April 25, 2022
Greetings from the broader path,
After you read this, please remember this is not about running.
Kathrine Switzer is famous for slipping into the 1967 Boston Marathon, at a time when women were not allowed. She ultimately helped to break that barrier for women in long distance running. Within a few years of that Boston drama, she and others won a battle with the AAU to allow women to participate in running events that competed with men, in particular the marathon.
This didn’t matter to me at the time, and quite honestly, it didn’t matter enough to me when it should have. Now I shake my head, in awe that this kind of change happened in my lifetime.
Last week I met Kathrine Switzer in Boston, had an interesting conversation as we both made our way to different places. She is a fit woman of seventy-five, composed, confident, makes an impression. I won’t say I got to know her well from what was said, but instead how she was.
Something flared in her as she spoke, and a flinty, determined look came in her eyes. It was a familiar feeling, because I’d seen a similar passion, in eyes just as blue and determined.
This week I realized where I’ve seen that fire I saw in Switzer’s eyes. It’s the same look that my sister has. She’s kind of a hero of mine.
My sister Dawn was the first person in our family to graduate from college. Don’t rush past that accomplishment, it is not that long since that was something to celebrate. She became a dedicated teacher, started a family, and grew into an impressive woman. When children came along, she set this precedent: our lives don’t end just because we become parents. Nothing holds you back without your permission. You want to go skiing? Pack that kid on your back.
Dawn has been a special sister, one whose caring friendship has been as important as the example she lives. One of my favorite moments between us was when our daughter Katherine was born and she came to the hospital and showed us that our baby was not as fragile as we thought, and that changing a diaper wasn’t a life changing event. I know it’s a small thing, but that’s where I first saw her as a hero.
We are both runners, since the days of ‘Emily and Pooh’. For her, running is a part of a lifestyle, paired with her career and her family and her friends, and all the adventures she makes possible. Dawn told me several years ago that he she was finished with marathons. She’d run plenty of them, and lots of other distances, and while she didn’t seem to be slowing down any, it sounded like she just shifted her focus.
Dawn belongs to multiple running groups, because she understands the power of surrounding yourself with people who will hold you to your potential. What delights me is to hear about the women she runs with, a core group of sisters who celebrate and lift each other up, have a lot of fun, and oh by the way, run together. They run in costumes, they bring food and beer, they go to races like ‘Run Through Hell’ and ‘Dances With Dirt’. And then go have brunch with margaritas.
A couple of days ago, Dawn and her group ran a 50 kilometer ultramarathon. So yeah, she was done with marathons, other than as training runs. It was a tough, hot run, but now she has a lifetime membership in the ultra-club.
Seeing the pictures of her finish her 50k, and hearing her talk about the experience, I felt that same awe, the same inspiration, as I felt when she showed me how she does parenting, and working, how she grieves, how she creates, how she lives.
Dawn and Kathrine Switzer have a life in common. Kathrine was a pioneer, someone who crashed the gates and forged a path for every generation of women who came after her. It is really an impressive and important thing. What I like seeing now is that my sister Dawn stepped into that opening and made it broader.
She now carves a path for her granddaughter Audrey, and for every girl Audrey knows. She makes it within reach for my daughter and her daughter to do anything they set their minds to, that all new vistas will open to them. Because this woman, and women like her, showed them what’s possible.
Dawn is a champion for her students. She was a champion as she raised her boys, showed her siblings the way a strong woman lives her life. And she is a champion because she crushed her first ultramarathon and knocked down that obstacle for every woman that knows her.
Kathrine and Dawn are not heroes because they run long distances, that’s just an expression of their passion for living, and for the belief they have in themselves, and in the women that will follow them. This is not about running, it is about empowered, passionate, capable women doing whatever they set their minds to, and not letting the limits of gender or age or history stop them.
If you see Dawn, tell her congratulations, and thanks.
Hope this finds you proud of her,
David
Copyright © 2022 David Smith
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