Are you ready to be inspired? Today, I'd like to introduce you to an amazing woman who deserves our applause. You may not have heard of her, but Ida Keeling, who turned 101 years old last May, is the first woman in history to have completed a 100-meter dash at the age of 100. She did so at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, and her time was the best ever recorded in that event for any person age 100 or older.

Keeling, who is only 4 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 83 pounds, grew up long before the Title IX federal law made organized sports activities for girls, much less black girls. Her youth was adversely affected by the Great Depression; her father lost his grocery and had to peddle fruits and vegetables from a pushcart to support the family.

She married and had four children, but then her husband died of a heart attack at the age of 42. She and her kids moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Harlem, New York, and she got a job sewing in a factory. Keeling became an active civil rights demonstrator and even went to the 1963 March on Washington and took her children to see Malcolm X's speeches.

In 1978 and 1980, Keeling's two sons were killed in what were believed to be drug-related murders (both remain unsolved). For the first time in her life, she slipped into a debilitating depression. Both her blood pressure and heart rate shot up, which alarmed her youngest child, Shelley Keeling, a lawyer and real estate investor who also coached track at Fieldston School in the Bronx, New York. In 1983, she urged her then-67-year-old mother to join her in a 5K race through Brooklyn. She was amazed that her mother was barely out of breath when she finished. Running helped her escape from the bad memories and the stress that had overshadowed her life for several years.

Ever since then, Ida Keeling has worked hard to maintain her health. Even before getting out of bed, she does leg lifts and stretches to help her stay flexible. Though she has arthritis and sometimes walks with a cane, she exercises for an hour every day and adheres to a routine that often includes pushups, shoulder presses, sprints and wall sits. Her normal breakfast is oats with raisins and cinnamon. She sometimes blends her own vegetable juice and drinks orange juice with a tablespoon of cod-liver oil. Keeling avoids foods that contain preservatives, eats limited portions of meats (lamb is her favorite) and centers her meals around fresh grains and produce. She rarely eats dessert, but one indulgence she allows is a tall shot of Hennessy.

Keeling lives alone. She feels that self-sufficiency has been the key to her longevity. She still cleans, cooks, irons, mops, scrubs and shops herself. Her daughter has been an encouraging and supportive trainer, but the will to win is definitely Ida Keeling's alone. As she told the Washington Post: "Don't feel like you're too old or you're tired or nothing. Just keep going. You can't keep moaning and squirming and all that. Keep doing what you can do. Don't ever say, 'I'm too old.' Just say, 'I'm young.' ... You just have to be strong for yourself."

Ida Keeling is quite possibly America's most inspirational great-grandmother. The next time I'm on the verge of moaning about my sore muscles or my tight shoulders, I'm going to remember what she has accomplished. Her example should inspire us all!

Marilyn Murray Willison has had a varied career as a six-time nonfiction author, columnist, motivational speaker and journalist in both the U.K. and the U.S. She is the author of The Self-Empowered Woman blog and the award-winning memoir "One Woman, Four Decades, Eight Wishes." She can be reached at www.marilynwillison.com. To find out more about Marilyn and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.