I thought, “Oh boy, this is going to be interesting!” But once you start running, you always feel better. I don’t have a performance goal, but I don’t want to be out there for six hours! There are two objectives: the first is to get to the start line healthy, with as little fatigue as possible, which is hard, because there are so many demands on my time. To be there in Boston to celebrate that moment, the place where it all began, is extremely gratifying and validating.ĭo you have a performance goal in mind for this race? It’s a phenomenal social revolution, and it has happened in my lifetime. Fifty years later, women make up almost half the field at Boston. SWITZER: First of all, I’m very grateful that I’m healthy enough to attempt it. OUTSIDE: What does it mean to you to run Boston again this year? We caught up with Switzer about the 1967 race, her plans for this year’s marathon, and the broader landscape of women in sports. She has also authored three books, commentated for hundreds of races, including the Olympics, and started a nonprofit called 261 Fearless, dedicated to “empowering women around the world through the transformative vehicle of running.” (Switzer’s bib number in 1967 was 261.) At this year’s Boston Marathon, on April 17, the 50th anniversary of her historic run, Switzer will toe the line in Hopkinton in celebration of the progress women have made in distance running.
Switzer won the New York City Marathon in 1974 and placed second at Boston in 1975. Since then, she’s gone on to run dozens of marathons. The famous photo of a race official attempting to pull her off the course is now iconic, representing what became Switzer’s lifelong fight for women’s inclusion in distance running.
In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon, when it was still a men’s-only event.
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