Kathrine Switzer was born in Amberg, Germany to American military parents. She grew up primarily in the Washington, DC area, the only daughter of an Army Colonel father and educator mother with an older brother who was a big influence on her life.

She made sports history in 1967 as the first woman to register for and complete the Boston Marathon at a time when the race was still a men’s only event. The photo of race director Jock Semple trying to forcibly remove her from the race course became one of Time-Life’s “100 Photos that Changed the World.”

endurance magazine 2016