Marathon bonus blog
On our way to Alabama yesterday, Dean had me listen to an episode of The Dollop about the marathon. We’ve gotten into the habit of listening to it on the way to and from the park where Dean drives me out to do my long runs. It’s an American History comedy podcast, it’s very funny, and I always learn something, but this one really resonated with me on a different level.
In 1972 women were first allowed to legally run a marathon. Prior to that, they were told that if they ran more than a mile and a half, their uteruses would fall out. I’m not making that up. The first woman who ran, Bobbi Gibb, hid in the bushes near the start and jumped into the middle of the pack once the race began. Women were cheering for her and crying as she ran by. She didn’t run her fastest, because she knew that she couldn’t take chances. If she fainted or fell or for any reason didn’t finish the race, she would be setting women back. She finished in 3 hours, and forty minutes.
Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run legally. She entered the race using her initials. During her race, an official tried to grab her and rip the numbers off of her back. The other runners defended her. She finished the race. She received death threats and women were officially banned from competing, with the consequences being that they would be banned from competing. (Morons.) So for the next several years, women pirated the marathon, running unofficially. No one lost a uterus and eventually women were allowed to run.
This was after finishing my first official marathon. (I had run for a friend the year before.) I had been hit by a car while riding my bike a month before the race and physically couldn’t run two weeks before. I didn’t know if I would finish but I wanted to at least start. I made it in 4:07.
These women are still alive today because this wasn't that long ago. Our mothers didn't have running shoes because they didn't make them for women in the sixties. Bobbi ran slow back then so that we could run fast today. Six women who were allowed to run the New York Marathon in 1972, sat down in protest at gun time because they tried to seperate them from the men and make them start ten minutes earlier. When you’re out there tomorrow and you’re starting to dig deep at mile 21, remember these women and may it add an extra bit of gas to your tank.
As someone who needs to run, who has run my entire life barring injury, I cannot imagine a time when I would have been forbidden to do so. And I can’t imagine that it was only a few years before I was born that we were given that right. The first women were able to compete in the marathon at the Olympics was in 1984. I was six.
So enjoy your marathon, ladies, enjoy every mile! And guys, both Bobbi and Kathrine have said that they never received anything but support from the men runners. So running dudes of the world, thanks for having our backs.
if you need something to listen to while you’re carb loading and resting your legs today, check out the episode for inspiration. It centers on the Boston Marathon and it takes a minute before the ladies enter the episode, but it’s worth it.