Amby Burfoot - First Ladies of Running: 22 Inspiring Profiles of the Rebels, Rule Breakers, and Visionaries Who Changed the Sport Forever

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2016 by Amby Burfoot

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Book design by Carol Angstadt
Photo editing by Liz Reap Carlson

All page numbers refer to the print edition.
Photograph credits can be found on page 261.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher.

ISBN-13: 9781609615642 paperback

ISBN-13: 9781609615659 ebook

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.

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To the pioneering women runners without whose courage and generosity this book would not have been possible

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, and just outside Boston, Massachusetts, I was surrounded by great runners and renowned races like the Boston Marathon. Strangely enough, however, I didnt actually know a lot about running.

Thats because my parents never talked much about their running careers, or pushed me to enter races. Its almost like they didnt want me to get into running too early in life. They wanted me to discover it naturally and on my own. Nevertheless, they always supported my interest in basketball, swimming, soccer, and all sorts of physical activities.

Looking back, Im so glad they didnt encourage me to focus on running too soon. I think this allowed me to build up the passion and momentum I have felt since I turned pro in 2004. Its taken a lot of hard work and tenacity to win the 10,000-meter bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics, to compete in the Olympic Marathon in 2012, and to continue pushing my boundaries. In September 2015, I set a new American record for 10,000 meters on the road.

If my parents had pushed me into running at an early age, I dont know if I would still be exploring my potential and chasing fast performances. Id probably be injured or burned out. Instead, Im still excited about my running, still challenged to improve, and still hungry to achieve my goals.

To some extent, I was raised in a running store. In the early 1980s, my mother and father both worked at the Frank Shorter store in Boulder. It seemed like the center of the running universe. So many famous runners passed through that store. Of course, I didnt know who they were at the time. I just thought they were friends of my parents, or Franks friends, and that everyone wore running shoes.

I didnt know my parents were fast and famous. I just thought they liked to run a lot.

One of my mothers best friends was Lorraine Moller. I didnt realize she was an Olympian and the 1984 Boston Marathon winner. I just thought of her as my favorite babysitter.

I also had no idea that my mother, then Cheryl Bridges before she married my father, Steve Flanagan, and changed her name, was a one-time world record holder. In 1971, she was the first woman to break 2:50 in the marathon.

My father wasnt too shabby either. He ran a 2:18 marathon and competed in the World Cross-Country Championships three times. Yet neither of my parents ever talked about their running. It might seem a bit unusual that I knew so little about my parents and their racing records, but I guess thats just the way they wanted it.

In high school, I had a poster of Grete Waitz on my wall. I thought she was amazing with all those wins in the New York City Marathon. She was so consistenta goal I later adopted for myself. She became a role model to me, and I knew that my mother admired her, too.

Later, when I met Joan Benoit Samuelson, we talked about training programs. I think she was very intuitivevery good at listening to her own body and its needsand Ive tried to follow that approach. I also know that she trained like a beast.

It wasnt until college, when I started to immerse myself in the sport, that I began to uncover the amazing truth about my parents. I can remember times when I went rummaging through the back of closets and found medals, old pairs of running shoes, and musty Team USA uniforms. I thought the uniforms were cool. They were so retro that they seemed hip to me.

Anyway, I learned more about my parents running histories once I started asking them about the stuff in the closets. My mother would tell me stories about how uncomfortable it was to run in heavy cotton clothes and sweat suits, and without a sports bra. When I got my first shipment of running apparel from my sponsor, Nike, she was absolutely flabbergasted by the fit and function of all the technical clothes.

She also told me that it wasnt unusual for her to be pelted by cans or bottles from passing motorists. I dont know how she and her fellow female pioneers handled it all. Those were hard times to be a woman in the male-dominated world of competitive running. Im not sure I would have had the guts to pursue running without any real support, and I cant fathom how they managed to persevere. They were very strong and courageous.

Weve made such amazing progress since those early days. I cant say that Ive ever felt any disadvantage compared to my male contemporaries. My running is so much easier than my mothers was. I am able to do what I want to do and to pursue my dreams. I have so many opportunities that might never have existed without my mother and the other women run ners like her. They paved the road for all of us to follow. I feel so deeply appreciative for all they have contributed to the sport.

And they didnt do it just for Olympians like me. They did it for all women runners. Because one of the things they learned is that running improves your self-confidence and can give you a sense of possibility that carries over to all parts of your life. Running certainly changed the trajectory of my mothers lifeit gave her so much more confidence. And it has done the same for countless other women.

Thats what I tell the women runners I meet at road races. It doesnt matter how fast you are. It doesnt matter how long it takes you to reach the finish line. Its all about personal excellencestriving to be the best you can be. Thats what were all aiming for. Thats what the First Ladies have taught us.

Shalane Flanagan

Shalane Flanagan won a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic 10,000 meter race and holds the American record for 10,000 meters on the track and on the roads. She has a marathon best of 2:22:02. Her book, Run Fast, Eat Slow, will be published by Rodale Inc. in September 2016.