Obese Sixty-Two Year Old Queens Housewife Breaks Marathon Record

TLC's "Personal Best" Series: ordinary people doing extraordinarily ordinary things

According to marathoner Betty Ann Bolting, the first two hours were the hardest.

"The phone was ringing off the hook, the kids were driving me crazy, my deaf mother in-law was screaming for her oatmeal and pain medication and my husband was accusing me of hiding his wallet and keys. But around two hours in, things settled down and I got into a rhythm.”

At 5’0” in her HOKA running shoes, and 182 pounds, Betty Ann doesn’t appear built for endurance, and she’ll be the first to admit that she gets winded walking down a flight of stairs to fetch the mail, but she’s far from a novice when it comes to finishing TV marathons.

“I love the challenge and I just went on a crazy run - in just four months, I completed the 24 hour Honeymooners, Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction, Lost in Space, Twilight Zone, Rhoda and Kojak marathons. I was locked in.” Kathy Lee Unger’s record of 22 marathons in a single TV season stood for eight years. Betty Ann notched her 23rd sitting through 24 straight hours of Barnaby Jones.

She takes great pride in the achievement, but admits that it’s a grind. “Sometimes you’re powering through subpar work. The last two seasons of the Beverly Hillbillies was torture - by season 8 they were running on fumes.”

She said that she “made up for it” by not watching all three seasons of Deadwood. “Took me three minutes to realize it wasn’t going to work, didn’t understand a word.”

To stay awake she lashes back jugs of cold brew, and keeps a stash of bananas near at hand to avoid cramping.

“I watched all but the last two seasons of Three’s Company on my back -- I wrenched it the day before attempting to lower the volume on my phone. Usually a back injury is a plus, there’s really not much else you can do. But that was a true test - watching an actor of Don Knotts’ stature reduced to playing a leering old fool in such third-rate crap, well, it was just an achievement crossing the finish line without throwing my iron through the freaking TV.”

Ed Bolting attributes his wife’s staying power to her ability to “multi-task.”

“She sits in front of the damned TV for hours on end – but I have to hand it to her, I get home from my shift and a hot meal’s on the table, the wash is done and the kids’ lunch is packed. She’s an inspiration. When I’m pulling a double shift – I’m a security guard at Queens Mall – and feeling the fatigue, I think of Betty Ann at home grinding out another marathon, and I just tell myself, Ed, stop complaining and man up.”

We asked her what she does she when’s not watching marathons or handling chores around the house.

“You mean when I watch just for fun? You’ll laugh, but when I’m not competing I record the shows and speed watch. A couple of days ago, I watched back-to-back episodes of Bonanza in eight minutes, and watched forty five minutes of 60 Minutes in three minutes, down from the four it used to take. I wish I thought of this before I wasted an entire weekend glued to Baywatch.“

We asked her what’s next.

“There’s no reason I can’t keep doing this well into my eighties - long after my friends played their last game of pickleball. I won’t be setting records, but I‘ll still be able to watch TV at a consistently high level.”