Six year old sets half-marathon record while raising money for crisis pregnancy center

TheBlaze recently reported on the story of a remarkable girl, Keelan Glass, who is just six years old and the youngest person to complete a half-marathon, doing so in less than three hours.

Photo Credit: Razoo.

Keelan, from Texas, did the half-marathon in Dallas, with her mother, Tracy, a triathlete. That the mother-daughter pair did the run together, and that Keelan set a record is sweet enough. But Keelan was, as of October17, able to raise $2,855 for Pregnancy Resources of Abilene.

TheBlaze links to reporting from KTXS, with those pieces including videos to learn more about Keelan.

While some have questioned as to if it is a good idea for Keelan to have done the half-marathon, Tracy mentions that she and her husband consulted a physician. Keelan then signed up for LifeRunners. From KTXS:

LifeRunners is the world’s largest pro-life running group, as it has more than 1,500 runners/walkers, ages 4 to 79, in 44 states and 10 other countries.

The group prays together before races, fundraises for local pro-life organizations, and trains together monthly. LifeRunners was founded in 2008 by two Catholic friends and although predominately linked to Catholic churches, it is open to all denominations.

What is perhaps even more endearing is that Keelan doesn’t seem to understand that she has said a record. As her mother said for KTXS, in the piece published after the race:

Tracy said he daughter has a world record now and doesn’t even know what it means.

“That’s the thing,” Tracy said. “She doesn’t really even understand how amazing it is.”

No she doesn’t. Keelan said what’s more important to her is why she did the race in the first place: to raise money for Pregnancy Resources of Abilene. To date she’s raised $2,855.

“I love the fact that she does it for a bigger reason,” Tracy said. “It’s fun for her and it’s about running but she wanted to use her skills for something different and people saw that. They were asking her about her shirt and the announcer told her whole story. I don’t think she realizes what a big impact she has on people.”

In describing how she was able to run the race, Keelan mentioned that “…God makes me keep on running.”

It is truly amazing that God has given Keelan and Tracy each the gift of running, but also that He has imparted such literal child-like enthusiasm and concern on Keelan. The pro-life movement and LifeRunners is fortunate to have such a runner as Keelan Glass.