First female Boston Marathon runner does it again 50 years later

Wearing the same number that was nearly torn off her back in 1967, Switzer yesterday recorded a race time of four hours, 44 minutes and 31 seconds.

The Boston Athletic Association is retiring bib No. 261 in honor of Switzer.

“I knew if I quit, nobody would ever believe that women had the capability to run 26-plus miles”, Switzer wrote in her memoir.

Half a century later, Switzer was given the 261 as a bid number to run and her celebrated number was otherwise retired.

Nothing in the rule book prohibited women from running the Boston Marathon.

Tews said when she ran her first Boston Marathon 25 years ago, only about 1,500 women entered, and they were given a pink bib and sent to a separate starting corral. Now 58% of marathon runners in the U.S. are women. He tried to jostle her, but was met with fierce resistance on Ms. Switzer’s part.

“People have such an appreciation for what running has done for them and how it’s changed their lives”, said Switzer, who named her 261 Fearless foundation after the bib number that was almost torn from her back on the marathon course. She didn’t set out to shatter stereotypes, or change the culture of sports forever, but that’s exactly what she did. So they signed her up for a big under the name K.V. Switzer.

“I generally am pretty law-abiding”.

“But am I bold? I ask for forgiveness”. By using her initials on the race form, Katherine Switzer was assigned bib number two sixty one and became Boston’s first REGISTERED woman runner.

“The higher reason now is not to prove that women can do it”, Switzer said. “And Jock thought we were trying to pull a fast one”. In 1967, Katherine Switzer ran.

The race was dominated by the Kenyans, who swept the men’s and women’s races – but American runners had a remarkably strong showing. By 1972, when women were finally admitted to Boston, he and Switzer had become friends. Badgered and almost battered in the process, Switzer persisted to complete the race in 1967.

Detective Lt. John Grassel said by running, he feels in some small way that he’s helping families suffering from the unimaginable.

After successfully defending herself that day, she finished the race in four hours and 20 minutes. “We could take the data and statistics from all of these events, took it to the International Olympic Committee, and we got the women’s marathon included in the Olympic games”.

“What happened to me was a radicalizing experience”.

She told CBS2 that he changed her life, gave her a career, focus, health, and practically introduced her to her husband, .

“I looked around today and there were more women running than men”, Tews marveled.