'Keep trying because it is possible.' Local woman provides encouragement after completing 100th marathon - East Idaho News
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‘Keep trying because it is possible.’ Local woman provides encouragement after completing 100th marathon

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IDAHO FALLS — While some people are fast asleep during the very early morning hours, odds are 65-year-old Debbie Anglin is lacing up her tennis shoes getting ready to start her day.

Anglin, who lives in Idaho Falls, has a passion for running. Almost 40 years ago she started running as a way to lose weight after having her fourth baby. Little did she know that would eventually turn into her competing in one marathon after another. In September at the 2020 Logan City Top of Utah Marathon, she hit a milestone, running her 100th marathon.

“The last couple years as I got closer, I wanted to get to 100,” she told EastIdahoNews.com. “Of course, my 100th was going to be in Maui or some place amazing … but they canceled the Maui Marathon early this year.”

She wasn’t able to celebrate her big feat by running in the marathon she had originally planned because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But as she looks back over the years, she has memories from marathons all over the country that she’ll never forget.

Anglin’s raced in the Boston Marathon seven times — she’s qualified to race again in 2021 — and was half a mile away from the finish line when the bombs went off in 2013. She’s also participated several times in other notable marathons such as the California International Marathon and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon.

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Debbie Anglin’s friends and family cheering her on at her 100th marathon. | Courtesy Debbie Anglin

While some people might not find it fun to physically and mentally challenge themselves the way Anglin does, she says it’s the freedom she feels when she runs that keeps her coming back for more.

“Hard times will get better eventually if you push through it,” she said.

She runs about six days a week and typically averages 50 miles over that period of time. Along with running, she’s learned the importance of taking care of her body by eating as healthy as she can. Her goal is to keep running for as long as her body will allow her to.

She says running has taught her lessons on what it means to perserve and have discipline. For other people who have goals that they want to accomplish and need some motivation to do so, Anglin hopes that they will remember what she’s learned over the course of nearly four decades of running.

“Keep trying because it is possible,” Anglin says. “Even if people say that you can’t do that or shouldn’t do that, if you know in your heart that you can, keep going.”

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Courtesy Debbie Anglin
debbie 100 marathon
Courtesy Debbie Anglin

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