The bicycle hung idle over the stove in her family’s kitchen. But because she was a girl, she wasn’t allowed to ride it. She was 9 years old when she ran her first race - clad in her school uniform and headscarf. With Switzer are her husband Roger Robinson, left, and Joann Flaminio, right, of the Boston Athletic Association. Kathrine Switzer, center, the first official woman entrant in the Boston Marathon 50 years ago, wears the same bib number after finishing the marathon on Monday. Whether she’s from Indiana or India, running gives a woman the courage to do what she thinks she cannot: leave a bad relationship, find a better job, get an education. I believe running transforms women. That simple act of putting one foot in front of the other gives a woman a sense of accomplishment and confidence. That empowerment has stayed with me, as I’ve worked to make sure that women everywhere have the opportunity to run. It was with me at the Boston Marathon in 1967, when the race director tried to push me out of the race and tear the racing bib - number 261 - from my body, just because I was a woman. But running my daily mile became more important than field hockey. Running gave me the courage to try new things.Īnd that sense of empowerment has been with me my whole life.

When I was 12 years old, my father told me I’d have a better chance of making the field hockey team if I ran a mile each day.Ī mile a day sounded like a lot I didn’t think I could do it.

(AP) This article is more than 5 years old. To mark 50 years since that day, Switzer will run the 2017 race. Two miles in, a race official tried to physically remove her from the course. In 1967, challenging the all-male tradition of the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer entered the race.

Download switzer katherine