PROFILE: Covid-19 OR nurse Robin Venick has been running for 50 years

(Apr. 2020) Robin Venick is a prolific runner, having completed 68 marathons, including Comrades in South African, and 5 Ironman Triathlons. She loves a challenge, and that's what she facing now as an OR nurse at Manhattan's NYU Langone Medical Center during the Covid-19 pandemic. "I always try to remain calm and positive in these crisis situations," she says. "I’m a glass half full kind of girl." Venick, 57, lives in Manhattan with her husband, Jeff, also a runner. Both are also art lovers, so after every marathon in a new city, they visit local art museums.

Career-profession? (See above.) In normal times I do all types of open-heart surgery and specialize in congenital heart defects on babies. Also, we do a lot of heart and lung transplants. I grew up in Maryland and attended Johns Hopkins Hospital for my nursing degree.

When did you start running and why? I started running as a little girl, probably around 7, with all the boys