Ida Keeling, the world record holder for running in her age-group, who has inspired a whole nation of runners of all ages, has passed away at age 105.
According to her Instagram page, her trainer/daughter shared the news:
“A Giant of a Woman Left Us this Morning. Family and Friends: Mom was blessed to have a life full of people who loved and supported her. For this blessing, I say thank you. Another posting will follow with details of homegoing services for Miss Ida who inspired a nation and the world. Please share.”
In 2011, at 95 years old, Keeling set the world record in her age group for running 60 meters at 29.86 seconds. In 2014 at the tender age of 99-years-old, sprinter and all-around fun-loving grandma set the world record for the 100-meter dash at the 2014 Games in her age group at 59.80 seconds. In 2016, just before her 101st birthday, she set the world record for the number of push-ups in her age bracket and broke her own world record in the 100-meter dash.
She also became another world record sprinter at the age of 103!
Ida Keeling’s mother died when she was young and her husband died of a heart attack when she was 42. She had at least three children, until two of them, Charles and Donald, died in drug-related killings in 1979 and 1981 respectively.
“I’ve never felt a pain so deep,” Ms. Keeling recalled, her voice lowering to a whisper. “I couldn’t make sense of any of it and things began to fall apart.”
As Ms. Keeling fell into a deep depression, her own health began to fail. Her blood pressure went up to dangerous levels at 206/106! She sunk into a deep depression. Ida’s daughter saw this and the image of her once-vital mother in such despair shook her to the core, so she decided to do something for her mom. As lifelong track-and-field athlete whose trophies fill an entire room of her apartment, the daughter intervened with the way of healing that most familiar to her: running.
Her daughter, Shelley Keeling, is a lawyer and real estate investor who upon seeing her mother depressed and downtrodden due to the loss of her sons, convinced Ida to run her 4-feet-6 inch and 83-pound self in a “mini-run” at the age of 67, since when Ida has continued to participate in track and field.
“It was trial by fire,” recalled Shelley. “Based on where she was emotionally, it just had to be.”
At the time, it had been decades since Ida had last gone running. The two women took off together, but the younger Ms. Keeling soon darted to the front of the pack as her mother drifted far behind. At the end of the race, she was relieved to see her mother scamper across the finish line, barely out of breath.
“Good Lord, I thought that race was never going to end, but afterwards I felt free,” Ms. Keeling recalled. “I just threw off all of the bad memories, the aggravation, the stress.” And the rest, as the say, is history.
Even after all her success and fame, Ida remains modest: “I was just exercising, and now I’m all over the world.” She wrote a book called
‘Can’t Nothing Bring Me Down’, an inspiring and motivational read, which I would recommend to everyone – all genders, all ages.
In the book, she explained all her secrets to keeping fit and healthy. Keeling claims to work out 3 to 4 days a week, including a dance class. Her diet includes greens, fruits and cod liver oil, for joint health. A few times a week she’ll add a shot of Hennessy to her coffee!
“When my two sons were murdered I questioned why God chose that for me, but never questioned His will,” explains Keeling on facebook. “My faith is what carried me through those dark times; then I was introduced to running and my life changed. I am very thankful.”
One of the best pieces of advice I heard Ida give is about life was, “Get up and do things even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes, you don’t feel like doing this or that or the other. Do the things you don’t want to do first, and get rid of it.”
Rest in Peace, Ida. Thank you for paving the way.
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