How A World Record Holder Teaches Us 'Start Where You Are' And Build

Jen MacDonell, 70, in the Montreal 5k October 10. She set a Canadian national record of 21:40, which she used as a stepping stone eight days later to set a world record in the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Photo by MarathonFoto.

By Ray Glier

A world-record holder in the marathon once wondered if she could jog a mere 15 minutes. You would think there was something more prodigious about the launch of an elite Masters athlete. There wasn't.

Jen MacDonell simply did what many older athletes who come back to competition have done.

Start where you are and surprise yourself.

**

MacDonell was 36 years old when she declared herself “unfit”. So she decided one day to run a modest 15 minutes, 7½ minutes out, 7½ minutes in.

“I really wasn't sure that I would be able to run even 15 minutes,” MacDonell said. “That's why I set that goal. Start out at a reasonable number, and then just see how it goes, and see if you can just keep going.

“I certainly wasn't thinking of a marathon then. And it was really about taking care of myself and enjoying it.”

It could have been instant repudiation of running as a hobby. Those 15 minutes could have pushed Jen into pickleball, or cycling.

But MacDonell felt energized by her little jaunt. She had been a fast runner as a kid and Jen felt the thrill again of the feet in motion. In the months that followed, MacDonell started running competitively and soon she was entering triathlons, then marathons.

It all sprang from that 15-minute exploratory jog.

**

There was no ego-based narrative MacDonell, 70, kept telling herself as she trained in the spring and summer for a shot at the marathon world record for women 70 and older.  She was excited about the challenge, but Jen did not over-juice herself mentally and create pressure with loud pronouncements. MacDonell simply wanted to see what she was capable of in the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and maybe, if the conditions were right, she could snag a world record. 

It is why her first emotion after she crossed the finish line and learned her official time (3:23:59) was the totally humble emotion of “surprise.”

“It's hard to believe that you're the best in the world in your age group,” said MacDonell, who broke France’s Laurence Dupont Alnet's mark of 3:27:00 (gun time).

“You keep thinking, ‘Am I going to do it?’ And then you do it, and kind of surprise yourself.”

**

Jen anticipated her accomplishment might be closely linked to her gene pool. Genes don’t explain how she managed herself on race day, October 18.

*Twenty-one miles into the 26.2-mile race, Jen and the other runners were hit with a stiff head wind going up a hill, no less. MacDonell simply tucked herself in behind taller runners to blunt the bluster. Genes do not explain her awareness.

*Twenty-four miles into the race, Jen felt her right calf cramping. When you are trying to set a world record it is not practical to pull over, sit on the ground, and straighten your right leg and pull your toes up toward your shin.

Jen simply admonished the calf with “No, you don’t” and powered through it. Genes had nothing to do with managing that sudden stress.

*How about race savvy? There were 22,000 runners in the race so there was plenty of opportunity to be knocked off your pace. MacDonell fell into that rabbit trap immediately and got out too fast. The adrenaline and other runners pulled her faster than she wanted to go.

“You have so many people in the race who think they are doing like a 100-meter dash. I looked at my watch, and I said, ‘No, you are fast, get back to pace.’ I corrected it,” Jen said.

It is true her father, Angus, was an athlete and Mr. MacDonell surely had something to do with his daughter’s running skillset. 

But genes don’t explain how she ran through that headwind October 18, or why she didn’t come apart with the calf cramp, or did not burn herself out halfway through 26.2 miles because she didn’t pay attention to pace.

“Sometimes people assume this is genetic and that you can do it and that you don't have to train hard for it,” Jen said. “But even if someone has good genetics for a fast pace, or long distance, none of that matters if you're not willing to train.

“You can't believe in yourself if you haven't done the training.”

There is something else in MacDonell's background that has nothing to do with genes.

The confidence that comes with affirmation.

“My dad," Jen said, “he would just very occasionally say, ‘You can do things’."

**

Jen’s preliminary work to the marathon world record is worth going over for those Geezer Jocks planning to compete in 2027. It is a lesson on connecting the dots for your event, some obvious, some not so obvious.

*MacDonell trained on hills in Ottawa where she lives that were similar to the hills she would face in the Toronto Marathon on Oct. 18.

*Jen ran a mile race October 9 and set a Canadian age-group record of 6:51. She ran 5k on Oct. 10 and set another Canadian age-group record of 21:40. Those races were calculated efforts to make sure her fast-twitch muscles did not go into a slumber as she stored strength for the marathon.

*MacDonell told race Toronto race officials she was going for a world record and, to their immense credit, they made sure everything was legal for ratification. Race officials even moved her up to start behind the professional runners so she wasn’t stuck back in the throng of 22,000 runners when the gun and timer went off. Getting to the start line could have cost her precious time.

That, Geezer Jocks, is connecting the dots.

**

So many older women athletes have obliterated barriers they grew up with, or still face today. Jen made the barriers invisible from the start. She hammered the boys in sandlot foot races in her neighborhood of Kingston, Ontario. No mercy from the girl. She didn't know she wasn't suppose to excel.

“All my life, other people set barriers for you, and I've never really paid attention to that,” MacDonell said. “I always wonder why people say the things they do like ‘Maybe girls shouldn't do that.’ Sometimes people mean it in the best way. They, in a way, want to look out for you.”

Those barriers were invisible to Jen because her motivation was absolute.

“I love the feel of running as fast as you can with other people in a race,” MacDonell said when I asked what motivated her to run competitively. “How fast can I run and continue to stay healthy.”

Then Jen said this:

“I met so many people every day that said ‘I used to be good at a sport'. What I always thought was, ‘Why did they stop participating?’

“I decided I would keep participating.”

And, to her surprise, Jen MacDonell ended up with a world-record...all because she dared a 15-minute run.

What are you waiting for?