Grete Waitz

Grete Waitz, the great Norwegian Runner Superstar
October 1, 1953 - April 19, 2011

My wife and I had the wonderful opportunity to briefly meet one of the best know elite runners the world has known.  We met Grete Waitz at the New York City Marathon Expo on November 2, 2007.  She was always smiling and greeting fans while she signed autographs and posed for the cameras.  Grete won the New York Marathon an amazing nine times, setting the world record in that distance three years in a row!  She went on to set the world record four times (three in NYC and one in London).  She is also an Olympic Silver Medalist (1984 Los Angeles Olympics), winner of the 1983 World Marathon Championships and was inducted in the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2000.

She is one of the elite runners that I followed in the news as a young runner growing up on Guam.  She's an inspiration for a lot of runners around the world and I know she'll continue to influence others even when she's no long with us.

Always a Runner...