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At 45 years old, Roberta Groner is running the best races of her life.
The marathoner and mother of three from Ledgewood in Morris County has already broken two American records in 2023 for her age group — and could break a third record at the Copenhagen Marathon in Denmark on Sunday. That would mean three records broken in just a four-month span.
“For me, it’s more about if I could still have my personal bests at 45,” Groner said. “That’s awesome, to show that with work and consistency anything’s possible. You don’t have to put an age out there, that after a certain age you no longer are going to have a PR” or personal record.
Groner is one of the nation’s elite masters runners. She turned 45 in January, which pushed her into a new age category of 45 to 49. She has been breaking records in that age group since.
She set her marathon personal record, or PR, of 2:29:06 at age 41 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, becoming only the third American woman over 40 to break 2:30 at the time.
A sub-2:29?
On Sunday, Groner’s goal is simply to beat her own time. She feels capable of running a sub-2:29, which would set her up to break Collen De Reuck’s American 45-49 record of 2:30:51. The plan, she said, is to start the race conservatively and, as the race progresses, she will know if she’s on track to beat that record, which was set by De Reuck, 46 at the time, in 2010. That record was also set in Denmark.
“The goal is to have a personal best,” Groner said, “and then if I break the record along the way, that’s great also.”
Groner has had an unlikely path to becoming an elite runner. She began running in the 7th grade in western Pennsylvania and ran through her senior year of college at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. She later gave up running after losing the joy in it, she said.
Single mom and full-time nurse
She picked the sport back up when her youngest son was 2 years old. Her three sons are now 16, 17 and 19 years old. Running, she said, became an escape for her from her busy life of being a single mom and full-time nurse. Eventually, she realized she was running for her sons. She found that running was setting an example for them that, with hard work and consistency, you can reach your goals.
The pandemic served as a setback for a lot of runners, and it could have proved a major one for Groner.
In February 2020, she was unable to finish the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon to qualify for the 2020 Olympic games. By 2022, Groner qualified for another Olympic Trials after finishing among the top four women in the Houson Marathon, clocking a 2:32:02 finish. Those trials are set for February 2024.
Once she turned 45 — and was eligible for that new age group — she remembers asking herself, “Why not go for some of those records?” So, she did.
New community of support
Groner said her focus was to use each training cycle since then to improve on one of her weaknesses. It helped having the support of the Central Park Track Club, an elite running club out of New York that she now coaches for part-time. She picked up that gig in March of last year, and has found herself at the top of her running game since.
“With this training cycle, I am now being coached by the head coach of the club,” Devon Martin, said Groner. “It’s been great, because I’ve been able to come in and practice, do workouts with some of my teammates, some of the faster guys. I’ve had a lot more support this cycle.”
Having this newfound community of support has paid off.
In February, Groner broke the American 45-49 10-mile record, finishing at 55:13. In March, she bettered the American 45-49 half marathon record by more than two months with a 1:11:28 at the Trials of Miles race in New York. That second record remains pending certification by the USA Track & Field, the sport’s governing body for track and field, long distance running, and race walking in the United States.
This weekend, she has her eyes set on the marathon record for her new age group. Then, she’ll turn her attention to the Olympic Trials again in February.
“I’m just trying to go there in the best shape again and show up,” Groner said, before letting out a quick laugh “And this time, no matter what, finish the race.”
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