My Hero
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Before this afternoon, I had not heard of Anne Garrett but she is my new hero. She set a half marathon record. I have read about men in their 80s who run but not very many women. Also, the article says that she didn't begin to run until her 72nd birthday. The lady who taught the 'learn to run' class I took in 2014 told me that I was the oldest person (at that time 68) she has had in one of her classes. Although I don't run much, there is still hope for me and I feel very uplifted by the article.
www.runnersworld.com/mas
ters-racing/anne-garrett-s
ets-80-84-half-marathon-am
erican-record
Garrett is relatively new to running. She didn’t take up the sport until her 72nd birthday, when she unintentionally ran her first race, a half marathon. She had planned to walk the race while her daughter ran it, but she decided to start out with a little running, and she never stopped. She won her age group that day and, as far as she knows, she hasn’t lost to anyone in her age group since.
“There aren’t too many people in my division, you know, so that makes it a bit easier,” she said.
Garrett says she is a competitive person who enjoys the thrill of passing people, but as a child growing up in Northern Ireland, she never would have guessed that she’d become a record-breaking runner one day.
“I never even thought of running because nobody in my family or nobody that I knew, really, did any running,” Garrett said.
She estimates that in the small village where she grew up, one family had a car. She walked not because she liked to walk, but because she had to. Though she was relatively active, she claims she was never very good at sports, and that she “had a bit of a weight problem” before she took up walking.
Garrett, her late husband, and their two daughters moved to California in the late 1960s, and she now resides in Oceanside.
She took up racewalking in her early 60s, and doing races became a way to spend time with her daughter Jayne, who would run them. Garrett’s competitive nature quickly rose to the surface, and she found that she loved seeing how many people she could beat. At age 64, before she took up running, she racewalked a marathon in 5:19.
Once she became a runner, the exercise became a way of dealing with the stress of her husband’s illness. He suffered from Alzheimer’s for seven years. After he died in 2011, it became a way of dealing with her grief.
Shortly after her husband’s death, Garrett met Kathy Kinane, who asked her to become a spokesperson for the Move Your Feet Before You Eat! Foundation. In that role, she speaks to local children and parents about the benefits of exercise.
“It has opened up a whole new way of life for me," Garrett said. "I just don’t feel my age, to be quite honest with you. Sometimes when I run, my legs feel my age but my mind doesn’t.”
Running eases the pain of getting older.
“There was a time when getting older really bothered me, but then I got to the stage when I was a runner or a racewalker that it was just a way to get into a different age division and do better,” Garrett said. “Now it’s just a case of keeping up my speed and my age-graded percentages.”
She also enjoys helping young people revise their preconceived notions about what old people can do. She recalls with delight a time when she recently shocked a young girl by not only having an iPhone, but knowing how to use it.
While Garrett says she has no plans to go after additional records any time soon, she says she will continue to race and train.
“[Running has] made me more aware of who I am and it has helped me not to feel sorry for myself, not to get depressed,” Garrett said. “I’ve felt it’s either get out and do something or sit at home and feel sorry for myself. So if I ever start feeling sorry for myself, I put my shoes on and take a little run somewhere.”
www.runnersworld.com/mas
ters-racing/anne-garrett-s
ets-80-84-half-marathon-am
erican-record
Garrett is relatively new to running. She didn’t take up the sport until her 72nd birthday, when she unintentionally ran her first race, a half marathon. She had planned to walk the race while her daughter ran it, but she decided to start out with a little running, and she never stopped. She won her age group that day and, as far as she knows, she hasn’t lost to anyone in her age group since.
“There aren’t too many people in my division, you know, so that makes it a bit easier,” she said.
Garrett says she is a competitive person who enjoys the thrill of passing people, but as a child growing up in Northern Ireland, she never would have guessed that she’d become a record-breaking runner one day.
“I never even thought of running because nobody in my family or nobody that I knew, really, did any running,” Garrett said.
She estimates that in the small village where she grew up, one family had a car. She walked not because she liked to walk, but because she had to. Though she was relatively active, she claims she was never very good at sports, and that she “had a bit of a weight problem” before she took up walking.
Garrett, her late husband, and their two daughters moved to California in the late 1960s, and she now resides in Oceanside.
She took up racewalking in her early 60s, and doing races became a way to spend time with her daughter Jayne, who would run them. Garrett’s competitive nature quickly rose to the surface, and she found that she loved seeing how many people she could beat. At age 64, before she took up running, she racewalked a marathon in 5:19.
Once she became a runner, the exercise became a way of dealing with the stress of her husband’s illness. He suffered from Alzheimer’s for seven years. After he died in 2011, it became a way of dealing with her grief.
Shortly after her husband’s death, Garrett met Kathy Kinane, who asked her to become a spokesperson for the Move Your Feet Before You Eat! Foundation. In that role, she speaks to local children and parents about the benefits of exercise.
“It has opened up a whole new way of life for me," Garrett said. "I just don’t feel my age, to be quite honest with you. Sometimes when I run, my legs feel my age but my mind doesn’t.”
Running eases the pain of getting older.
“There was a time when getting older really bothered me, but then I got to the stage when I was a runner or a racewalker that it was just a way to get into a different age division and do better,” Garrett said. “Now it’s just a case of keeping up my speed and my age-graded percentages.”
She also enjoys helping young people revise their preconceived notions about what old people can do. She recalls with delight a time when she recently shocked a young girl by not only having an iPhone, but knowing how to use it.
While Garrett says she has no plans to go after additional records any time soon, she says she will continue to race and train.
“[Running has] made me more aware of who I am and it has helped me not to feel sorry for myself, not to get depressed,” Garrett said. “I’ve felt it’s either get out and do something or sit at home and feel sorry for myself. So if I ever start feeling sorry for myself, I put my shoes on and take a little run somewhere.”
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