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How They Train: Jeannie Rice
You may not have heard of senior women’s runner Jeannie Rice because she didn’t dominate the running world as a high school or collegiate runner and has never been a professional runner. In fact, she didn’t even start running until she was 35 years old (she is 71 now). And Rice doesn’t have support from a shoe company or running equipment supplier and she isn’t a social media running influencer.
But if you follow senior runners, especially at the half marathon and marathon racing levels, Jeannie Rice is a superstar.
Rice has current American records for her age group in the half marathon and the marathon. Her current half marathon record time is 1:38:42 and her marathon record time is 3:27:50, which is also the current world record for her age group. These are times runners half her age would be proud of. How does Rice do it at an age when most runners are happy just to jog a couple of miles?
How/Why Rice Started Running
Rice says that she started to run as a way to lose weight in her mid-30’s. She moved from Korea to the United States and after the move went back to Korea and made several visits to relatives’ and friends’ houses for meals. She noticed after a while she had gained several pounds and when she came back to the United States she decided to take up running as a way to lose weight.
