70-year-old Ottawa woman sets new marathon world record

A moment full of pride for Ottawa's own Jennifer McDonnell, breaking the world record for marathon running in her age group. I was thinking the whole time, is this going to happen? Is this going to happen? The 70-year-old was running the Toronto Waterfront Marathon mid-October, determined to make history. And that she did. Well, the last 2K was a little wild in my mind. I got about a thousand thoughts at the same time. And I had started to get a little cramp in my calf muscle. And I thought. No, you're not going to do this right now. You are not. I'm just going to keep going. I'm going to stay positive. She crossed the finish line in three hours, 23 minutes and 59 seconds, setting the world record for women aged 70 to 74. That's more than three minutes faster than the previous record set by an athlete from France. When I crossed the line, I was ecstatic and relieved at the same time and exhausted. McDonnell dialed into running during her mid-30s, one day deciding she wanted to get in better shape and started by running along the canal. So seven and a half minutes out and seven and a half minutes back. That was my goal. And I was elated just doing that. I was like, oh, I did it. And then I just kept adding benches because they said, don't, I always read, don't add too much or you're going to get injured. So I just would, every three weeks, I added another bench. And then pretty soon I was running around the canal. Never thinking breaking a world record was in the cards. She's gone on to run marathons across North America, Chicago, Philadelphia, the Boston Marathon. Her message to others of any age? Why not try it? I mean, so many people say, oh, I can't do that. Or I can't do that faster. I can't. Or, you know, I can't even run around the block, blah, blah. So I'm like, you'd be surprised. It's never easy. Stick to it. Believe in yourself. Emma Weller, CBC News, Ottawa.