Main menu

Pages

This 71-Year-Old Grandmother Just Smashed a Half-Marathon World Record

Photo credit: Enduro Photo courtesy of the Akron Marathon

Seventy-one-year-vintage Jeannie Rice ran 1:37:07 on the Akron Half Marathon on August 10, which set the age group international record. The record is still pending ratification.
Rice already holds the age organization international document for the marathon, which she set with a time of three:27:50 in Chicago closing October.
Next on her listing is improving her own document-maintaining marks within the marathon and the half, starting with the Berlin Marathon.
After more than one tries to interrupt the age institution global report inside the half of the marathon, Jeannie Rice eventually ran down her goal. The 71-12 months-old phenom from Mentor, Ohio finished the Akron Half Marathon in a time of one:37:07 on Saturday morning in Akron, Ohio.

Pending ratification, the performance broke the preceding 70-plus women’s world document of 1:37:38 set with the aid of Lavinia Petrie of Australia in 2014.

Rice knew the record become inside her reach whilst she noticed a blazing speedy mile split of seven:01 on her watch among miles eleven-12. She ended up averaging 7:25-mile pace for thirteen.1 miles, which secured the record through more than 30 seconds.

“I felt correct and I simply did it. It changed into wonderful! I feel so excited,” Rice told Runner’s World.

For Rice, crossing the finish line in an international document time turned into the fruits of months of hard education and pushing past several close calls. While preserving mileage of fifty to 60 miles in line with week, she tried the record in January on the Naples Half Marathon in Naples, Florida–her house for 1/2 the year–where the humidity affected her and she completed in 1:38:42. She missed the world file through over a minute however broke the American document within the procedure.

In February, she competed on the Fort Myers Half Marathon wherein she crossed the line in 1:36:16, but alas the course become not record eligible. Just a few weeks after she completed second in her age organization on the Boston Marathon, Rice made her 0.33 strive at thirteen.1 with a time of 1:39:41 on a hilly course at the Pittsburgh Half Marathon.

The day earlier than she attempted the file in Akron, she drove the path and have become a touch apprehensive that the hills at the path could gradual her down.

“I wasn’t assured that I’d do it, but I thought ‘I’ll simply do my exceptional.’ That’s all I can do,” Rice said.

Her first-rate changed into extra than sufficient as Rice’s fourth try in Akron became her most success. After many days of staring at the preceding international report time written on a be aware taped to her fridge, Rice can finally say that she’s the only to conquer it over 13.1.

“I had the half marathon global file time so I may want to examine it each day so I may want to move for that, that is my goal, and now that I did that, I can be positioned down my own file time and now I’ll go after that,” Rice stated.

Rice, who has two teenage granddaughters, now owns age group global statistics within the half marathon and marathon distances. In October 2018, she smashed the 70-plus women’s international report within the marathon while she completed the Chicago Marathon in 3:27:50, almost 8 minutes faster than the previous document.

The realtor, who commenced strolling at the age of 35 with the preliminary goal of dropping weight, credit her fulfillment to never being injured and her current fast instances to a change in her lengthy runs which have elevated speed to an average mile pace of 8:10-15.

“I think that’s the handiest reason why and how I can run these kinds of years in a respectable time,” Rice stated of being healthful except one knee harm due to falling off of her bicycle years in the past. “I’m very lucky and I’m very blessed.”

Watch: Rice set the age group marathon international report on the 2018 Chicago Marathon.

With international records inside the books, Rice is focusing her efforts on reducing her very own marks. Her first strive at the 26.2 files will come on the Berlin Marathon on September 29. She also plans to run a marathon in Thailand in addition to the 2020 Tokyo and Boston Marathons.

“I’m going to Berlin for the marathon. If I can spoil my very own world file, it’d be terrific even by means of a minute or a half of minute. So I set an aim like that, so I don’t surrender, so I can continue to teach difficult and hard,” Rice said.

Comments