BEAN TOWN TROT

 A week ago, the Boston Marathon was run.  It was delayed from it's usual date in April and was only run virtually last year because of the pandemic.  It is the oldest active annual marathon in the world, dating back to 1897.  

Here's a little fact about the race that caught my eye.  From the beginning, it was a race for men only.  Women didn't run back then unless someone was chasing them.  I see women running or jogging along the roadway every day of the week, now.   My Goodness, they can even vote.  

Anyway, the transition from all male to mixed gender wasn't as easy as you might guess.  In the 70th year of the event, 1967, a woman named Kathrin Switzer (age 20) got an entry form, filled it out as K.V. Switzer and was given a bib number. It could have been Kenneth or Karl; who knew.  

A woman was in the race but not everyone was happy about it.  While the race was being run, a man who was a race official, noticed her and tried to forcibly remove her. He ran onto the street and grabbed her.  Luckily, Kathrin, a Syracuse University student, had two male running partners along side her who knocked the man off the course.  She finished and a precedent was set.  

Now, women can run wherever they want.  

🙆