Sixty-Five-Year-Old Women!

Interesting thing about this relay.... before we started I met the only person on the team who I didn't already know - Wayne, Marco's boss. Well, Wayne and I seemed to hit it off immediately and when he heard I had run both Boston and New York he kept asking me questions about those races. When I was telling him about Boston and how, because I was coming back from injury I wasn't running at my BQ pace but was back with the 65 year-old women and 70-year-old men, he laughed. But then I kept going on about those da**ed 65-year-old women. They are amazing! They are fast and steady. There is always one in front of me during races who I think I'll over-take and then never do. Or, they breeze by me at mile 20. Dang them!! I also told him that I finally figured it out though. When I ran past the spot at mile 2 where the Boston Race director tried to remove Kathrine Switzer from the course in 1967 it dawned on me who these incredible 65-year-old women were. They were the Kathrine Switzers of their time. They were the ones who were running and racing despite people telling them they couldn't or shouldn't or mustn't. They were told they were too fragile, that those distances were for men, and that their uteruses would fall out. Really! These women were the ones who said too bad I'm doing it anyway. They were strong both physically and mentally. They knew they could, and they did!! I remember watching in 1984 when Joan Benoit won the first ever women's Olympic Marathon!! I was inspired! But I never, ever dreamed that one day, I too would run a marathon and join that group of women - not in speed, but in determination and perserverance.

Soooo, back to the relay. My first leg was paved, fairly flat with an over-all downhill grade, and sunny. I took off fast and held a sub-8 pace for the first mile. I felt good. There were two youngish girls in front of me who I thought I might be able to catch. Then, I heard someone behind me - gaining on me - figured it was some guy. No, it was a woman. She passed me easily and then I could see her grey bob hairdo and easy glide. She was 65 years old I'd bet! She had shifted into 6th and was just breezing past me. She passed the two young women with ease. Dang her! She was the only person to pass me.

When I came to the checkpoint and handed off our 'rock' to Elizabeth for the next leg, Wayne was the first of our group to walk up to me to say good job and such. After I caught my breath I told him that only one person passed me..... a 65-year-old woman!! We both laughed and shook our heads.

Here's to the 65-year-old women who opened the doors for women like me!! I'll just smile now when they breeze by me in races - but in my heart I'll be thanking them and hoping that one day I will find my 6th gear too. Maybe when I'm 65.