Photography by Victoria Gomez
Kelly Irwin has run approximately 7,800 miles over the span of five years, a distance equivalent to walking from Dallas to California five times. Despite being a natural runner, participating in 10 marathons such as New York and Boston, she has never considered herself an athlete.
During her sophomore year of high school, Irwin moved to East Dallas and later attended Woodrow Wilson High School. Not interested in athletics, her time was spent singing in choir and playing the violin and piano.
She was a bit of a shy child, “the meekest little mouse,” she recalls. However, the confidence instilled in her by her Woodrow choir director, Marca Lee Bircher, served as a catalyst to “get out there and do it,” a metaphor she’d use throughout her running journey.
In 2018, around her 50th birthday, Irwin decided to shake up her routine and pursue an active hobby. She grabbed her running shoes and her dog and began running in her neighborhood. Then, Connie Dozier, a friend from Woodrow, invited her to join her running group.
With hesitation, Irwin said yes. But she didn’t know she was agreeing to waking up at the crack of dawn to run a 9.4-mile loop around the lake — she could hardly handle four miles.
“Something compelled me to show up that morning and I did. I looped the lake with them and as soon as I knew I could do it, I kind of got hooked,” Irwin says.
Her journey has been gradual, starting with her running with Connie’s group around the lake to her most challenging race in Steamboat Springs. She never envisioned this hobby would become a lifestyle marked by continuously setting new goals and standards for herself, but it did.
Her first half marathon with BMW Dallas Marathon (formerly known as Dallas White Rock Marathon) in 2021 was a modest 13.1-mile run, yet it served as a significant milestone that questioned and challenged her as a runner. By 2019, she asked herself, “Can I run a marathon?”
A full marathon spans 26.2 miles – a distance equivalent to going from Lakewood to Arlington. Irwin couldn’t fathom the idea of running for almost six hours, two and a half if she were lucky. But her fear would be challenged when she received an email from the Gladney Center of Adoption in Fort Worth — where Irwin and her husband had adopted their two sons — offering one of 10 spots to run The New York Marathon as a charity sponsor.
Joining an 18-week training program through the Dallas Running Club, Irwin learned everything from proper footwear to hydration and nutrition techniques. Initially placed in the 4:20:00 group, five years later her personal best marathon stands at 3:51:00.
“She’s always up for a challenge. When she sets her mind to something, she does it,” Dozier says. “Once she got that bug for running then she just took off and now she’s multiyear running marathons, she’s very determined.”
From Texas to Japan, Irwin has quite literally run around the world. It began with New York in 2019, followed by a virtual Marine Corps Marathon during the pandemic. In 2021, she ran the Steamboat Springs Marathon in Colorado, alongside New York and BMW Dallas. The following year she ran the Big Sur in California, Marine Corps Marathon in Virginia and last year, Austin and Chicago, then the Boston Marathon in April 2024.
It was a “pinch me” moment when Irwin’s time qualified for the Boston Marathon (the women’s time requirement for ages 55-59 is 4:05:00, a 9:21 minute pace per mile). Each day, she trained for the course, studied the marathon and connected with groups for support.
“It didn’t shock me [she made the Boston Marathon] because she has that type of personality where if she likes something or loves something and enjoys it then she’s gonna take over and do the best she can with it and become very involved,” Dozier says. “She doesn’t do something halfway, she will go in and give it her all in everything in her life.”
While they no longer train together, Connie and the running group share excitement for Irwin as she accomplishes new milestones.
“It was kind of fun to see her take off and fly, like our little kid [that] grew up and now [we get to] see her go and flourish,” Dozier adds.
For Irwin, running hasn’t always been about the glory of reaching the finish line or the thrill of hitting a new personal record. It’s the chance to focus on her health and honor her mom who died in 2019 from an unexpected heart attack.
“I think the real reason I ran, as I saw my own mom’s health declining or mobility declining,” Irwin says. “I think deep down I wanted to resist that and avoid that happening to me.”
Irwin’s “fiercly independent” mom was an inspiration in more ways than one. Though she was born in the late ‘30s and unable to attend college, she “never let being a women get in the way,” and Irwin, in turn, grew up in a world where being a woman “wasn’t an impediment,” she says.
“[Midlife] is a tough age. The kids are getting older and will leave the nest. My mom is aging. It was just a relief from that in a way to stay healthy, thinking long term,” she says. “Let’s embrace life in this middle age.”
