Mary Smith, the name, is about as ordinary as you can get. But Mary Smith, the 84-year-old Colorado Springs resident, is anything but ordinary.

Smith has set national and world records while running track on the masters level—a far cry for someone who once believed she wasn’t meant to run.

At just 5 feet 1½ inches and 97 pounds, Smith’s powerful legs and arms propel her around the track with strength and speed.

As a teenager in Vermont, Smith raced a classmate to a nearby rock and lost. She concluded that she wasn’t meant to be a runner.

“All those years, I thought, ‘I can’t run.’ So I never did,” she said. 

And in those days, Catholic school girls didn’t play sports.

“We even asked, ‘Could we go in the gym?’ They said, ‘It’s for the boys,’” she recalled.

Instead, she focused on raising three daughters with her husband, earning a master’s in education and teaching reading—including helping students with dyslexia. Exercise or sports never crossed her mind.

Most people move to Colorado for the mountains. Not Smith.

“It’s kind of silly. I had a horse that came from Colorado, so I always wanted to see Colorado,” she said.

Two of her daughters now live in Colorado Springs; the third, who’s also a runner, lives in Los Angeles.

Smith started spending summers here and moved to Colorado Springs after retiring. That’s about the time she discovered spinning and bought a stationary bike she still warms up on today. Then, fellow churchgoers invited her to run with them.

“‘We go to races and have lots of fun,” they told her.

She gave it a try and, at 65, entered her first race—the world-famous BOLDERBoulder 10K. She was hooked. 

BROKEN RECORDS (AND BONES)

When Smith was 70, she met a woman who had run 37 consecutive Boston Marathons and needed a training partner. They trained together at Colorado College’s track, where her partner was impressed with Smith’s prowess.

“She’d say, ‘You’re really fast. You should run track.’ And I just laughed at her. I had no idea they had the masters level for older runners,” Smith said. 

Her training partner’s husband, a USA Track & Field (USATF)-certified coach, usually worked with long-distance runners, not sprinters, but helped Smith refine her skills. After he died, she found a USATF-certified sprinting coach at Liberty High School. 

She took Smith under her wing and—well, as Smith put it, “I just got really fast.”

For 15 years, Smith dominated the 400-meter dash, losing only once—at the 2024 world masters meet in Sweden.

Smith recalled that blustery, rainy race.

“I was 50 meters from the finish and a gust of wind hit me. It knocked me back and I staggered,” she said. 

She lost her form and fell, face-first. 

“But I made myself get up,” she said. 

Another runner passed her and Smith finished second.

She later learned she had broken her shoulder and cracked some ribs. But at the time, adrenaline masked the pain, and she still ran her leg of the 4x400 relay—passing two opponents in the process.

The medals Smith brought home from the 2024 World Championships in Sweden decorate her official USATF Masters National Champion jacket.

That’s the fighting spirit that keeps Smith going, even through multiple surgeries, including one to reattach her hamstrings to bones in her pelvis, knee and lower leg.

In January, an MRI confirmed a torn meniscus in her left knee—plus three bone bruises. She had to skip the Mid-America and national meets in February. She attended but did not compete at the world championships in March.

“When I try to jog, it’s like a knife in my knee,” she said. 

With further healing, she hopes to attend the outdoor nationals in July.

She has also battled hyperparathyroidism, which had gone undiagnosed for at least 12 years. The condition can weaken bones, leading to stress fractures. Surgery corrected the issue.

Despite these health challenges, Smith still counts her blessings.

“I’m a very lucky runner. I haven’t had a lot of injuries,” she said. “I don’t know why I run so fast. I just want to go faster and faster,” she said.

Training at Colorado Springs’ altitude probably helps, she said.

SPRINTING TOWARD ACTIVE AGING

Smith follows a plant-based diet and has avoided meat, fish and poultry since 1993. She also skips dairy and eggs.

“I just don’t want to do anything that’s going to ruin me,” she said.

Her training routine is meticulous. She warms up with early morning spin classes and walks backward on the Rampart High School track to loosen up before running.

Mary Smith is eager to get back to running at the Rampart High School track in northeast Colorado Springs.

“Mary has been an incredible athlete to work with,” said her coach, Deb Brown. “She is extremely dedicated to her training and devotes lots of time to both the hard work and the recovery, which is important for aging athletes.”

While she talks, her legs can’t stop moving—she’s eager to get back to running. 

“I am so happy when I can go to the track,” she said.

She even has a favorite video of herself competing in Chicago, leaving younger competitors in the dust. She laughs when a spectator shouts, “That old lady is fast as hell!”

Smith encourages others to start small—get out and walk, then gradually increase speed. After, of course, checking with their healthcare provider.

“Don’t try to do too much because you’ll become discouraged,” she advised.

In February, Smith was named Colorado Masters Women Track & Field Athlete of the Year by USATF from all competitors aged 30 to 100. She received the award in Boulder on March 9. 

“See what a lucky runner I am?” she said.

Her coach sees more than just luck. She is full of admiration for Smith, who is her oldest client.

“Mary is the most dedicated athlete I have ever had the pleasure of working with in my 20-year coaching career,” Brown said. “She inspires active aging to all she encounters.” 

Smith may be a track star, but she shrugs off the accolades.

“I’m not that special. I just love to run.” 

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