Kathrine Switzer: The First Woman to Complete the Boston Marathon in 1939

Rebecca: As a marathoner I've always been interested in this story. I enjoyed the first half of the book but didn't read the second half because I'm not that interested in how the women's marathon became an olympic event though I am glad it is.

United States on Mar 15, 2023

Rory G. Campbell: The lady runners in the household will love this First Lady to run marathon

United Kingdom on Feb 05, 2023

JRC: I knew of Kathrine's run at Boston but i did not know how much else she did - and boy do we soon forget how awful things were for women back then. A great read.

United Kingdom on Aug 30, 2021

cliente amazon: la storia di kathrine switzer è davvero potentissima. è grazie a questo libro che ho ripreso a correre.
consigliato a tutte le donne che già conoscono il potere trasformativo della corsa, e a quelle che sono disposte a scoprirlo.

Italy on Apr 07, 2021

Valerie S. SestirValerie S. Sestir: Very readable and amazing account of Kathrine Switzer's story, turning a negative event into a positive calling to fight for the acceptance of women in long-distance running, including the push for a women's marathon in the Olympics. And she continues her advocacy. Recently she founded a non-profit organization, 261 Fearless (named after her bib in the 1967 Boston marathon and the feeling so many have after hearing her story), whose goal is to organize non-competitive running organizations for women. I am proud to say that just two weeks ago, as a member of the 261 Fearless Boston 2017 team, I was able fund raise for this organization, and toe the start line with her and 100+ members of our team, cerebrating the 50th anniversary of her iconic run. The book, like Kathrine, is inspirational. I highly recommend it.

United States on May 03, 2017

WDX2BB: The battle for women's rights in athletics seems almost quaint and definitely silly now.

How could we preclude half of the population from enjoying what men enjoyed since the rise of leisure time? Did medical experts really claim that women couldn't run long distances, or that they couldn't handle the strain of playing full-court basketball?

It is easy to forgot what it took to get us to where we are now. So Kathrine Switzer's book, "Marathon Woman," serves as an excellent reminder of those past struggles.

The first part of this autobiography, which actually extends only through 1984, deals with how she became the female to be officially entered and run the Boston Marathon. She used an initial for a first name on the entry form, and she had to fend off Jock Semple, an official at the Marathon to do so, but she finished the race. Suddenly, all things female in long-distance running looked a lot more possible. Her stories about preparation for Boston are extremely detailed, as if she was taking notes along the way.

Switzer could have been content with being a trivia question and moving on to other areas of life, but she was smart enough and clever enough...

United States on Feb 28, 2014

Lisa Jackson: Packed with hilarious anecdotes, gossip from behind the scenes of major marathons, life lessons, and numerous fabulous photos, Marathon Woman is one of the best running books I've ever read. Be warned, however - do not read this book while you're alone as parts of it are so funny or moving you'll deeply regret not having had someone to read them out aloud to (as I continually did to my long-suffering husband while on holiday!)

Having seen the iconic photos of the day a race official tried to rip off Kathrine's race number when she entered the all-male Boston Marathon I was keen to know more about the incident and the woman who caused such a stir, and this book - part memoir, part historical document, part love story - certainly delivered on all counts. Fifteen years after I first started running marathons (I've now done 36 and two 56-mile ultras), it came as a real surprise to learn that being `allowed' to run 26.2 miles, which was seen as too gruelling for us delicate ladies, was all thanks to Kathrine Switzer. This is because she didn't just pave the way for elite women to enter marathons and campaign to get the women's marathon recognised as an Olympic sport, she...

United Kingdom on Feb 13, 2013

Anna Neufeld: Enjoyed Kathrine's story a lot! Thrilling presentation of a pioneer woman finding a path in a men dominated professional and sports world. Actually happy not to have lived just three decades before!

Furthermore, the reading is inspiring and encouraging to make real efforts to reach your aims, even if it gets tough due to education/work pressure, harsh training conditions and private life / resistance from close friends. Respect what could be done by Kathrine and her combatants / fellows which were few only in number in the beginning. Never give up.
By the way, I did my 5th marathon while reading the book and achieved a personal best in Frankfurt (3:32 in Oct 2012, less than 4 weeks after submitting my part-time MSc dissertation). Thanks Kathrine!! Love your story.

Germany on Nov 16, 2012

smd: I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It was so great for me to read about what it was like to be a woman runner before that was OK - as a 20something, it made me recognize how much I took for granted. I've seen the photos of Kathrine Switzer running Boston what feels like a thousand times, and it was enlightening to hear about it from her perspective. I enjoyed reading about her running career, but parts of it just dragged for me. There was a lot about her job with Avon and other professional responsibilities which just didn't interest me as much, although if you're more interested in the PR and race organization you'd probably like it quite a bit. I also just got the feeling that she doesn't like other women very much. There are lots of off-hand derogatory remarks about feminists, which I don't quite understand. In some ways, it was interesting to read about how she was operating in a completely different sphere than the woman's rights movement - but I kept wondering what might have happened if they had worked together! All in all, an interesting read, but not one that I loved.

United States on Apr 06, 2012

Linda Adam Hall: This is the perfect book to give to a female running partner! Reading Kathrine's story of personal and athletic growth was most inspiring. As well as being an honest and insightful autobiography of her personal and athletic growth, the book really lets you in on the world of networking, marketing and how people influence each other. You see how things can get done with a person's determination and focus -- in the business world as well as through the rigors of athletic training. Kathrine tells pretty much her whole story; whatever she has left out was probably appropriate abridgement, because what we see of her seems pretty complete for the purposes of this book. What an adventure it was at the start of women's running! You get a step-by-step unfolding of what it took to get to that excellent moment in 1984, when Joan Benoit crossed the finish line of the first women's marathon in the Olympic Games. Runners will especially enjoy this book, but it will be interesting to anyone who enjoys reading about people who make a postive difference in the world.

United States on Dec 25, 2009