At 79, retired Bay Area nurse going for her 39th straight Boston Marathon, extending her record

Patty Hung of Orinda, Calif. is going for her record 39th consecutive Boston Marathon. (Boston Athletic Association)

ORINDA, Calif. - A 79-year-old Bay Area woman is leaving for Boston next week in her quest to continue her historic streak in the prestigious and world-renowned Boston Marathon.

Orinda resident Patty Hung has her eyes and feet set on finishing her 39th consecutive Boston, which would extend the record she’s set for the longest continuous Boston Marathon finish streak for women.

She broke the record in 2022.

Over the decades of competing, Hung has perfected her training regimen, which involves about three months of commitment to a meticulously curated, rigorous workout.

"The first month, I try, and I think of just strengthening my body," Hung told KTVU. "I concentrate on doing hills, and hills, in this Bay Area, you got them all around you."

The following month, the runner dedicates to speed, prompting her to spend much of her conditioning on tracks.

And then the third month is focused on endurance, which means running anywhere from 45 to 50 miles a week during the peak of training, Hung explained.

Local perspective:

The Bay Area and its varied topography have offered her beautiful, picturesque training grounds, she said, whether it be the backer roads of Orinda, where she lives, near Tilden Park, or the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail and the surrounding roads off the trail.

She noted that her past career as a math teacher may shape how she’s approached the methodical training.

"It's very mathematical," Hung shared. "Being a math teacher has made me think, okay now, hop onto the next formula."

Former teacher and nurse

The former teacher taught math at Orinda’s Miramonte High School for almost 20 years.

Then at the age of 66, she went back to school to become a nurse.

In 2023, after Hung completed her 37th consecutive run, officials at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, where she worked, noted that the characteristics that made her an exceptional runner were reflected in her work as a nurse.

"We are so proud of Patty, whose hard work and perseverance in her work as a nurse at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland (CHO) is mirrored in her dedication to competing in the Boston Marathon," the hospital shared with KTVU in a statement.

That same year, in May, after almost 12 years as a pediatric night shift nurse at Children's, Hung retired.

It was a job she found deeply fulfilling and one she’s grateful she had, offering her an opportunity to help and care for people.

"I love the art of helping people, and it is an art because you have to look at it in the way where it gives you pleasure to be there for people who need help and need care," Hung said as she got emotional. "Just the love that I have gotten back from them and the joy."

She said she misses her life as a nurse but has used some of that extra time to focus more on herself, with her training becoming like a job, as the big race nears.

"I'm just concentrating on taking care of my body more," Hung shared. "And I feel I just need to really pay attention to sleep," a luxury following her work as a night nurse.

As is the natural order of things, her finish time has lengthened over the years. Her personal Boston Marathon best clocked in at 3:21 in her late 30s. And her goal this time around is to break six hours.

"Every year it has gotten slower and slower with years," Hung acknowledged. "Last year I came in at 5:50, so it's nearing it."

But she does not take for granted what her body has allowed her to accomplish.

She calls it luck that she remains strong, and she’s been able to run the marathon for almost 40 years straight now, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was held virtually.

"Heaven knows that I was so lucky," she said. "It's the luck of the draw."

Most would argue that it’s more than just luck. Her tenacity, hard work, and her attitude have kept her going all of these years.

Love for family

And over the years, she’s drawn a lot of strength from her loving and supportive family, which includes her children and her extended relatives.

"I think that my family was always giving people, my grandmother, my aunts, my uncles, always inviting people over to help them out, to go do some family occasion," the runner shared. "It has always stayed with me… It comes from how you are brought up. And when you are around people you learn to give."

Dig deeper:

Born and raised in Boston, the Bay Area transplant said that year after year, her relatives from the area have come out to the race route to cheer her on.

And much like running has been a dependable constant in her life, her family has always been there, for both life’s ups and downs.

Eight years ago, tragedy struck when she lost her second son, and it was her family and her running from which she drew strength.

"When my family from Boston came out to be with me when Kevin passed away, the thing we did while they were there, we went on the track. We were all on the track, and it was just so beautiful to know that we all could continue and be together in a place that gave me so much comfort," the mother said.

Her family will again be out there on April 21 for the big race to show their support.

"We all have our tragedies in life, and we have to find ways to get through it in a positive way, and if we don't, it just hangs on it so heavy," Hung reflected. "People have other ways to get through their challenges, and it's so good that we find them, most of us, find ways to get through it."

Special recognition in Boston

What will make this an extra special Boston, is that she’s been invited to serve as an official starter for the race for the professional women’s division, as the storied marathon pays tribute to her extraordinary streak.

What they're saying:

"Patty’s determination and dedication to finishing the Boston Marathon year after year for more than three decades is admirable," the Boston Athletic Association told KTVU in an email. "Completing just one Boston Marathon is a tough task for many; to finish 38 in a row is an achievement worth celebrating."

Hung said she was moved by the invitation to play this role, in which she'll get to officially signal the start for the professional women racers.

"That's a great honor for me," she shared. "I don't think I've ever been so close, will be so close, to all these beautiful people, runners of the world," she said excitedly.

No plans to stop

Hung has no plans to stop her streak and is already thinking about next year’s race, which would mark her 40th Boston Marathon and also a milestone year in life.

"I'm looking forward to the party at 80 years," she said happily.

While her determination to keep up that streak has had her returning to Boston in historic fashion, it’s her love and appreciation for the gifts that the sport has provided her that keeps her lacing up her running shoes: time alone to think, reflect on all that life has brought, as well as healing and self-care.

"Oh gosh, I do love life," the accomplished runner said. "I do the running because not so much for the exercise but for the meditation… to take care of yourself in some way."

It was that need for self-care and reflection, she said, that got her to start running in the first place, during a difficult time in life when she was going through a divorce.

She remembered that moment as she sat on a bench at Oakland’s Lake Merritt, near where she was living at the time, and by discovering running she found strength, direction, and more of herself.

"I was at the park sitting at that bench, and I'm looking at these people go jogging by, running by," she recalled. "I thought, ‘Hey, I think I can do this,’ and I literally got up and just started running. And I have never stopped."