Parkite Mary Anne Marciante has come a long way in a short time. Last spring, she finished her 60th marathon in Paris, France. For her 70th birthday this October, Mariante will run her 70th marathon. “I thought, ‘Could I possibly run 10 marathons in the next 18 months?’” Marciante re called. “I run with the Park City Running Group, they all run a lot of marathons, and they’re like, ‘Mary Anne, yes! You just have to do one a month.’ I said, ‘I know, but I’m old.’ They said, ‘We’ll run them with you.’” Marciante finished a marathon in June, July, August, September, October, November and took December off. Recently, she finished No. 67 — so Marciante has two more before 70. No. 68 is coming in May on Long Island, New York. It’s hosted by the same running group she met through her first race nearly a half-century ago, when a local dress shop hosted a women’s 10-kilometer race. “In 1977, women’s running hardly even existed,” Marciante said. “Sports bras did not exist. Women’s running clothes did not exist. I was running in Keds sneakers until I went to a local sporting goods store and found these Nike Waffle running shoes. I bought men’s running shorts because I was running in cut-offs.” Midrace, another runner complimented Marciante’s pacing and invited her to join a running group. These like-minded collectives became indispensable support systems as Marciante’s life took her from Long Island to Florida, then to Tennessee, and finally to Park City after retiring from her accounting career.  “It’s so much fun when you’re training with a running group, especially in Park City when you get up and it’s 17 degrees out, and you’ve gotta run,” Marciante said. “It’s Tuesdays and Thursdays running at 6 a.m. over at Basin Rec. We do a 6-mile loop, then always a long run on Saturday, anywhere from 12 miles up to 20.” Mary Anne Marciante, left, and training partner Holly Tripp pose after finishing the Every Woman’s Marathon in Scottsdale, Arizona. Credit: Photo Courtesy of Courtesy of Mary Anne Marciante As Marciante considered her 70th marathon, the race had to meet criteria for festiveness, location, timing and friends. “I picked the Loch Ness Marathon in Scotland 2 weeks before my 70th birthday,” Marciante said. “Forty of us are going to run the marathon, from my New York friends, my Nashville friends and my Park City friends. It’s so wonderful to be loved and have all these people supporting me in this adventure.” The project amounted to a leap of faith, and controlling whatever variables she could. “When I had to do one a month, for seven in a row, I honestly didn’t think at age 69 that would even be physically possible,” Marciante said. “I really just doubled up on my nutrition, made sure I was weightlifting consistently, hot yoga, hot pilates. I know this is going to sound counterintuitive, but I actually got stronger and my times got faster. I would do a marathon, take a week off, maybe do a 10-mile run and a 14-mile run, then jump in and do the next marathon, so really my marathons were my training runs.” Highlights from Marciante’s running life include a marathon on the Great Wall of China and a 50-mile race in San Diego, California. However, Marciante faced other challenges. There was a divorce, near-bankruptcy, ineffective anti-depressants that led to her not running for over two years and a plan to die by suicide on her 60th birthday. She wrote a note and prepared to swallow a lethal amount of pills. “All I can say is divine intervention or whatever you want to call it. I had all these pills in my mouth and this bright light came through the window and almost blinded me. It was like a bolt of lightning. It was a voice that said, ‘What are you doing? This is like mile 16 of the marathon and you think you can’t take another step, but you do, because you know at mile 17 you’re going to get your second wind,’” Marciante explained. She continued, “Basically, the voice was saying that if you do this, you won’t know if you’ll get better. I remember spitting all the pills out, then just freaking out because the reality of what I was doing hit me.” Afterward, a friend encouraged Marciante to train with her for a half-marathon, which led her back to marathoning as Marciante found her groove again. She credits the determination any runner must develop for convincing herself to move to Park City five years ago for a winter job at Deer Valley Resort, where she is a hotel ambassador at the St. Regis Deer Valley. Marciante said she was living in employee housing with people much younger than her. For those four months, she felt like she was 20 again and the experience revived her. “I came here knowing no one,” Marciante said. “I was skiing with these guys and girls, hanging out with them, and just having a blast. I think running gives you the courage to take a chance on life, because let’s face it, when you’re running, there are so many times your brain is telling you, ‘Alright, you can walk off the course,’ but you don’t do it. You’re just like, ‘No, I’m doing it. I know I can finish this.’” Marciante plans to continue running past her 70th marathon and mentioned the idea of completing a marathon on each continent. She’s three-sevenths of the way there already. Mary Anne Marciante poses after winning a race on Long Island in the 1970s. Credit: Photo Courtesy of Mary Anne Marciante Mary Anne Marciante runs the Big Cottonwood Marathon in September 2025. Credit: Photo Courtesy of Mary Anne Marciante The post Parkite trains for her 70th marathon on her 70th birthday appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less