50 years ago in 1967, Kathrine Switzer, a student at Syracuse University, showed up prepared to become the first woman to officially run all 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon.

But the race was for men only.

Two miles into the race, an angry race director assaulted Switzer and tried to prevent her from participating. With the help of her coach, her boyfriend, and a friend from the men’s cross country team at SU (Switzer trained with the team) Switzer was able to continue running and protect her bib from being ripped away.

Today, April 17, 2017, Switzer will run in the Boston Marathon. She is 70 years old.

Kathrine Switzer ran 39 marathons. She won the New York City Marathon in 1974 and ran her personal best in Boston, 2:51:33, finishing second, in 1975.

When she first ran Boston, it took her more than four hours.

So don’t give up.

Overcome your doubts, your fears, your adversity, your roadblocks, your perceived existence in isolated struggle…

And become fearless.  Connect with Kathrine Switzer’s Fearless261 campaign: “A global community of women, be she a walker, jogger, or runner who have found strength, power and fearlessness from putting one foot in front of the other.”

“For all women who want to take on personal challenges through running or walking.”

And “For all women who want to become fearless through connection to others and realize you are not alone.”

http://www.261fearless.org/news/

For women who want to take on personal challenge through running or walking…today is a beautiful day in Boston to keep it going or to get it started.

Download Switzer’s bib number 261 from her Fearless website, pin it on, and go any distance, anywhere, with Switzer and her community of Fearless Women today.

Start something and keep it going! Conquer miles and miles, over heartbreak hills, through the taunts and jeers of the angry ignorants, past the nonbelievers and the non-doers—and don’t forget to run circles around the useless, madding crowd.

I’ve been a jogger, sometimes I’m a runner, mostly I’m a walker, hiker, biker, skier.

Today, I’m going to run in my heart and jog with my feet. I’ve downloaded Switzer’s bib, but I could only find one safety pin to secure it onto my shirt. While I was rummaging through drawers in my house, searching for more pins, I found something better to use—something my daughter gave me many years ago—a pin that says “Why Be Normal?”

At 9:32 AM, women will start running the Boston Marathon this morning.

I’ll be ready to go. My route isn’t far from the start line in Hopkinton and I’ll be running alone.

But not in spirit!

#RunwithKathrine   #FearlessRunner   #BeFearlessBeFree   #Run261