Women Running Series: Age is Nothing But a Number For 76 Year Old Marathoner T.J. Bryan

T.J. Bryan is the phenomenal 76-year-old marathoner.

T. J. Bryan is a member of a small group of women over 75 years of age who run in marathons. She began running at age 64 and has experienced success at a range of distances. From 2009 to 2019, T. J. completed 53 races, including ten marathons. In eight of these 26.2-mile races, she ran fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. She has run in the Boston Marathon three times. She has registered for the Boston Marathon five times, and each time her registration has been accepted.

T. J. belongs to two Maryland running groups—the Baltimore Pacemakers and the Baltimore Road Runners Club. T. J. also belongs to a number of online running groups: Black Runners Connection, Forever Runners over 50, Marathon Runners, National Black Marathoners Association, Runners over 50, Running after 60, and Runners 70 and over.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Morgan State University and a doctoral degree in English language and literature from the University of Maryland at College Park, T. J. became a professor, academic administrator, and university chancellor, respectively. During her professional career, she published articles on women writers and on a range of higher-education topics. She lives in Pennsylvania and runs both in her state of residence and in Maryland. She has been married since 1980 to David Preston, a runner. They are parents of an adult son, Bryan Preston.