92-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Becomes the Oldest Runner to Finish a Marathon

By Cheri Cheng - 01 Jun '15 10:32AM

92-Year-old cancer survivor, Harriette Thompson, has become the oldest runner ever to finish a marathon.

Thompson, who is from Charlotte, North Carolina, participated in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego on Sunday. Once she crossed the finish line after running for 7 hours, 24 minutes, 36 seconds, Thompson was bombarded by so many people congratulating her on her amazing feat.

"I'm fine, they're really pampering me here," Thompson said. "It's always harder but this year has been a bad year for me."

Thompson, who ran 16 Rock 'n' Roll Marathons, recently lost her husband in January. She also battled a staph infection in one of her legs.

"I couldn't train very well because my husband was very ill and I had to be with him for some time and then when he died in January I had some treatments on my leg. I was just really thrilled that I could finish today."

Despite the difficulties Thompson had to face heading into her run, her time was still very close to last year's, when she completed the run in 7 hours, 7 minutes, 42 second.

The previous record holder was Gladys Burrill, who was 92 years and 19 days old when she finished the Honolulu Marathon in 2010. Thompson, according to the race organizers, is 92 years and 65 days old.

Thompson started running marathons when she was in her 70s. Thompson recalled being asked if she wanted to be a sponsor to help raise money for leukemia and lymphoma research by a church member.

"At that time I had lost several people in my family to cancer and I said, 'Oh, maybe I should do that," she said. "When I got out there the first year I just planned to walk it, but everybody else was running so I started to run with them."

Despite breaking the record this year, Thompson is not sure that she will run in next year's Rock 'n' Roll marathon. But she said that last year as well.

Thompson added that she ran this year's race in honor of her son, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Thompson is a two-time cancer survivor. She has raised more than $100,000 for charity.