At the 1984 Olympics, Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota, Joan Benoit, and 47 other women stood on the start line for the first Olympic Women’s Marathon. These women had some idea that they were about to make a 26.2 mile quantum leap for woman runners, but all they had on their minds was running, racing, and enjoying the ride to the finish line.

Women’s distance running made it’s official debut on August 5th at the ‘84 Olympics, but not without a fight. Women have a deep history of abstaining from physical activity and sports. The argument can go either way for whether or not this history was voluntary, but the fact is that until the 1970s, physical expression for men had an entirely different meaning than it did for women. Men were macho, and women had to be protected. Don’t get me wrong, women were allowed to participate in sports and even entered into a limited number of events at the Olympics, but they were never encouraged or permitted to compete on the same level as their male teammates. Women runners competed in track distances not exceeding 440m. It was believed that any farther distance would put too much strain on their bodies. These runners were warned about the dangerous effects of running: hairy calves, abdominal muscles that were too tight for childbirth, and that the “pounding of running would detach [their] womanly innards from their proper placement.” (From On the Road with Lorraine Moller, “Great Strides of Women Runners”, Marathon & Beyond May/June 2009. Vol. 13, Issue 3). Hearing that this diagnosis is linked to physical activity, it’s no wonder women would shy away from running! But there were a few women out there who refused to believe the hype, and took to the roads regardless. These are the women I have to thank, and I will always be grateful for their accomplishments.

joan benoit at the 1984 Olympics

In 2006, I was lucky enough to run my first marathon at the Nike Women’s in San Francisco, CA. With thousands of other women, and some men, we ran the race through the hilly streets of the city, and finished on the Pacific Ocean at the base of Golden Gate Park. Each woman who completed the distance won a Tiffany’s necklace, and enjoyed free food, massages, pedicures, and the glow of finishing a marathon. Since the Nike Women’s Marathon I’ve participated in several more woman-only or woman-centric races. Last weekend I ran in the See Jane Run Women’s 1/2 Marathon in Alameda, CA (men are allowed to participate, but cannot hold a place standing) and along the route got to thinking about what it means to run a woman only race.

see jane run

There is an ethic in feminism that mandates a strict equality between the sexes (and genders). For some of my fellow male runners, it seems like this ethic is either lost or misunderstood. When I finished the See Jane Run 1/2 marathon, my friend asked why this marathon was so exclusive. The reasons behind why this group of women was running were didn’t translate and my friend was left with a confused impression of the purpose of that day. On the surface, it could seem like these women were purposefully excluding him from the race, and as we discussed the issue further, I was left wondering how our message could have been so drastically lost in translation! Of course, I understand why I ran that day: I ran to celebrate all the difficult accomplishments of women like Kathrine Switzer, Joan Benoit, and Grete Waitz. Or Melpomene, the first woman to run the Olympic Marathon, although unofficially. Taking part in an all woman race means that I’m paying my respects to the female pioneers who made it possible for me to put my toe at the start line. I know these things, and this is why I run these races. The boys I run with don’t have a history to look back on that is filled with restrictions and exclusions, so it’s easy for them to overlook the importance of being able to bask in the glow of Switzer’s accomplishments.

Just as it was important for me to be there running the race, it was important to have my friend there supporting me at the See Jane Run 1/2 Marathon. Not only did he get to see the dynamic that comes with watching hundreds of women run 13.1 miles, but we had a chance to open up the dialog about the significant milestones in women’s running over the past 25 years (From On the Road with Lorraine Moller, “Great Strides of Women Runners”, Marathon & Beyond May/June 2009. Vol. 13, Issue 3):

  • Joan Benoit Samuelson won the first Olympic Women’s Marathon in 1984.
  • The gaps in Olympic event parity are filled (5,000 and 10,000 meters in 1988, pole vault in 2000, and steeplechase in 2008.
  • 1987 New York City Marathon: Pricilla Welch wins the women’s open division at age 42.
  • 1989 USA 24-Hour Championship: Ann Trason becomes the first woman to win a USA national championship outright, beating the first man by over four miles.
  • 1992 Olympics in Barcelona: Yuko Arimori becomes the first Japanese woman to win an Olympic track and field medal for Japam in 64 years with her silver medal behind Valentina Yegerova of Russia. Arimori becomes one of Japan’s most popular celebrities. Her feats herald a period of domination on the world marathon scene b y Japanese women.
  • 1992 Olympics in Barcelona: Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria angers Muslim fundamentalists for competing. Wearing typical running attire, she is accused of displaying her naked body and threatened with stoning. Undeterred, she becomes the first Algerian woman to win a gold medal (1500 meters).
  • 1994: Publicly struggling with her weight and fitness for years, Oprah Winfrey, the popular show host and trendsetter, trains for and runs a marathon.
  • 1996 Olympics in Atlanta: Fatuma Roba, an Ethiopian woman, becomes the first African woman to win the Olympic marathon, just weeks after an appendectomy, emulating the feats of her most famous countryman, Abebe Bikila. She goes on to win the Boston Marathon in the next three successive years.
  • 2001 Berlin Marathon: Naoko Takahashi, gold medalist of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, runs 2:19:46 to become the first woman to break 2:20:00 for the marathon. Other women quickly follow suit.
  • 2003 London Marathon: Paula Radcliffe breaks her own world record with 2:15:25. Since 1955, the women’s marathon world record has improved by over 60 percent, while the men’s has improved by just 18 percet.
  • 2006 Women’s marathon participation in the USA reaches 40 percent of the field, up from 10.5 percent of the field in 1980 (Running USA).
  • 2008 Olympics in Beijing: A 38-year-old woman, Constantina Tomescu-Dita from Romania, becomes the oldest competitor, man or woman, to win an Olympic gold medal in a running event.

It’s important to remind ourselves why there are races for women. We’re not being exclusionary, we’re celebrating the fact that we can run, and that we claim this sport as our right and not our privilege. After all, if you tell a woman runner that she can’t do what she loves, you’ll see her out on the roads the next minute, proving you wrong.

An excerpt from the first Olympic Women’s Marathon in 1984:

Need to find a race for women? Here are a few to consider: