Noriko Seiner was one of the 12,000 runners lined up at Hayward Field at 7 am April 27. She had run several half marathons and 10k races in the past few years, but the last time she ran a marathon was 30 years ago. She crossed the finish line with a time of four hours and 55 minutes, beating her goal of under five hours.

Seiner was also the oldest female runner who finished the full marathon this year at the age of 64.

She always loved exercising. When she moved to the U.S. from Japan for college in the 1980s, she got into an aerobics class, since it was popular then. But after a while, it was not challenging enough for her, leading her to start running. Seiner started with a jog-walk, then “two miles became three miles, and I did a 5k race,” she says. “Running became part of my lifestyl

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