Heart patient, 91, tells of her long run

A TEAM OF volunteers running in Sunday’s marathon have a special place in the heart of one homebound senior.

Joanie Rowland, 91, trained for and ran her first marathon at age 65 in an effort to stay healthy. For 20 years, the elite athlete stayed one beat ahead of heart problems, including arrhythmia, clots and clogged arteries. She enjoyed a running career that would make most racers a quarter of her age jealous.

“My heart got me into running, and it also removed me from running,” she said.

At her last race, at age 84, Rowland collapsed at the finish line — but still won the race for her age group. “Which I thought was very funny,” she said.

Since then, she has endured multiple strokes, open heart surgery, malignant melanoma and a brain tumor.

Due to peripheral artery disease, Rowland has trouble getting around and spends most of her time at her Midtown apartment. She relies on Citymeals on Wheels to provide most of her meals. “Right now it’s almost essential,” she said of the service. “I am feeling excruciating pain with every step I take.”

But with the help of Citymeals, Rowland says, she keeps her head up. “Because I’m

SO LONG, CHAMP:

more homebound than I’ve ever been in my life, I’m very confined,” she said. “Being visited by the volunteers gives me such a lift.”

The Juilliard School grad and grandmother spent her life as a conductor, pianist and singer. “Music was my life’s work,” she said. But running was her passion. Rowland’s medals and trophies line a shelf above her beloved Steinway piano in her rent-controlled Central Park South pad.

The lifelong New Yorker has lived in all five boroughs. Coincidentally, her path in life has roughly mimicked the sequence of the marathon. Born on Staten Island, she lived in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and then Manhattan.

On Sunday, Rowland’s heart will be with a group of five runners from Citymeals on Wheels as they follow that same course, competing in the New York City Marathon. The teammates have raised more than $3,000 each and have helped deliver meals to seniors just like Rowland. The crew of volunteers will cross the finish line not far from Rowland’s home, where the spunky senior will be cheering them on.