Remembering Betty Lindberg, Atlanta’s centenarian running queen

In April, Betty Lindberg ceded that completing the Northside Hospital Peachtree Road Race at 101 years old this July was probably not going to happen.

But the grande dame of Atlanta’s great Fourth of July tradition would not close the door entirely. After a break from exercise due to a back injury that kept her out of the 2025 Peachtree, she had recently begun regaining strength in her legs by walking on a treadmill in her visits to a health club.

She had done eight minutes the first time, then 10 minutes the next and then 15 minutes the morning she met for an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“So I’m getting my legs used to walking again,” she said. “That’s what I’ve got to do. They’re just sort of flopping around, not doing anything.”

She said she didn’t think she would take on the Peachtree again, “but who knows?”

It was a glimpse into the indefatigable and inspiring spirit of Lindberg, an Atlantan who took up running at the age of 63 and eventually became a national- and world-record holder as a nonagenarian and a beloved figure in the Atlanta running community.

The swift-footed widow, mother, grandmother and great grandmother died Saturday at the age of 101.

In a social-media announcement of her passing on Sunday, the Atlanta Track Club hailed her as a “shining light in our community and a living example of what it means to keep moving.”

An Atlantan since 1958 when she moved with her husband H.O. and their two children for H.O.’s work with Northwest Airlines, Ms. Lindberg lived a life with familiar trappings. She was involved in her children’s scouting and was a PTA president, according to a 2023 profile by the track club. She worked at Rich’s department store in Lenox Square in customer service.

Her journey to legend status in Atlanta running circles and beyond began in 1988 at the age of 63, when her daughter Kerry McBrayer asked her parents to provide transportation at the Peachtree for her and her husband. Watching the thousands share this celebration of health and country, Ms. Lindberg realized that she could join them.

“This looks like an interesting thing to do; I think I’ll try this,” she said in April, paraphrasing her thinking at the time.

Ms. Lindberg joined the track club, began training with H.O. and ran her first Peachtree the next year.

She eventually switched to race walking and worked out as many as six days in a week, mixing in walking in her Chamblee neighborhood and training in a gym class.

It led to a peak no one could have foreseen.

In 2016, at the age of 91, she broke the world record in the 800 meters for women 90 and older (six minutes, 57.56 seconds). In 2022, at the age of 97, she smashed the 5K world record for the 95-99 age group, finishing in 55:48 and taking more than a half-hour off the previous world mark. That’s a pace of about 18 minutes per mile.

This from a woman who was a self-described couch potato before taking up running.

She endeared herself to legions of Peachtree runners and walkers by taking part in the world’s largest road race annually through her 90s. The selfie requests were many, as were instances of admirers telling her what an inspiration she was.

She modeled the benefits of exercise, the potential within each person and the idea that it’s never too late to start pursuing health.

“It’s inspiring to people and it makes a difference in their lives, which is so cool,” said her daughter, Kerry McBrayer, in April.

Ms. Lindberg was less impressed with herself.

“I’m surprised,” she said of the attention. “I’m honored that they actually come up to me and say, ‘You’re my inspiration.’ Why? Just because I’m 101. Big deal.”

Her feats were chronicled by Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and the CBS Evening News, among other national outlets.

Such was her celebrity that, a few years ago, the track club held a fundraiser for one of its youth programs by selling T-shirts that read “Be Like Betty.”

She was recognized for her running prowess and endurance, “but what I will always remember is just the personal interactions that I had with her,” track club CEO Rich Kenah said Sunday. “She is the most positive person I’ve ever come in contact with.”

Fittingly, the AJC interview in April was held at the LA Fitness in Buckhead, where she had just completed an hourlong exercise class for seniors.

“I don’t know why I’m so lucky that I’m still healthy,” she said. “But I always say, my motto is ‘You’ve got to keep moving.’”

May we all keep moving.