LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – PJ Sullivan laces up her running shoes every day, rain or shine, and makes her way across Lubbock.
“I just enjoy the birds singing to me. I enjoy seeing animals. I enjoy seeing the sunrises,” Sullivan said.
Even after 60 years of running, she’s never seen the same sunrise twice. The 80-year-old is looking back on six decades of doing what she loves. She started running after high school in 1966.
“Like I was telling my friends, if I run a mile or two or three, back then I thought I was running long distance,” Sullivan said.
Her day job was in healthcare. She became the first ultrasound technician in West Texas. Even after a long shift, a run would refresh her mind and body.
“My key to health. Because I always believed that you need to move,” Sullivan said.
The story of Terry Fox inspired her to train for her first marathon. He ran with a prosthetic after losing his leg to cancer.
“I thought, if this young man can run 26 or more miles with one leg, I can run longer. So then I got motivated,” Sullivan said.
At that point, she’d only run 10 miles in one session, but her friends told her she could do it, even if she had to walk.
“But I didn’t walk. I ran the entire time and I did my first marathon in five hours. But that afternoon and the next day, I couldn’t get in or out of the car,” Sullivan said.
She’s learned a lot since that first marathon. She’s completed 49 more, including her latest one last fall.
“And I thank God for letting me run,” Sullivan said.
She’s created memories from Lubbock to Boston to New York.
“When I was coming off the Brooklyn Bridge, there was a huge orchestra playing New York, New York, and that’s why I fell in love with it,” Sullivan said.
She’s run in honor of family, like her dad and husband, but mostly her motivation is simple.
“I run because I can,” Sullivan said.
Just like Terry Fox’s prosthetic, she wants her white hair to be a symbol for others.
“You know, maybe people look at me and they say, if she can do it, I can do it too,” Sullivan said. “Get up, put on your walking shoes or running shoes and go out the door.”
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