25 (non-Bravo) real life housewives who are pretty badass

Kathrine Switzer

You may not recognize Kathrine Switzer by name alone, but her story has recently made her somewhat famous again, if not all together infamous. Switzer is the first woman to attempt to complete the Boston Marathon, and in that same attempt in 1967, she was accosted by race organizers, trying to pull her off course. Yes. You read that right, in recent years a woman was almost forcibly removed from a public event in America. Let that sink in.

Her story first appeared, in part, in the hobby magazine, Runner’s World in the article, “The Girl Who Started It All.” She went on to write about it further and more in depth in her memoir, Marathon Woman.  She outlines her struggles to break into a mostly-male sport, and reveals what it means to be the first at something no one like you has done before. It’s moving stuff.

Switzer started her training at Syracuse University, running with the men’s team because there wasn’t a team designated for women. She was routinely running 10 (or more) miles a night, but she was excluded from entering marathons because of her gender, although there was nothing officially outlining rules about gender in the rules.

She assembled a little team that included her athlete boyfriend who refused to train because “if a girl can run a marathon, I can run a marathon,” her 50 year old coach Arnie and another friend. Four miles into the run, the press and the race manager caught a glimpse of the only woman in the race, and confronted her as they ran. The race manager become aggressive and physical with Switzer, trying to prohibit her from finishing. Her boyfriend blocked the race manager, allowing Switzer to finish the race, becoming the first woman to ever run and finish.

She and her husband are still running, 50 years later, and she travels speaking to groups about her experience in the race. Although 1967 might seem like a really long time ago, it seems far too recent to have something like this happen to an American woman.