In brief: In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially enter and run the Boston Marathon — and a race official physically tried to rip her number off mid-race. She finished. But the story most people know ends there. What they don’t know is that decades later, after years away from racing, she returned to Boston at 70 years old and ran it again — slower, older, different — and finished. This is the chapter nobody tells.
Everyone knows the 1967 photograph. A young woman in a grey sweatshirt, race number 261 pinned to her chest. A race official in a suit and overcoat has lunged at her from the side of the road and grabbed her by the shoulder, trying to pull her off the course. Her boyfriend has shoved the official away. She is running past, jaw set, eyes forward.
She finished. She ran every step of the 26.2 miles despite the attack, despite the rule that said women were not physiologically capable of running such distances. She finished in four hours and twenty minutes. Kathrine Switzer was 20. She had entered under the name “K.V. Switzer,” not anticipating that her first name would reveal her gender on race day. (Britannica) That story is told everywhere. What is almost never told is what happened fifty years later.
The 50 Years in Between
After 1967, Switzer ran Boston four more times and won the New York City Marathon in 1974. She played a central role in the campaign to have the women’s marathon included in the Olympic Games — which finally succeeded in 1984. And then, gradually, as happens with most people in their forties and fifties, life took over. The competitive distances fell away. (Wikipedia)
In 2017, the 50th anniversary of her famous run, the Boston Athletic Association invited her back to race. She would wear number 261 again — the same number Jock Semple had tried to rip from her chest. She was 70. She had not trained for a marathon in years. She said yes. (Runner’s World)
The Training Nobody Asked About
What followed was not a triumphant return. It was something more honest. Switzer had to build back from almost nothing. She trained through the winter, adding miles gradually, dealing with the reality that a 70-year-old body responds to training differently than a 20-year-old one. She was realistic that she’d be much slower than in 1967 — and that this required a different relationship with what “finishing” meant. (KathrineSwitzer.com)
On April 17, 2017, she ran the Boston Marathon for the sixth time, in a pink jacket, wearing 261. She crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 44 minutes, and 31 seconds — slower than 1967 by about 24 minutes, and completely irrelevant to what the day meant. She was 70 years old. She had just run 26.2 miles. (Runner’s World)
What the Second Chapter Actually Means
The 1967 run changed the world — it helped crack open the door for women’s competitive running. But the 2017 run speaks to most people’s lives more directly. Because most people are not 20 years old breaking barriers in front of photographers. Most people are somewhere in the middle of their lives, wondering if the best chapters are behind them.
Switzer’s answer — delivered in 4 hours, 44 minutes, and 31 seconds on a Monday in April — is that they are not. She was slower. Her body was different. The race was harder. None of that made the finishing line less real. She had done the training in the dark winter months when nobody was watching. She has spoken about what the return meant: not proving anything to anyone else, but proving to herself that the years between had not taken the capacity, only put it on pause. Starting again, later, slower, older, is still starting. (KathrineSwitzer.com)
What Her Story Teaches
The famous photograph is about courage in the face of opposition. The 2017 run is about something quieter and more relevant: the courage to start again after a long gap, when nobody is forcing you to, when the only person you are proving anything to is yourself.
Most people’s most important comeback is not in front of witnesses. It happens in the months before, in the dark, alone, when they decide to try again. Whatever you stepped away from — whatever you put down because life got complicated — consider that putting it down was not the same as putting it away forever. Kathrine Switzer was 70. She laced up. She ran 26 miles. Your starting line is still there. Never give up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Kathrine Switzer?
An American marathon runner and author who, in 1967, became the first woman to officially enter and complete the Boston Marathon using a race number. (Britannica)
What happened at the 1967 Boston Marathon?
She entered using her initials and was not identified as female until race day. Official Jock Semple attempted to physically remove her mid-run. She finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes. (Wikipedia)
Did Kathrine Switzer run the Boston Marathon again?
Yes — six times in total. On the 50th anniversary in 2017, she ran it again at age 70, finishing in 4 hours, 44 minutes, and 31 seconds. (Runner’s World)
What is the 261 Fearless Foundation?
A global nonprofit founded by Switzer that uses running as a vehicle for women’s empowerment. The number 261 references her original 1967 race bib. (261 Fearless)
Thinking about starting again after a long gap? Risha is here.
Get a story like this every week: Join the Project Never Give Up newsletter — it’s free.
