At 77, Jeannie Rice isn’t even close to slowing down. The marathon world-record holder for the 75-79 age category—plus every other age group world record from the 1,500m and up—was the subject of a recent study which found that she has an incredibly high VO2 Max and also gave insight into how others can stay fit and healthy as they get older.
Ahead of the 2025 Boston Marathon, Runner’s World caught up with Jeannie and gleaned some of her best advice for other runners.
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What keeps her motivated
When Jeannie first started running at age 35, it was just to lose a bit of weight, but she got hooked and once she began racing, it wasn’t long before she was outright winning for her age group.
“That’s what motivates me—as I started to run and started to win,” she says. “I didn’t know that I could be running races and win my division.”
Realizing how close she was to running world record times became a strong motivator, and she would even put the name and time of the current record-holder on her refrigerator, “and I went after that,” she says. “I’m pretty determined. I know if I want to do something, I’m going to work hard for that. So I can't stop running.”
A balanced training regimen
Jeannie has always been self-coached, running an average baseline of 50 miles per week, including one day of speedwork with a group, a tempo run, and a long run, with easy recovery days interspersed between the harder efforts. It’s nothing fancy or complicated, but her volume is consistent and the regular speedwork keeps her sharp and zippy. Consistency How to Prep for the 2025 NYC Marathon Starting Now.
Playing the long game
The septuagenarian has sustained very few injuries over her 42-year running career, and while there are many potential reasons that she’s remained so healthy, much of her salubrity can be attributed to her level-headed approach to training and racing. She isn’t willing to sacrifice the big, ambitious goals for the ego boost and immediate satisfaction of pushing too hard or racing too often.
Her decision to run—but not race—the 2025 Boston Marathon was a good example of this mentality. After racing the Tokyo Marathon in March, Jeannie competed at the USATF Masters World Championships, racing the 3000m, 800m, a cross country 10K, and other events.
“After that, I did a 22 miler, and I kind of tweaked my hip a little bit,” she says. She knew that she was capable of running her race pace in Boston, but at what cost?
“It hurts a little bit, so I don’t want to damage it, because I’ve got a lot of races coming up in the future. So I’m gonna just take it easy, slow my pace down, and I’m gonna just enjoy it.”
A no-pressure approach
A consummate professional, Jeannie is typically a calm presence on the start line. Whereas she only worries about the weather, Jeannie Rice, 77, gets in a prerace run before the 2025 Boston Marathon prerace nerves We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
“Some of them can hardly breathe before the race,” she says. So she advises them to minimize the situation by thinking of a race like a training run. “You’re gonna run a little faster than a training run. Look at it that way,” she continues. “We don’t get nervous when we meet for a Saturday long run.”
“Age doesn’t matter”
“At 35, I started jogging, and a year later, I ran a marathon,” Jeannie says. “So if you like to do running, or any exercise—age doesn’t matter. You can start anytime, and you just keep moving forward.”
She encourages people to just go for it and that it’s never too late to begin. “As you get older, it is a huge part of your healthy life,” she adds. “So instead of sitting around, meet people, belong to a running club, and that way you have a little bit [of] social. So that will make it even easier.”
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Sydney Marathon Results, Ahead of the 2025 Boston Marathon, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
