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12/31/2022

Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was only a few meters from the finish line, but got confused with the signs and stopped, thinking he had finished the race. A Spanish man, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him and, realizing what was going on, started shouting to the Kenyan to keep running. Mutai did not know Spanish and did not understand.
Realizing what was going on, Fernandez pushed Mutai to victory. A reporter asked Ivan, "Why did you do this?" Ivan replied, "My dream is that one day we can have some sort of community life where we push ourselves and help each other win." The reporter insisted "But why did you let the Kenyan win?" Ivan replied, "I didn't let him win, he was going to win. The race was his."
The reporter insisted and asked again, "But you could have won!" Ivan looked at him and replied: "But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of this medal? What would my Mother think of it?" The values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values do we teach our children and how much do you inspire others to earn? Most of us take advantage of people's weaknesses instead of helping to strengthen them

04/22/2022

Footraces were held hiking and running across the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim from 1970-1991 participated at times by more than 100 people.

08/08/2019

50 years ago this month, Ted Corbitt, “the father of American ultrarunning” ran his lifetime most miles in a month with 1,002.5 miles at the age of 50. He was training to run the famed London-to-Brighton 52-mile race where he finished 2nd in September.

In October 1969, at age 50, Ted was invited to run his first 100-mile race, held on a track at Walton-on-Thames in England. The invitational race started at midnight with 16 runners in a brilliantly lit stadium.

The winner broke the world 100-mile record with 12:31. Ted finished in 3rd with a new American Record, 13:33:06 He said the race “killed him a little.” It took him four months to find enthusiasm to go out on a long training run.

02/25/2019

07/10/2018

05/24/2018

Marathon runners who cheat have become more sophisticated in their methods – they don’t need to hop on a bus to stay ahead of the competition. See how one ma...

11/05/2017

Geoffrey Kamworwor is the men's winner, edging Wilson Kipsang.

10/19/2017

The Star Wars Half Marathon, Disneyland Half Marathon and races themed to the Avengers and Tinkerbell, will not take place until further notice.

04/18/2017

When Kathrine Switzer first ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, a race official tried to physically remove her from the route after he discovered that she was female. Today, 50 years later, the now 70-year-old Switzer has successfully completed the marathon once again -- this time running it in 4 hours, 44 minutes at the head of a team of over 100 women! Switzer was a 20-year-old college student at Syracuse University in 1967 when she registered for the race using her initials, K.V. Switzer. Not realizing that she was a woman, who were barred from participating in the Boston Marathon for over 70 years, race officials issued her an entry number.

During the race, marathon official Jock Semple ran up to her yelling "Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers!" When he grabbed Switzer and attempted to rip off her race number, other runners, including Switzer’s coach Arnie Briggs and her boyfriend Tom Miller, blocked Semple and she was able to complete the marathon. Dramatic photographs of the incident and the story of Switzer’s participation in the marathon made global headlines. Switzer's record-setting run as the Boston Marathon’s first registered female runner came one year after the historic run of Bobbi Gibb, who disguised herself and snuck in to run the marathon in 1966.

After the marathon, Switzer became deeply engaged in efforts to increase girls’ and women’s access to sports and she and other women runners finally convinced the Boston Athletic Association to drop their discriminatory policies and allow women to participate in 1972. Today, nearly half of Boston Marathon entrants are female. Switzer also helped lead the drive for the inclusion of a women’s marathon in the Olympic Games -- a victory which was achieved at long last with the first women's marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Today, on the 50th anniversary of her historic run, Switzer ran with a team from her nonprofit organization, 261 Fearless, named for her original bib number. As part of the team commitment, today's participants aimed to raise $1 million for the nonprofit to fund non-competitive running clubs, train coaches, and provide a communications platform for women runners in the U.S. and across the globe. Reflecting on the tremendous progress in women's running over the past five decades -- women now participate in more running events than men in the U.S., with women making up 57% of finishers in U.S. races last year -- Switzer says, “If young women today take for granted the fact that they can compete like men in the sport of running, that’s fantastic. That’s what we wanted when we began working for acceptance."

To learn more about Kathrine Switzer's running organization for women, 261 Fearless, visit http://www.261fearless.org/

For an excellent book about her inspiring story, we highly recommend her autobiography, "Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports," which you can find at http://amzn.to/1o1607x

For a fascinating book about 22 pioneering women runners, including Switzer, check out “First Ladies of Running: 22 Inspiring Profiles of the Rebels, Rule Breakers, and Visionaries Who Changed the Sport Forever,” at http://amzn.to/1Vbcljj

For a fun doll & book set to spark young girls' interest in running, check out the "Runner Girl Ella Set" for ages 3 to 8 at http://www.amightygirl.com/ella-runner-girl

For several Mighty Girl stories that celebrate the joy of running, we recommend "The Quickest Kid in Clarksville" for ages 4 to 8 (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-quickest-kid-in-clarksville) and “The Running Dream” for ages 12 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/the-running-dream).

To introduce children and teens to trailblazing women role models in all fields from sports to science to the arts, visit A Mighty Girl's "Role Model" book section at http://amgrl.co/1I0x0ld

And, for a fantastic t-shirt that speaks to the fact that strength has nothing to do with gender, check out the “I'm not strong for a girl. I'm just strong.” t-shirt for both kids and adults at http://www.amightygirl.com/strong-t-shirt