Her 60 meter time – 29.86 seconds – was a new world record for her age class: 95-and-up.<\/p>\n
Ida Keeling is 4-6 and 83 pounds, and does her running on size 51\/2 feet. She runs in the hallways of her Riverdale apartment. She runs on treadmills, and lifts weights, and rides an exercise bike and has no idea what she would do without all of it.<\/p>\n
…Keeling lost her husband to a heart attack at age 42, in 1958. She lost two sons, Donald and Charles, in gruesome, drug-related homicides, in 1979 and 1981. Her blood pressure went up to 206\/106. Some people would never get over such events. Ida Keeling had plenty of dark days, but kept on.<\/p>\n
…Keeling ran against five other master (40 and over) runners Wednesday night, all of them 30 or more years her junior. Deaneth Edwards, 40, had a winning time of 9.00. When Edwards and the other runners were done, they turned and waited at the finish for Ida Keeling in Lane 7, her yellow shoes going as fast as she could make them go, up and down, a stride more walk than run.<\/p>\n
As Keeling approached the finish line, the other sprinters began to clap and so did everybody else at the Armory, competitors in the hurdles and long jump and distance events, and the smattering of fans, including several of Keeling’s six grandchildren and eight great grand-children. Ida Keeling raised her arms again. Her time was 29.86 – a world record in the 95-and-up age group, and when it was announced, another cheer went up, a little more material for the book she is writing about her life.<\/p>\n