First Ladies of Running, Amby Burfoot
First Ladies of Running, Amby Burfoot
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

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

Author: Amby Burfoot, Shalane Flanagan

Narrator: Elizabeth Wiley

Unabridged: 11 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/16/2022


Synopsis

Today, millions of women and girls around the world enjoy running and entering races. It wasn't always so:

● In 1961, when Julia Chase edged to the start of a Connecticut 5-miler, officials tried to push her off the road.

● At the 1966 Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibb hid behind a forsythia bush, worried that police might arrest her.

● The next year at Boston, Kathrine Switzer was assaulted mid-race by a furious race organizer.

● In the mid-60s, Indianapolis high schooler Cheryl Bridges was told not to run anywhere near the boys' track team because she might "distract" them.

● When Charlotte Lettis signed up for the University of Massachusetts cross-country team in the fall of 1971, she was told to use the men's locker room.

First Ladies of Running tells the inspiring stories of these and other runners who refused to give up despite the cultural and sports barriers they faced. Legends such as Doris Brown, Francie Larrieu, Mary Decker, Jackie Hansen, Miki Gorman, and Grete Waitz are chronicled by Runner's World editor Amby Burfoot. Burfoot even runs the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon with Oprah Winfrey, whose successful finish opened the floodgates for other women runners.


About Amby Burfoot

Amby Burfoot has been a Runner's World editor since 1978. He won the 1968 Boston Marathon, has run more than 110,000 miles in his life, and is the author or coauthor of several books. He lives in Mystic, Connecticut.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lize

I think it's hard for a man to give an accurate description of what it must have been like for female runners to compete during a time when women were not allowed on most courses. The individual stories are interesting, but there's a lot missing from this book. For example, there was no mention what......more

I felt quite misled as I read through these 22 runner profiles. I hoped to learn about the female movers and shakers in the world of running. Instead, I found huge gaps in Burfoot's work and was disappointed to see that my own sport of ultra-distance running was not mentioned at all. This is a histor......more

Goodreads review by Jessica

I finished this book in tears. I was unaware of all the hard work women had to do to get this sport to where it was today. To think, we used to be viewed as too delicate to run!......more