91-year-old Harriette Thompson has recently set a new US female marathon record for the 90 to 94 year-old age group with a time of 7 hours, 7 minutes, and 42 seconds at the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon.
According to NBC 7 San Diego News, Thompson is the oldest woman to complete in the race, and is the second oldest woman to compete in the entire country.
The impressive record is not only what makes Thompson's run astounding. She was also able to come up with $90,000 to fund the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
This feat was something special to her as she herself is a cancer survivor. She was able to fight off the rare cancer of the palate in 1997, and had just recenltly underwent 11 radiation treatment sessions (for another cancer treatment) before the San Diego race.
The marathoner has red open wounds that are left on her legs and they were just covered with tights and bandages while she ran the marathon.
Brennan Thompson, Harriette's son, was with her the entire time. In an interview with Don Norcross of Running Competitor, she said her son gave her the courage and motivation.
"Anytime I needed anything, he was there for me... water, Vaseline, Gatorade, PowerBars, GU, bananas, oranges, pretzels," she said.
The latest marathon was her 15th, and she said that she always joins marathons in the San Diego area not to compete and win but to collect money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
When asked about her cause, Thompson said she has a lot of friends in the society, and added that her husband's bother also died of lymphoma.
Thompson finished her first marathon when she was 76 years old--it was a charity race organized by a friend from church. That time she said that it just came to her that she wanted to join the marathon.
She said in an interview said that she'll keep on running. "If I'm sill (alive), I'll be back next year," she said.
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