the vibrant community of Polish expats in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

With his first triumph out of the way, Stachera set his sights on his ultimate passion: computers. Programmers were in demand so he had no trouble securing work. Over time, his passion led him to a 27-year (and counting) career at Sotheby’s where he is a developer working mainly in Java.

Stachera finished Sunday’s race with a time of 5 hours and 48 minutes, but he is already thinking about what’s next: He wants to run the Boston Marathon someday.

“The qualifying time [for the Boston Marathon] is 4 hours and 10 minutes, so still have a lot of work to do,” Stachera said. “I am already thinking about next year’s [New York] marathon.”