Deena Kastor is still setting American records

Thirteen years after she ran her American marathon record of 2:19:36, Deena Kastor is still setting American records. On Sunday afternoon at Chicago’s Shamrock Shuffle, the 46-year-old ran an American masters 8K record of 27:12, besting the previous mark held by Carmen Troncoso at 27:45. 

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Kastor also holds the outright national record at this distance (24:36), and she set it at the same race, back in 2005. This time though, it looks like she didn’t set out with the goal of breaking the master’s record–it just happened.

❤️ my ⁦@MammothTC⁩ ⁦teammates. Let’s celebrate all the finishers at today’s @chishuffle! Special thanks to the women ahead and those pushing me from behind to an unintentional Masters record. pic.twitter.com/fLlco4BIIl

— Deena Kastor (@DeenaKastor) March 24, 2019

Kastor struggled recently at the Tokyo Marathon, finishing in 2:51:58 in cold, wet conditions that some said rivalled those at last year’s Boston Marathon. It was her fifth of six Abbott World Major Marathons, the final one being Berlin, which she may race in September.

Kastor is pals with Alexi Pappas, who also trains with Kastor’s club, the Mammoth Track Club. Pappas’s film Olympic Dreams recently opened at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

Somewhere over the rainbow ? is ⁦@AlexiPappas⁩ and me waiting to take photos with you. @chishuffle #shamrockshuffle2019 expo pic.twitter.com/ZL4x1lbtF7

— Deena Kastor (@DeenaKastor) March 22, 2019

Kastor’s American marathon record was set at the London Marathon in 2006.

Her book Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way To Victory, was published last year.