It’s Women’s History month — what better time to take a little stroll through the long and winding road of women’s running. I think women have been running through the ages, in one way or another, but it’s humbling to remember that not so long ago running and women were rarely heard in the same sentence.
I have to admit I was pretty much blissfully unaware of most these events, or at the very least not really impacted emotionally by them: because I didn’t grow up running. I wasn’t athletic, I certainly wasn’t interested in running, and it definitely wasn’t encouraged — except, ironically, in gym class.
1954: First women runs a sub-5 minute mile
Diane Leather ran 4:59.6 on May 29, just 23 days after Roger Bannister ran his 3:59.4 mile.
1962: Women are allowed to run the 800 meters again
That is the year I was born! Women had been able to run that “long” previously: 32 years ago, in 1928, ironically the year my mother was born. Women were deemed too frail to run that distance after that first Olympic race.
1967: First woman to officially run the Boston Marathon
Pretty sure that everyone reading this blog knows that that was Katherine Switzer, and that the officials allowed her to register because she used initials — they thought she was a man. Woman had run Boston before Switzer, but they were bandits, often hanging out in bushes near the start so no one would see them and tell them they couldn’t race.
1975: Title IX Goes into effect
Although actually becoming a law in 1972, it wasn’t until 1975 that Title IX began to seep into sports. Title IX discouraged unequal federal financial aid and university support for men’s vs women’s programs.
1984: Joan Benoit Samuelson wins the first women’s Olympic Marathon
Isn’t it mind boggling that women were not allowed to run the marathon in the Olympics until I graduated from college? It is to me, anyway! Officials seriously thought women’s uteruses could fall out if they ran a marathon.
Skirt Sports lets me carry what I need with me2004: Nicole DeBoom founds Skirt Sports
You know I had to go there, right? Nicole, who last year gave the reins of Skirt Sports (click here) over to Sarah Ratzlaff, knew the power of competing, looking cute while competing — and pockets. I am forever grateful that she had that vision and saw it through. I still can be found in Skirt Sports many days.
Do you have a favorite memory of running from long ago?
Who would you add to this list? There are so many more, but I wanted to keep this short!
Do you consider the creation of the Jogbra to be key to women’s running? As a small chested woman — not the mention the fact I didn’t run when it was invented — it didn’t impact me that greatly. What about you?
Linking up with Zenaida Arroyo and Kim @ Kookyrunner
This week I am also joining up with the new Runners’ Roundup linkup.
Chocolaterunsjudy 
What a good idea for a post – especially with yesterday being International Women’s Day!
And it looks like I had an educational gap too – I didn’t know about Title IX.
I was lucky to have a female teacher who encouraged running. When I was 13-15 (in the early 80s), I was running a lot on the track thanks to her.
Good question about the jog bra. I ran before I even knew that existed. I just used a regular bra. Being small-chested too, it didn’t make much of a difference to me. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Same here — bra not so important for me either.
I did not run as a kid. I loathed running as a kid!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m older that you. I remember the JFK mandated physical fitness tests. And those outdoor field days. At the time (in elementary school & middle school) I was very skinny and loved running FAST.
In high school, only the boys got to play organized sports. The girls could be cheerleaders. I tried out of course like everyone else. I was and still am uncoordinated…didn’t come close to making it.
It took me until age 55 to decide to run a mile lol.
One of my fondest running memories will always be chatting with and running along side Joan Benoit when she came to Albany years ago (maybe 2012?)
I didn’t know there were different bras. I think I wore a regular bra playing tennis and when I first started running. I still do sometimes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had to do the president’s challenge, too, but obviously I don’t remember JFK.
No desire to be a cheerleader. I did do marching band one year.
LikeLike
Obviously. Lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was such a great post Judy! I definitely learned a lot about moments in women’s running. It still baffles me that people thought women couldn’t run long distances and that it would be too much for our bodies. Did these people miss forget that women were the same people that birthed children?! I feel like if you can do that, you can run long distance!
We’ve gone a long way, that’s for sure!
LikeLiked by 2 people
You are so right Kim! If men had to give birth humanity might’ve died out long ago!
LikeLike
I love this! Title IX was the big one when I was growing up. I’ve told my daughter how girls couldn’t run in marathons and it was thought that running would do all kinds of crazy things to women, like their uterus would fall out. She’s absolutely floored by things like that (thank goodness it’s a different world now, for the better).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kim made such a good point that women can birth babies. I mean, if that doesn’t cause your uterus to fall out . . . although of course prolapse is no joke.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I was in high school, girls were not allowed to run cross country – just boys. When I told that to my students, they couldn’t believe that. The longest distance in our track meet was 880 yards. Yes, distances were in yards rather than meters when I was in school. I was a sprinter in high school. I ran the 100-yard dash and 440 relay.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We have definitely come a long way — although I did not run then.
LikeLike
This was so interesting to read! It’s really crazy how recently women started participating in marathons. So glad its changed so drastically since then!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know it kind of boggles my mind that the Olympic marathon for women is relatively recent!
LikeLike
It’s hard to believe that they actually thought a woman’s uterus would fall out if they ran a marathon! That just blows my mind. I was never interested in running growing up, so these things weren’t on my radar either. Great post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not only did I not run when I was younger, I hated running!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too! I think it was because I thought you had to be really fast or it didn’t count. LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just truly didn’t like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Young women take their sports participation for granted–you and I grew up in the Title IX era and saw women’s sports expand. Now it seems as if the sky’s the limit! In ultradistance races, women rule!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was happy as a kid not to have to do sports. 😊 I hated to run, I’d go way out in the outfield & pray a ball never came my way! I still probably wouldn’t be interested in team spirts. Always the last picked . . .
LikeLike
This was fun to read! I knew about Katherine Switzer and that crazy story which still blows my mind. She was pretty darn amazing! Yes, the invention of the sports bra is huge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Katherine is an amazing lady! And she really didn’t think she was that gifted as a runner!
LikeLike
That’s a really lovely list of incredible accomplishments by some truly groundbreaking women in the sport. I love to see it.
I’m not huge up top, but a sports bra is vital to my workouts. I lost a lot of weight in my early 20s and it did me zero favors in that region.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m small on top & thankfully support isn’t a huge deal for me.
LikeLike
My freshman year of high school, I was a “Soccerette”. There was not yet a girls soccer team. Soccerettes had the honor of standing on the sidelines of boy’s soccer games and holding up a flag if the ball went out of bounds. Oh and we had to go chase it too. I’m nauseous just thinking about that.
I did have one of the early sports bras. It was beige cotton and pretty much just flattened everything in place.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. Just wow. I don’t think there was any soccer available growing up, but I really wouldn’t know because I wasn’t at all interested in playing sports.
LikeLike
i love this post. Yes, we have come a long way! I have a very, very vivid memory of watching Joan Benoit win that Olympic gold medal in 1984. i had just graduated from high school, and had started running a year earlier. It really shaped my attitude and goals toward running for a long time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t start running for more than 20 years after the 84 Olympics, so I don’t really have a vivid memory of it although of course since I’ve read about it & seen it.
LikeLike
So many interesting things. I mean, I knew about most of them but having it all together there made it even better. It is mind blowing how they thought a woman’s uterus would fall out. I mean, how and why would they think that? Idiots.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Imagine men stopping running if THEY gave birth! They might because they couldn’t deal with pain. Not sure I could either, though!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love running (and hanging around) in Skirt Sports too! I think I bought my first Skirt not too long after Nicole started the company. And I still have it! A black, very short, marathon triks skirt, with panties instead of shorties. Skirt Sports has come a long way!
I actually did know most of these things, aside from the first sub-5 minute mile and when they allowed women to run the 800m. And my mom was born in 1928 too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
my mom was born in 1928
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently several of our moms were. I am the youngest & also their first son died before I was born.
LikeLike
I’m the oldest of two.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t running yet when Nicole started Skirt Sports. 😊
LikeLike
This is SO interesting!! I knew of Switzer and that women have been discriminated in sports for long. But to see these facts put together here… wow! I love that they felt women were “too frail” to run — *eye roll*.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s amazing all the things men used to (& sometimes still do) think about women.
LikeLike
I grew up in the post-Title IX area and attended an all-girls high school with robust sports programs. I took it for granted until I learned about how long it took women to get to race more than the 800m! Especially now that women dominate the ultra running world, that notion of limiting distance is absolutely crazy to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Women really drove the last running boom!
LikeLike
It’s frustrating to realize how much women have historically been underestimated! Thank you for sharing some women’s running history!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s kind of amazing how male centric our world still is. And I guess you could also say how white-centric it is as well. Things are slowly changing.
LikeLike
Great post Judy! I definitely appreciated growing up in the post-Title IX era – my school had a pretty robust sports program for girls and I took full advantage (soccer, basketball, and track!) While I was not a distance runner in ’84, I do remember watching Joan Benoit win the gold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure we watched it; we always watched the Olympics. I wouldn’t become a runner for roughly another 20 years though, so I didn’t really care that much about running then.
LikeLike