At an age when many folks are retired from both work and sporting pursuits, 66-year-old teacher Barb Wnek continues to be an inspiration for people of all ages.

Wnek teaches physical education and health weekly to hundreds of students in kindergarten through grade six at four schools in the Ferguson-Florissant school district in St Louis, Missouri.

This weekend, she will run her 145th marathon; she is also running in the mile and 10K as she takes aim at the Bermuda Triangle Full Challenge.

“I have been teaching for more than 30 years, and I am not ready to retire anytime soon,” she said. “I wear all of my marathon shirts to school, and will certainly wear my Bermuda shirt when I return to St Louis. I will also bring all of my medals to show everyone.

“I couldn’t see travelling all the way to Bermuda and not running everything. That’s more medals to motivate my students to be active, and more time in Bermuda for me.”

A published author, Wnek has written two books for teachers, and was rewarded for her creative teaching ideas with a trip to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, where she served as a torchbearer. “That was a dream come true,” she said.

Recently, she created a health programme for students incorporating costumes, music and questions about healthy eating and leading active lifestyles. It will roll out in March. “The programme is educational and fun, fun, fun,” she said.

Wnek, who has run a marathon in all 50 American states, is a member of the Marathon Maniacs club, and will become a member of the Marathon Globetrotters Club when she completes a marathon in ten countries.

To date, she has completed races in the US, Canada, England, France, Italy, Japan and the Bahamas. After Bermuda, Wnek hopes to add a ninth locale to her marathon travels in May in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While she hasn’t planned a tenth country yet, Wnek said she would love to run in Sydney, Australia.

In the Chicago Marathon she set a personal best of 4hr 13min. She maintains a rigorous training regimen.

“I run three days a week after teaching all day,” she says. “I stay up too late to get up early and run. I run long on Saturdays. I also do weight training three times a week.

“Running marathons keeps me very healthy and gives me a happy positive attitude. I have met and made friends with people from all over the world. I have never been to Bermuda, and I am really excited about coming to run the Bermuda Triangle Challenge.”