Mavis Lindgren was a sickly child and sickly adult who was advised against exercising. She almost died of a lung infection in her late 50s. During the recovery, her new young doctor had the shocking opinion that she should walk with her husband and kept recommending an increase in the distance she covered.
Surprisingly, Mavis found enjoyment as she felt her body come alive with improved endurance. In her 60s, she took up running with her husband Carl and soon quickly surpassed him. Into her late 80s she was setting age group records and had not even suffered a common cold since beginning her running career.
At about the age of 85 she slipped on a cup at the 20-mile water station at the Portland, Oregon marathon. Officials helped her up and tried to take her to a medical tent. She quietly brushed them off, saying that it was a surface injury. After she finished, however, she went to the medical tent to find that she had been running with a broken arm.