A week before her big race, Bonnie Cochran Bence was mentally and physically ready to run.
Then, a driver rear-ended her car.
As any runner knows, an injury before a race can sideline even the most prepared athlete. And this wasn't just any race: Bence had been training for the Boston Marathon, where the best runners from around the world gather to compete.
Then again, Bence isn't just any runner. She's a 78-year-old retired teacher from Creve Coeur, Missouri, who ran her very first race in her early 60s and has run 33 marathons since.
This year's Boston Marathon was going to be her 16th consecutive trip to the prestigious race, but the car accident put that in jeopardy. She was sore the day after it happened, but otherwise unhurt. She decided she would swim every day, plus continue with her yoga practice, to try to heal her body in the few days before the big race.
"I'm going to go, and I really want to finish, but I will accept what happens on the 26.2 (mile) journey," she said when I spoke to her six days before the race.
It's this type of persistence, grit and attitude that has helped Bence run so far for so long later in life. She started racing by accident. In 2005, her four adult children -- three sons and a daughter -- planned to run a relay together in St. Louis. Her daughter had to drop out at the last minute, and her son asked Bence if she would step in and take her place.
"She tough, and she's athletic," said her son Rob, now 44. "We had a feeling she would be down for it."
She was indeed, and she had a great time running with her sons.
"It was the first time I ever ran a true race. I was running through Forest Park, and the crowd was yelling, 'Go, mom, go!'" she said.
Their family team did well, and her son Chris, now 42, suggested she run a half-marathon. He made a training plan for her, which she followed diligently, and the pair ran the St. Jude half-marathon in Memphis together.
After that race, Chris said that if she could double the distance while keeping the pace of her half-marathon, she could qualify for Boston. She started training again, this time adding a lot of cross-training through swimming and yoga.
The next year, in 2008, she qualified for and ran her first Boston Marathon. Since then, she's been a regular fixture on the route. There have been high points over the years -- running it with her son; placing third in her age group at age 70 -- along with low ones. In 2013, she was a couple of miles from the finish when a bomb killed three people and injured hundreds.
Through it all, she keeps putting one foot in front of the other.
Bence, who was born in St. Louis, lost her mother to ovarian cancer when she was 5 years old. Her father, Bob Cochran, was left to raise three children by himself. He was an accomplished golfer who played in several Masters tournaments and inspired her interest in athletics from a young age.
She graduated from high school at Visitation Academy, then entered the convent, where she stayed for 7 1/2 years.
"I found out it wasn't for me," she said.
She got married at age 30 and ended up teaching for 45 years. She dedicated herself to her teaching career -- often getting up early and staying up late to prepare for her classes. Chris said his mom puts the same effort into all her endeavors as she does with running.
"She pushes herself to be great in all phases of life," he said. "And she has an extremely high pain tolerance."
When she stopped qualifying for Boston through the time requirements, Bence began fundraising for the Special Olympics to get into the race. Her children say they are "super proud" of her.
On April 17, just a week after a car accident, she ran through rain and puddles to finish another 26.2 miles in Boston.
"Your story can have a happy ending!" she texted me that evening.
Like she has so many times before, she waved and blew kisses to the cheering crowd as she crossed the finish line.
Her sweet 16th Boston was in the books.