Marion Irvine

Marion Irvine (born October 19, 1929) is an American nun and former marathon runner. Irvine became the then-oldest person to participate in the United States Olympic Trials in track and field in 1984, when she was 54 years old. Following the Trials, she regularly ran on the marathon circuit and gained attention from the media, along with the nickname "The Flying Nun". Irvine broke numerous age-group records in distance running events during her career, and has been inducted into multiple running halls of fame. Early life and work career Irvine was born in San Francisco, California. At St. Rose Academy, she became interested in becoming a nun; in 2007, Irvine said that she "fell in love with the life" at St. Rose. Under the name Sister Bonaventure, Irvine became a nun in the Dominican Order. At Dominican College, she received a biology degree; afterward she became a high school teacher. Irvine spent more than 20 years as a teacher and school administrator in California, and worked for the Dominican Sisters in the role of supervisor of the organization's schools for six years. Running career Prior to the time that she started to run, Irvine did not regularly exercise. After a brief period in which she took up swimming, Irvine began jogging in 1978. She did so on the recommendation of a niece, who was concerned about Irvine's condition physically. While on a religious retreat, Irvine ran for the first time, and was quickly able to cover a distance of two miles in a session. Her initial strategy was to alternate between walking and running, depending on the availability of shade. Within four months of starting to run, she was posting times of seven minutes per mile in her two-mile runs, and soon she started entering five-kilometer and 10-kilometer races. Irvine's first race at a longer distance was a 15-kilometer run at a park; she posted the second-fastest time among the women who took part. In 1980, she joined her niece in running at the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, posting a time of 3:01. Irvine then started to regularly take part in marathons, at the rate of four per year. In addition, she hired a coach in 1982. In the previous year, Irvine had run in the Boston Marathon, winning the women's 50–59 age group in a time of 3:11.00. Many records for female runners over 50 years old were set by Irvine. She was the first woman in her age group to run for under 20 minutes in the 5-kilometer run, 38 minutes in the 10-km, and 3:00 in the marathon.