Janice O’Grady was a strong mid-pack ultrarunner for her complete life. Then, over the course of two months in 2023, she set 5 ladies’s age-group world information. In her phrases, “My motto is, you don’t should get sooner, you simply should become older.” After turning 75 in 2023, she set the ladies’s 75-to-79 age-group world information for the 50-mile, 100k, and 100-mile distances, in addition to for 12 hours and 24 hours.
O’Grady discovered ultrarunning at age 38. She has taken a measured and pragmatic strategy, to which she credit her longevity. Her first extremely was the 1987 Ice Age Path 50 Mile, and since then, she’s completed 148 ultras — 13 of them 100 milers.
From her early years as a lawyer in Minnesota, to transferring to Northern California and embracing the operating scene there within the Nineteen Nineties, to changing into a race director, to retiring and transferring to Colorado and beginning up her personal race, to setting 5 world information in 2023, O’Grady is displaying what is feasible at all ages.
Janice O’Grady climbing towards Hope Go in the course of the 1992 Leadville 100 Mile. All pictures courtesy of Janice O’Grady.
Her Begin in Operating
Dwelling in Minneapolis, Minnesota, O’Grady didn’t begin operating till she was 33 years outdated. She remembers the change to the approach to life clearly, saying, “I give up smoking on January 1, 1982, and the legislation agency I labored at then had a bunch of runners. So, they sucked me into coaching for a 10-kilometer race that 12 months.” She was already coaching for a marathon in 1984 when she met her future husband, Tom O’Connell, who had been operating ultras since 1979.
After a number of years of watching him run ultras and crewing for him, she knew she wished to attempt one too, and signed up for the Ice Age Path 50 Mile. O’Grady says, “There weren’t that many races then, and the closest 50 miler to us was the Ice Age Path 50 Mile in Wisconsin, and so I went, and I ran it, and I mentioned, ‘Okay, I’ll by no means try this once more,’ however then I saved at it.”
It was a fast development from there. 4 years later, in 1991, she entered and completed the Western States 100. With a notoriously unhealthy abdomen and an incapability to deal with the warmth, she appears nicely happy in regards to the end, saying, “The one purpose I completed it that 12 months was as a result of it wasn’t sizzling. It by no means acquired over 75 levels Fahrenheit within the canyons, if you happen to can think about that!”
She follows up, “I attempted a few instances after that, and naturally, my abdomen took me out as a result of it was sizzling, and I used to be barfing all over. I’m glad I acquired to [finish] it as soon as.”
O’Grady in the course of the 1991 Western States 100.
California Operating
Earlier than there have been concepts of operating the Western States 100, the Nugget 50 Mile in California absolutely drew O’Grady into the game of ultrarunning. Within the early years, whereas nonetheless residing in Minnesota, she and O’Connell usually traveled to California to race, and the U.S. West Coast offered vastly totally different operating terrain than Minnesota. In keeping with O’Grady, “That was once I was hooked, as soon as I acquired on mountain trails.”
The 2 continued to go to California for the racing, “You type of needed to go there as a result of we didn’t have something in Minnesota. And Northern California was the center of ultrarunning again then.” The pair would take turns racing and crewing for one another.
When the legislation agency O’Grady was working at wished to open a department in California’s San Francisco Bay Space, she instantly volunteered to go. She wished to be nearer to the close-knit operating neighborhood she and O’Connell had grow to be a part of there.
She says, “We had an exquisite group of ultrarunners within the Bay Space. There was most likely a core of a couple of dozen or 15 of us, after which generally it will broaden to 25 relying on what we had been doing.” Saturday lengthy runs had been a weekly incidence, and with so few ultras round, she says, “Everyone was at all times coaching for a similar races on the identical time, so relying upon what we had been gunning for, we’d exit and run anyplace from 20 to 35 miles each Saturday, and it was so enjoyable.”
The neighborhood within the space felt particular. “We had an awesome core, and all of us ran about the identical tempo, center of the pack. And we might have a lot enjoyable on these runs, after which we’d go to races collectively, they had been good instances.”
All of the whereas, O’Grady was working at her legislation agency, the place she was a associate, and structuring her coaching across the work that incessantly noticed her touring and going for multiweek intervals with out operating in any respect. “It was a juggling act,” she says, “but it surely labored.” Her work schedule pressured O’Grady to run decrease mileages than lots of the folks she usually ran with, however she says the essential coaching was at all times all in regards to the Saturday future.
Extra not too long ago, O’Grady operating the 2021 Heartland 50k.
Watching Ultrarunning Develop
O’Grady admits there was concern within the Northern California operating neighborhood within the Nineteen Nineties that the game wouldn’t final. She says, “The comradeship was superb. We had been anxious that the game would die as a result of there have been so few of us and a few had been getting older and stopping operating, so it appeared like the game was shrinking. Then, impulsively, younger folks acquired .”
O’Grady noticed, “The extra the youthful folks acquired concerned, the extra they had been within the science of it.” She laughs when she recounts her recollections of her early years racing, “I imply, finally we had PowerBars. That was the extent of particular meals. In any other case, you ate food-food.” She continues, “Now, in fact, it’s all about fueling, which we by no means thought of. You threw some stuff in your pack, and support stations had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a bunch of snacky issues, and that was it.”
It’s not solely the fueling that’s modified, it’s additionally the quantity and dimension of races. “I feel once I began, there have been 5 100 milers within the U.S., and now there are a whole lot.” O’Grady says, “Everyone’s acquired the science of coaching plans, and we by no means had any of that. We didn’t have fancy operating garments. It’s actually advanced, and it’s been enjoyable to observe it, and I’m glad I can nonetheless be part of it!”
Race Directing
O’Grady not solely ran races but in addition helped to direct them. It was an integral approach to be concerned with and provides again to the operating neighborhood that meant a lot to her.
She was a race director, alongside O’Connell, for the Quicksilver Endurance Runs, beginning in 1999, and helped arrange the occasion together with her Quicksilver Operating Membership. It was a bunch of buddies placing on a enjoyable race, and she or he smiles when describing how the duties had been divided up. “Every little thing was so organized already once we began directing,” she says. Even after she and O’Connell moved to Conifer, Colorado, in 2006, they continued to direct the occasion in 2007 earlier than passing it on.
It didn’t take lengthy earlier than O’Grady began one other race in Colorado. After operating the huge path community within the Buffalo Creek space in her yard and realizing how intensive and exquisite it was, she measured all of the segments and put collectively a 50-mile and 50k route, which she known as the North Fork 50 Mile/50k.
O’Grady operating the 2024 North Fork 50k, a race she co-founded and directed till 2020.
Discovering folks within the Colorado operating neighborhood to assist out wasn’t laborious. Of beginning the race in 2010, she says, “I used to be on the extremely electronic mail listing, and so I mentioned, ‘Hey, anyone within the Denver space fascinated about serving to me begin a race?’ And I acquired six volunteers proper like that. And 5 of them grew to become the help station captains.” She continues, “Three of them had been nonetheless support station captains 10 years later once I turned it over to a brand new race director in 2020.”
Chasing World Data
By way of all of it, O’Grady saved operating.
In 2006, at age 58, O’Grady retired from being a lawyer, saying, “One of many causes I retired early was as a result of I nonetheless wished to run, and I by no means actually acquired an opportunity to do it like I felt I might do it.” Transferring to Colorado after retirement gave her a brand new set of trails on which to coach and run.
She says she was at all times a middle-of-the-pack runner all through her profession, however she skilled laborious and continued to like the game when many individuals her age struggled with accidents or an absence of motivation and stopped operating.
She’d by no means even thought of herself in competition for a world document till proper earlier than she was set to race the 2023 Tunnel Hill 50 Mile. A little bit bit earlier than the race, somebody requested her, “Have you ever seen what the American document is for 50 miles for the ladies’s 75-to-79 age group?” She had no concept.
O’Grady discovered that the American age-group document was over 18 hours, and no official world document existed but. She now had a aim in thoughts and dialed in her coaching, “I ended doing the mountain trails for a number of months and centered on attempting to run flatter.”
She discovered methods to compensate for residing at elevation, “I did speedwork, or I ought to say not-so-slow work, on downhills as a result of I reside at 8,000 toes, and for years, I’ve not been capable of maintain operating on flats at this altitude. So, the one manner that I might actually run a complete mile with out stopping to stroll was to go downhill.” She explains, “I’d attempt to run [downhills] as quick as I might to get the speedwork in and get my mind working at sustaining operating and never strolling each 5 minutes.”
She thrived on the Tunnel Hill 50 Mile’s low elevation and ran the double out-and-back course in 12:02:39, setting not solely a brand new age-group American document however establishing an age-group world document.
It didn’t take lengthy for O’Grady to start out researching different age-group information, as she had already signed up for the Throughout the Years race in Arizona on the finish of December 2023. She says, “We went there, and my husband Tom was so nice. We arrange in order that we had been proper throughout from the timers, and so they knew which [records] I used to be going for and what the instances had been. Tom would go over there once I was getting shut so that they had been all prepared. It went like clockwork.”
Whereas O’Grady didn’t break her 50-mile document, she acquired the 12-hour, 100k, 24-hour, and 100-mile age group world information. Whereas she’s pleased with all of them, it’s the 100-mile mark of 29 hours, 50 minutes, and 33 seconds that she’s most happy with. The prior document was simply over 31 hours. “That was the one which I actually wished … that one I really feel was an accomplishment, and I hope that one will grasp on for a short while, however you by no means know.”
After a lifetime of being mid-pack, O’Grady now has a brand new objective and motivation for operating, saying, “Having the age-group competitiveness has acquired me type of extra fired up about it now.”
O’Grady operating the 2022 Jackpot 100 Mile, which was additionally the 2022 USATF 100 Mile Championships.
Longevity
O’Grady plans to maintain operating and racing so long as she will be able to. She says, “Not many people final into our 70s. Each time I am going to a race, I’m the oldest feminine finisher, generally the oldest finisher, interval, however I’ve solely been final as soon as.”
She rapidly factors on the market are a bunch of runners about to enter the 75-plus age group, and she or he’s excited to see what they will do. “I feel folks have discovered how one can maintain themselves.” She factors out that many high age-group runners “didn’t begin [running] till they had been of their 50s and a few even 60s. So, they appear to do higher of their 70s than these of us who began earlier.”
O’Grady not does a weekly future, pushing the interval between large efforts to 10 days as an alternative of seven. She additionally continues to be a comparatively low-milage runner and says, “If I don’t have a race arising and it’s per week that doesn’t have a future in it, I would solely run 15 miles.” However that doesn’t imply that O’Grady is sitting round the remainder of the time, “I’ve my two-and-a-half-hour power exercises. I keep fairly match.”
She is aware of that she’s slowed down through the years and says the continued joke amongst her friends is, “You’re operating the identical as you at all times did, however there’s one thing flawed with the clock as a result of the time is so sluggish.” However she’s not upset in regards to the slower instances, saying, “I really like being on the market, and if I’m slower, I get to be on the market longer.”
Most individuals O’Grady used to run with have stepped away from the game. However each month, these that may attempt to have a Zoom name to catch up, and O’Grady says that yearly on the Western States 100, “A variety of the outdated gang nonetheless gathers at Foresthill [a village located at mile 62 of the race] within the afternoon to observe runners go by.”
O’Grady has a number of races arising, together with 3 Days on the Truthful in New Jersey, the place she hopes to get her 24-hour world document again — the one one which was bested this 12 months. She says of operating and racing at age 76, “I get pleasure from being on the market, and I can do it, and it’s as a result of I find it irresistible. I’ll preserve at it so long as I can.”
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