For her 90th birthday, Florence Huntington’s twin sons encouraged her to beat the world record for the 5-kilometer track run.

On Sept. 19, Huntington ran the distance, which translates to about 3.1 miles, in 54 minutes and 55 seconds, missing her goal by 9 seconds.

It didn’t end there. For the next two months, Huntington walked on hilly roads 4.5 miles a day, six days a week, to improve her endurance and speed.

On Nov. 14, Huntington went with her children Robert, Ross, and Susan, to the West Valley School track in Knoxville, Tenn. She finished the 5K in 53:45.54, more than a minute better than the existing world record for females over the age of 90 (54:46.35, set by Margaret Hagerty in 2013).

Huntington did not officially beat the World Record since she did not run at a sanctioned age-group track meet. There are none during the pandemic. To Huntington’s family of runners, though, the record is very much valid.

“From walk/runs with Mom, I knew she could break the record. My mom has always been in good shape but seems to get better with age.” Robert Huntington, Florence’s son, a Norwich native and current resident of New London, said. “We are a family of runners. My identical twin brother and I ran on the cross country and track teams at NFA and then the University of Connecticut. My dad ran his last race at 92.”

Huntington was a Norwich resident for 88 of her 90 years. By marriage, she is a distant relative of Samuel Huntington, the first president of the Continental Congress. She now lives in Tennessee with her daughter and family.

Their running began with her late husband Bob, who played baseball, basketball and softball much of his life, and then started running. Once their kids were grown, Florence and Bob ran together in the 1980s and ‘90s. They ran a lot of short races — one- and two-mile runs in Taftville and Greenville. They were married for 67 years.

Bob died recently, and Florence moved to Tennessee to be with her daughter and family. They have four children, 11 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Florence Huntington walks 2.6 miles every morning. She reads or knits for a couple of hours during the day, and she goes out and walks again.

Her youngest granddaughter, Ashtain Fallon Rothchild, is an instructor with the interactive fitness company The Mirror. Rothchild spoke about her grandmother with great pride and admiration.

“For so many years she’s in the routine of making sure that she walks every day. She’s on zero medication at 90 years old. She refuses to give in to the grief and the sadness of missing her husband. She gets out, and she walks,” she said. “She keeps herself active. The running keeps her mind sharp. She does not miss a birthday or a wedding anniversary of anyone in the family.”

Florence Huntington plans to officially break the world record once sanctioned track meets open back up. In the meantime, here is her advice to anyone who wants to run: “Start slow, run a short distance. We used to walk down the hill and run around the cemetery; that was almost two miles. It was something we did almost every day. Age is not an excuse. Just start doing it.”

Amy LaBossiere runs a retreat center in Voluntown.