Amisha Padnani

It was just a simple toy: Tickle Me Elmo, a plush doll that giggled when it was squeezed. What it sparked, though, was far less innocent, a frenzy that spilled into chaos as people clawed and shoved one another in a desperate attempt to get their hands on the coveted item. Amisha Padnani is an obituaries editor and the creator of Overlooked, a series that tells the stories of remarkable people whose deaths were not originally reported by The Times.

For centenarian runners, getting into the sport is often less about defying age than about having a second or third act, a chance at reinvention — after grief, retirement or upheaval. Many of those covered in The New York Times picked up running late in life. They ran for joy, the pleasure of competing, a sense of discipline or a feeling of liberation, sharing an uncommon drive that kept them going to 100 and beyond.

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. What happens when you read about the lives of notable women across time? You start to see what history noticed — and what it didn’t. For Women’s History Month, my colleagues and I pored over hundreds of obituaries in The New York Times archives.