Today, millions of women and girls around the world enjoy running and
entering races. It wasn't always so:
* In 1961, when Julia Chase edged to the start of a Connecticut
5-miler, officials tried to push her off the road.
* At the 1966 Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibb hid behind a forsythia
bush, worried that police might arrest her.
* The next year at Boston, Kathrine Switzer was assaulted mid-race by a
furious race organizer.
* In the mid-60s, Indianapolis high schooler Cheryl Bridges was told
not to run anywhere near the boys' track team because she might
"distract" them.
* When Charlotte Lettis signed up for the University of Massachusetts
cross-country team in the fall of 1971, she was told to use the men's
locker room.
* A few years later in coastal Maine, young Joan Benoit would stop her
workouts to pretend she was picking roadside flowers, embarrassed that
her neighbors might spot her running.
First Ladies of Running tells the inspiring stories of these and other
fiercely independent runners who refused to give up despite the cultural
and sports barriers they faced. Legends such as Doris Brown, Francie
Larrieu, Mary Decker, Jackie Hansen, Miki Gorman, and Grete Waitz are
chronicled by Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot. Burfoot even runs
the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon with Oprah Winfrey, whose successful
finish opened the floodgates for other women runners.
First Ladies of Running is a beautiful and long-overdue tribute to the
pioneers of women's running, and a gift of empowerment for female
runners everywhere.
