Just like before a long run or a speed session, I need to mentally prepare myself to start writing for a book I'm working on. I usually read a few pages of another book. Today I flicked through Alberto Salazar's Guide to Road Racing and a few sentences about the late Mavis Lindgren caught my eye.
"The late Mavis Lindgren, of Portland, Oregon, for example, began running in her early 60s, ran her first marathon at age 72, and by age 93 had run 76 marathons."
Wow. I Googled her name and found articles about her in the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. There seems to be some confusion about a few statistics in the various resources but regardless of which numbers are correct, this woman was amazing! Especially since she began running marathons in the 1970s.
Women were not allowed to compete officially in the Boston Marathon until 1972 and the women's marathon wasn't introduced to the Olympics until 1984.
Click here for the Sports Illustrated article from 1978.
Click here for a link to the NY Times article from 1993.
If this woman doesn't inspire a can-do attitude, I don't know who or what else could.
