Gloria Vasquez is not your everyday 74-yearold Kissimmee grandmother.
Unless your grandmother is nearing the mark of running 100 full marathons.
Vazquen has already run marathons in all 50 states; a goal she completed by the time she was 60. She had run about 65 marathons at the time.
“That’s me. I’m always setting goals for myself,” says Vazquez “I finished the 50 states and thought, ‘Oh, maybe I can do 100 marathons. Let’s see if I can do it!’ Now it seems like I’m going to do it when I’m 75. I’ll be 75 in April.”
The News-Gazette caught up with Vasquez as she prepared to run her 97th marathon on Feb. 1 in Jacksonville. That race was especially meaningful to Vasquez, as it benefits breast cancer patients and survivors. Vasquez’s older sister passed away from breast cancer ten years ago. Vasquez and her four children stayed with her sister in New York when Vasquez moved to the United States in 1981, fleeing a domestic abuse situation back in Colombia.
“It’s a good way to honor her. She was such a good sister,” Vazquez said.
“I love running because it’s the way I relax and I run through my problems. When I had teenagers growing up, I got up at 4 in the morning and I’d run and I’d run. It helps me to relax, it helps to focus, helps me to see how I’m going to solve my problems. That’s the way I feel when I finish. Because I’m in my own world when I’m running. It’s good for me.” After living in New York for most of her adult life, Vasquez has now lived in Kissimmee for the last 14 years, working in real estate and daycare. She trains by running laps in her neighborhood off Pleasant Hill Road, often accompanied by her dog Ruby. On the weekends they often head to the beach and run together for hours.
“She’s my trainer,” Vazquez says, beaming at her dog. “First thing in the morning she’s like,‘Wake up, we have to go, come on.’” Vasquez began running as a child in Bogota, Colombia and has run nearly all her life. Her first marathon came in 1987, when she surprised herself by winning a shorter race she had entered for fun. The prize was an entry into the New York City Marathon.
“I was so excited, and after that every year I signed up.”
Her 96 marathons so far include 15 New York City Marathons and 4 Boston marathons, as well as ones in Chicago and Philadelphia. She’s run marathons on five different continents, including races in Germany, Italy, Hong Kong and Australia, as well as South America. She was signed up for a marathon in Antarctica, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19, ending her quest to do all seven continents. She has also run in seven Ironman races and 10 triathlons.
Much of her early running in New York was to raise funds for cancer, and in 2002 she was honored as a torch bearer for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in recognition of her community service work. At her best, she would run marathons in about 3 ½ hours. Today she completes them in a little over five hours. She already has her 100th race plan mapped out—a homecoming of sorts.
“My dream is to do the New York City Marathon because that was my first marathon,” she said.
Assuming she does that race in November it will be her last marathon, after which she’ll “only” do halfmarathons.
But even as she cuts back on her marathons, she continues setting new goals. A new one is to complete the Appalachian Trail, something she has already hiked about 350 miles of the 2,200 miles that stretch from Georgia to Maine.
“Goals, goals, goals, First finish my hundred marathons, then finish the Appalachian Trail,” she says. “That will be great if I can do it.”
Don’t bet against her.
