Teaching my daughter “K.V. Switzer’s” legacy

Jane’s second-grade class will be doing projects on famous Americans during the next two weeks. Each child had to pick someone, living or dead, who changed history or instituted a significant social change.

Jane wanted to profile a famous woman. Her list included Amelia Earhart, Kathrine Switzer and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Guess who she got?

That’s right — Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon officially in 1967.  (Roberta Gibb did it, too, but as a bandit.)

Switzer’s bib number was 261.

Jane was incredulous when I explained to her that when Kathrine Switzer ran the marathon, she entered the race as “K.V. Switzer.” The organizers assumed she was a man. The rules at the time didn’t allow women to run the marathon. 

Race officials tried to forcible pull “K.V. Switzer” off the course when they realized what she was doing. The illustration above is based on the famous photo of “the Boston incident,” published around the world in 1967.

The thinking back then was that women could not run 26.2 miles safely; it would “hurt” them and their reproductive organs. 

That’s part of what Kathrine Switzer writes about in her book, Marathon Woman, which tells her story and how she came to believe in herself, run Boston, and buck and reshape the system.

It’s a good read, whether you are a female or male athlete, and it’s an interesting view on society’s evolution. 

“But we’re human, too. Why didn’t they let women run it?” Jane questioned.

They just didn’t know yet that we were capable, I explained to her, but because of Kathrine Switzer’s bravery, now we do.

Today thousands of people run marathons each year, and women are the fastest growing demographic.

Switzer describes running in her book as “the secret weapon.”

I agree.

Marathons are a great demonstration of the “secret weapon.”

Whether you are male or female, young or old, fast or slower, it doesn’t matter — you can get such a sense of accomplishment through completing a marathon.

“I’m glad you’re running the marathon, mom,” Jane told me. “I wish I could do it with you.”

Maybe someday we’ll do one together, I told her. Who knows?

I think Jane is excited because I don’t think any of the other children had Kathrine Switzer on their lists. It will give her a unique perspective when we travel to Boston as a family and I run the marathon.

Jane said she would like to bring something back from that trip to show her class . I suggested something that illustrates the history of the American Revolution, so rich and appropriate to Boston, and something about the marathon since that’s the reason we are going.

I’m hoping to come away with my own show and tell — namely, a finisher’s medal and my own “marathon woman” story.

An homage to “K.V. Switzer” for both Jane and me.

Thank you #261.

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Aging in inevitable, but growing old is a choice. Lace up your shoes, and let’s go!

Mileage yesterday: 10; Denver to Boston miles logged: 1,187; Miles left to go: 583










4 thoughts on “Teaching my daughter “K.V. Switzer’s” legacy

  1. “Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon officially in 1967.”

    Correction – Roberta Gibb was the first woman to run Boston (1966), and Kathrine was the first to run wearing a number (1967). Women were not permitted to officially run Boston (or any AAU sanctioned marathon) until 1972.

  2. Yes, that is right. And it’s in Kathrine Switzer’s book, too. When I said “first woman to run Boston” I meant the first one to get in the ranks with an official bib although women weren’t officially “allowed to enter” until 1972 as you also mentioned. I think what Roberta Gibb and Kathrine Switzer both did was important — Roberta by first running it first in 1966 (and fast for that time frame, too) and then Kathrine Switzer by getting a bib number so that women could be “formally acknowledged” as capable of doing it.

    You make excellence points. Thanks for your comment.

  3. Another point — since Kathrine Switzer wore a bib number and it rankled Jock Semple and it was captured in photographs — it helped to bring awareness to the fact that women could do the marathon in a more public way. Roberta Gibb certainly had athletic ability and did her part to change things, too, by running in 1966 and 1967 when Kathrine Switzer was there. They both were pioneers and deserve recognition, I agree. 

  4. Jock Semple was most likely miffed because Kathrine did not present herself at the entry tables (her coach picked up KV’s race bib instead).

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