This 92-Year Old Woman Just Finished Her 16th Marathon

Harriette Thompson, who’s 92, and who didn’t begin running until her 70s, just finished her 16th marathon, figuring the “competition keeps her healthy.” You know, no big deal.

And what did you do this weekend, asks AP Online?

Despite her training woes [Thompson suffered a staph infection in one of her legs earlier this year; her husband also died following an illness], she nearly matched her finish time of last year, which was 7 hours, 7 minutes, 42 seconds. That set a record for a woman 90 or older, shattering the old one by more than an hour and a half.

A classically trained pianist who played three times at Carnegie Hall, Thompson says she mentally plays old piano pieces she had performed to help her get through the 26 miles, 385 yards.

Thompson was first intrigued by the idea of running—nay, walking—when a fellow churchgoer asked if she wanted to sponsor her participation in a race, the proceeds of which went to fighting leukemia and lymphoma. Two decades and a little over seven hours later, Harriette cites running as the thing that keeps her alive (she was described as “joyful” in an interview following the race), and has hopefully inspired legions of women to take their own health and happiness into their hands.