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If you run the distance in practice, I’d be the first to take you to Boston.” “No dame ever ran the Boston Marathon!” Then he softened, “If any woman could do it, you could, but you would have to prove it to me. “I’m running 10 miles every night!” Arnie was shouting now. Kathrine’s dander was up: “Oh, let’s quit talking about the Boston Marathon and run the damn thing!” Ernie bluntly blared back: “No woman can run the Boston Marathon!” “Why not?” asked Kathrine.

One evening Kathrine and Arnie were discussing the Boston Marathon and the “outrageous” idea of women competing at this distance. Her coach, Arnie Briggs, had 15 Boston Marathon races under his belt and he loved to talk about those experiences. This is where she got the motivation to run the Boston Marathon.

As a result, Kathrine took it upon herself to unofficially train with the men’s cross-country team. Unfortunately, women’s cross-country didn’t exist at Syracuse University, the school she attended. Kathrine loved to run and she was good at it.

The Boston Marathon had been an all-male event for the past 70 years and women were not welcomed. But many people thought women were too weak to run a 26-mile race. There were no written rules stating that women couldn’t compete in the Boston Marathon.

This was a time of gender inequality in sports. Kathrine was the first and only registered female runner in the marathon lineup and she had something to prove. However, for one participant named Kathrine Switzer, the weather conditions were the least of her worries. The weather was absolutely atrocious for the 601 runners who had anxiously awaited this day. This particular day was filled with freezing rain, snow and strong winds. The 71st annual Boston Marathon was held on April 19, 1967.

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