Athens woman overcame cancer just weeks ahead of competing in Peachtree Road Race

Olivia Carlisle’s participation in the 54th running of the Peachtree Road Race was impressive given her 80 years on earth, but what she went through to get to this year’s race is nothing less than extraordinary.

A few weeks after competing in the 2022 Peachtree, the Five Points native who now lives on the Eastside was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After a dozen chemotherapy treatments and surgery, Carlisle is now cancer free and returned to Atlanta on July 4 for her 17th Peachtree experience.

“I did very well,” said Carlisle, who finished the 10K course in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 55 seconds. “My doctor told me to listen to my body and he sounded just like my brother, Jimmy, who got me into running.”

Carlisle said she walked for most of the 6.2 miles, although she picked up the pace a couple of times.

“When I came to where all the photographers are on the mechanical bridge, I turned on the afterburners and ran past them, and then when I saw the finish line, I turned on the afterburners again,” she said. “I said, ‘Thank you, dear Lord,’ and ‘Jimmy, this is for you.’”

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She said she was tickled by the comment of another Peachtree participant along the course.

“Now I carry electrolytes,” said Carlisle, whose best time at the Peachtree (1:30.38) came in 2007. “People tell you to keep hydrated, but you need proper hydration and water is just not going to do it.

“I pour the water on my head and neck at the water stations. A fellow runner said to me at the race when I pulled out my electrolyte container, ‘Ah, a flask!’ It was my electrolyte flask. It sustained me very well.”

Carlisle’s eight-hour surgery, which took place on May 1, was performed by Dr. James Griffin of University Cancer & Blood Center. Saying she was “very active in the pursuit of my wellbeing,” Carlisle added she brought an anatomy book to her first consult with Griffin.

“I was asking questions all the time,” she said. “He was very intrigued that I’d have this anatomy book and he explained everything that was going on, so I knew well ahead and said, ‘I’m ready.’

“My faith in God is very strong and I have many friends and we’re all praying for each other. Everyone one in our group has been touched by cancer in one way or another. We’re all prayer warriors for each other. It’s fantastic.”

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When she crossed the finish line, Carlisle said she celebrated with a tradition familiar to the 60,000-plus in the race.

“I’ve already told several people about this, so it will get back to my oncologist,” she quipped. “When I signed up for the race, I also joined the Atlanta Track Club. After the race and before it started pouring rain, we went over to the Atlanta Track Club tent and I drank an IPA beer that was a 12- or 16-ounce can. I drank most of the beer and it was very good.”

Urged on by her older brother Jimmy (“He coached me,” she said), Carlisle took up running in the mid-1970s when she worked for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. She said she designed a course that covered the National Mall and frequently swapped updates with her brother, who later suffered from ALS and died in 2002. After his death, Carlisle returned to Athens and took care of their mother, and in 2014 earned a (tuition-free) degree from the University of Georgia in scientific illustration.

Carlisle, who also has a brother living in Lawrenceville and a sister living in Athens, expressed gratitude to her medical team at University Cancer & Blood Center for making it possible for her to enjoy another Peachtree.

“They are gifts from God,” she said. “I firmly believe God guided them to look after me and do what was needed. I went through some tough stuff and I asked them to keep me informed and that’s what they did. Any question I had about anything, they had the answer.”

When asked if she’s planning an encore at the 2024 Peachtree Road Race, Carlisle said, “Absolutely! If I’m not pushing up daisies, I’ll be there."

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Olivia Carlisle at 80 and a cancer survivor ran in Peachtree race