DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning, I'm David Greene with the story of a very happy but long accident. Thirty-four-year-old Meredith Fitzmaurice signed up for the recent Run for Heroes Half Marathon in Ontario, Canada. Somewhere on the route, she took a wrong turn, landing on the full marathon course, 26.2 miles.

And she decided to just keep going. Fitzmaurice ended up being the first woman to cross the finish line, the 10th person overall; and she qualified for the Boston Marathon.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.