Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where
it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement. — Steve Prefontaine
LLONG-TERM success in
endurance sports requires
resilience. Athletes must remain
consistent and disciplined in
training and other aspects of life.
They must work through injuries
and adapt to the inevitable
changes occasioned by aging.
Brenda Estlack epitomizes
resilience. The 60-year-old
Wilmington runner can
complete a half-marathon at a
pace faster than most people
half her age. She holds four
North Carolina age group
state records, at distances
ranging from 800 meters to
the half-marathon. She won
gold and silver medals at the
National Senior Games in Albu-querque,
New Mexico, last June.
“I competed in high school,
but after graduation I didn’t run
competitively again until my
brother passed away at age 56,”
she says. “I was 47 and couldn’t
even make the 2.5 miles around
Wrightsville Beach Loop with-out
peedily B y M a r y M a r g a r e t M c E a c h e r n
Above: Wilmington runner Brenda Estlack cheers for her
hometown after placing first in the 1500-meter track event
at the 2019 National Senior Games in Albuquerque, New
Mexico. Opposite: The Cross City Trail is one of Estlack’s
favorite places to train.
stopping.”
Not to be defeated, Estlack
kept training and improved
rapidly. She entered many local
races, primarily 5- and 10-kilometers in distance, finding success
in consistent podium finishes for her age group.
“Ten kilometers is my favorite race distance, because it combines
just the right amount of speed and endurance,” she says.
22
WBM march 2020
The distance has fallen some-what
out of favor recently. Race
directors, trying to attract more
runners, have opted for the
less-difficult 5k.
She ran her first half-mar-athon
at 50, finishing in just
over an hour and 40 minutes.
Typically, athletes see little if
any improvement after reaching
the half-century mark, but this
is not the case for Estlack. She
bested that time nine years later,
setting a state record in the
process.
Estlack ran her first full
marathon when she was 56. Her
time of three hours, 40 minutes
qualified her for the prestigious
Boston Marathon with over 25
minutes to spare. She has since,
not surprisingly, improved. She
won her age group in the 2019
Nashville Marathon with a blis-tering
3:32.58 performance.
She then set her sights on
the National Senior Games, an
Olympic-style track and field
competition open to athletes
50 and over. After competing
at local and state qualification
events, athletes have an oppor-tunity
AMANDA JACOBS
to compete on the national stage.
“My biggest challenge was switching from marathon training
back to the track training needed to train for 800 meter and 1500-
meter distances,” she says.