From: Laute Peter-FPL002
Date: Tue, Apr 7, 2009
Around her 50th birthday, Arlene Arneson had to make a decision. She already decided to quit smoking, but now needed something to occupy the time she spent enjoying her morning cigarette.
"I put my jacket on and went for a walk," she recalls.
Twenty-two years later Arneson finished her first Boston Marathon with a 70--74 age-division winning time of 4:27:38. "People were cheering throughout the whole race," she says. "The cowbells were deafening and all the kids wanted to give me a high-five."
At 5-foot-1 and 100 pounds, Arneson is modest in stature as well as pride. "Tickled," she replies, when asked how she felt about her win. When pressed about the significance of her accomplishment she quotes others. "Someone told me that winning Boston is like scaling Everest," she says, before qualifying the statement, "and I guess that's sorta true."
Arneson, a great-grandmother of three, is a part of the first generation of women to compete at Boston in the 70-and-over age division, which was first officially recognized in 2002. She was almost 50 when the first women's Olympic marathon took place, an event she proudly remembers watching on TV. "They didn't think women could [run a marathon]," Arneson says. "They didn't think it was healthy." Doctors have repeated this line to Arneson, telling her to stop running. She found new doctors.
Arneson relies on an uncomplicated training regime. She isn't part of a running group. She doesn't wear an iPod, a GPS watch, or a heart rate monitor. "I figure as long as it keeps beating I'm good," she says.
The closest thing she has to a coach is her husband of more than 50 years, Paul. A retired principal, he coached nearly every sport in his tenure as an educator. But for his wife he is a devoted fan, waiting for her at the finish of every race. "She loves to run, that's why she is good at it," Paul says, before adding, "I think she's crazy, but that's all right." When Arneson trains, Paul leaves fresh bottles of water along her route. After she is finished, he picks up the empty bottles so he can fill them again.
Like many masters, Arneson's running is often determined by her injury status. Arneson ran her first marathon, in Portland in 2006, at 70 years old, and won her age group; her time qualified her for Boston. She spent the next year and half, however, plagued by injuries. A heel injury kept her from competing at Boston 2007. Soft-tissue damage in her knee prevented her from running the 2007 Portland Marathon. Not willing to quit, she walked it.
On New Year's Eve 2007, Arneson had rotator cuff surgery to repair damage done when she was hit by a car eight years earlier. The surgery left her unable to run from January to March. She trained in her basement on a stationary bike and eventually a treadmill. Slowly she worked herself out of the basement and into marathon shape, and by April she was fit enough to win her age division in Boston.
Arneson claims there is no secret to her success; she simply loves to run. Her yearly race schedule includes the 12K Bloomsday in Spokane, Wash., the Coeur d'Alene and Seattle Half Marathons, and, in recent years, the Portland Marathon. She hopes to make the Boston Marathon a yearly event as well. "[The Boston Marathon] is paying my entrance fee this year," she says, tickled at the idea someone would pay for her to run.
Each day Arneson makes the decision to run based on a simple maxim. "The days I run are a lot better than the days I don't," she says, adding, "At my age I consider every day I can run a gift."
Author's Note: Last October, inspired by Arlene, my grandmother, I ran my first marathon. At the starting line I found her in the crowd. Around the halfway point I had the surreal pleasure of running with her for a few minutes. When she ran away from me, on her way to a new personal record, I smiled with pride as I told the couple running next to me, "That's my grandma."
Keep running - for life.
Boston's Fastest Great-Grandmother
Arlene Arneson
By Jacob White
As featured in the April 2009 issue of Running Times Magazine
As featured in the April 2009 issue of Running Times Magazine
"I put my jacket on and went for a walk," she recalls.Twenty-two years later Arneson finished her first Boston Marathon with a 70--74 age-division winning time of 4:27:38. "People were cheering throughout the whole race," she says. "The cowbells were deafening and all the kids wanted to give me a high-five."
At 5-foot-1 and 100 pounds, Arneson is modest in stature as well as pride. "Tickled," she replies, when asked how she felt about her win. When pressed about the significance of her accomplishment she quotes others. "Someone told me that winning Boston is like scaling Everest," she says, before qualifying the statement, "and I guess that's sorta true."
Arneson, a great-grandmother of three, is a part of the first generation of women to compete at Boston in the 70-and-over age division, which was first officially recognized in 2002. She was almost 50 when the first women's Olympic marathon took place, an event she proudly remembers watching on TV. "They didn't think women could [run a marathon]," Arneson says. "They didn't think it was healthy." Doctors have repeated this line to Arneson, telling her to stop running. She found new doctors.
Arneson relies on an uncomplicated training regime. She isn't part of a running group. She doesn't wear an iPod, a GPS watch, or a heart rate monitor. "I figure as long as it keeps beating I'm good," she says.
The closest thing she has to a coach is her husband of more than 50 years, Paul. A retired principal, he coached nearly every sport in his tenure as an educator. But for his wife he is a devoted fan, waiting for her at the finish of every race. "She loves to run, that's why she is good at it," Paul says, before adding, "I think she's crazy, but that's all right." When Arneson trains, Paul leaves fresh bottles of water along her route. After she is finished, he picks up the empty bottles so he can fill them again.
Like many masters, Arneson's running is often determined by her injury status. Arneson ran her first marathon, in Portland in 2006, at 70 years old, and won her age group; her time qualified her for Boston. She spent the next year and half, however, plagued by injuries. A heel injury kept her from competing at Boston 2007. Soft-tissue damage in her knee prevented her from running the 2007 Portland Marathon. Not willing to quit, she walked it.
On New Year's Eve 2007, Arneson had rotator cuff surgery to repair damage done when she was hit by a car eight years earlier. The surgery left her unable to run from January to March. She trained in her basement on a stationary bike and eventually a treadmill. Slowly she worked herself out of the basement and into marathon shape, and by April she was fit enough to win her age division in Boston.
Arneson claims there is no secret to her success; she simply loves to run. Her yearly race schedule includes the 12K Bloomsday in Spokane, Wash., the Coeur d'Alene and Seattle Half Marathons, and, in recent years, the Portland Marathon. She hopes to make the Boston Marathon a yearly event as well. "[The Boston Marathon] is paying my entrance fee this year," she says, tickled at the idea someone would pay for her to run.
Each day Arneson makes the decision to run based on a simple maxim. "The days I run are a lot better than the days I don't," she says, adding, "At my age I consider every day I can run a gift."
Author's Note: Last October, inspired by Arlene, my grandmother, I ran my first marathon. At the starting line I found her in the crowd. Around the halfway point I had the surreal pleasure of running with her for a few minutes. When she ran away from me, on her way to a new personal record, I smiled with pride as I told the couple running next to me, "That's my grandma."
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