JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — The DONNA Marathon is this Sunday in Jacksonville Beach. Among the thousands of runners expected to compete, will be one senior citizen from the Orlando area.
She’s not only trying to hit a personal racing milestone, but also run for a special cause.
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Gloria Vasquez, 74, of Osceola County, will be making the nearly three hour trip to Jacksonville to run her 97th marathon on Sunday.
She’s run in marathons across all 50 states before the age of 60 and she’s working on making it to 100 marathons total.
She’s done the Boston and New York City marathons multiple times. Vazquez even served as an Olympic torch bearer in 2002, an honor for her community service work. So what brings her to the Jacksonville for the DONNA?
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“I’m doing it for my sister who passed away of breast cancer, my very dear sister,” Vasquez said. “I like to see how these women survive … I admire how they were able to do the treatments, tough it out and here they are continuing with the marathon. They don’t give up. They just keep going."
Vasquez’s sister Isabel Smith was only 62 when she died.
For the Vasquez, life has been a marathon. Vasquez fled domestic violence, immigrating to the U.S. from Colombia as a single mother, and opened her own spa business.
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“When I came here with my four kids, that was my goal, work hard, work hard to raise these four kids. Thank God, God helped me,” she said.
Her secret to still running marathons at age 74? Vasquez said eating healthy and, “I do 10 to 15 miles every weekend enough to be in shape for the marathon.”
Vasquez said she wants to keep running as long as possible and make it to her 100th marathon.
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