48 | Dr. Joan Ullyot
Starting Line 1928
Dr. Joan Ullyot, the “fastest physician marathon runner," paved the way for women runners across the world, proving by example that women should not be counted out when it comes to long distances. Ullyot raced in 80 marathons, winning ten of those along with the masters division in the Boston Marathon in 1984. Her book “Women’s Running,” published in 1976, and her in-depth studies as an exercise physiologist made the case that women deserve the equal opportunity to run competitively; her efforts were instrumental in lobbying the International Olympic Commission to add the women's...
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47 | Sara Mae Berman
Starting Line 1928
In 1969, 32-year-old Sara Mae Berman was the first woman to cross the finish line in the Boston Marathon. She did it again in 1970 and 1971. But women weren’t allowed to enter officially, so her times—3:22:46, 3:05:08, and 3:08:30, respectively—were unofficial. "All we ever wanted, us early women, was to be allowed to run the distance, and we weren't in any bloodthirsty competition with each other. We just wanted to be able to run the distance and improve our times," she says.
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46 | Jessica Louis, Amber Henderson, Angel Tadytin, and Birdie Wermy
Starting Line 1928
Native people, including women, have been running over these lands since long before anyone organized a major marathon. Yet all too often, with notable exceptions like past guest , they aren’t represented at modern races. Changing that is the key goal of an organization that Verna Volker launched in 2018. At first, it was an Instagram page; now, it’s a non-profit that creates space for and elevates the stories of Native women who run. This year, NWR brought four runners to the Bank of America Chicago Marathon: Jessica Louis, Amber Henderson, Angel Tadytin, and Birdie Wermy. All of them...
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45 | Junko Kazukawa
Starting Line 1928
Junko Kazukawa is a Japanese-born women's ultra running pioneer best known for having finished the Leadville 100-mile race 10 times. Junko is a two-time breast cancer survivor with more than three decades of experience in health, fitness, and training. She currently works as an ultra endurance coach with Boundless. Junko lives and trains in Denver, Colorado, and has completed 24 100-mile trail races so far, including Leadville, UTMB, Mt. Fuji, Ultra Fiord in Patagonia. She's the first female to finish the Grand Slam of ultra running in 2015. She was Lead Woman three times, in 2014, 2015 and...
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44 | Doris Brown Heritage
Starting Line 1928
Doris Brown Heritage has always had a need to run. During a career that spanned roughly twenty years, Brown Heritage held every woman’s national and world record from the 440 yards to the marathon. In 1966 she became the first woman to run an indoor sub-five-minute mile in 4:52. Ten years later, on a lark with little training, she won her first marathon, the 1976 Vancouver International Marathon in 2:47:35 at the age of 34. She is a two-time Olympian (1968, 800m, 1972 1500m) and is a living legend in her home state where she was named Seattle’s 1971 Man of the Year in Sports....
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43 | Laurel James
Starting Line 1928
“Life is a challenge. And if you can’t enjoy that, you’re in trouble.” Laurel James, founder of the Seattle-based running retailer Super Jock ‘n Jill and mastermind behind the 1984 U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials race, does not mince words. James entered the nascent running-retail scene in 1975, and quickly cemented herself as a visionary female entrepreneur, race director, and community pillar in the running world and beyond.
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42 | Sue Parks
Starting Line 1928
Sue Parks has had a storied career as an athlete and coach who continues to break barriers in the NCAA. Today, Sue is the director of cross-country and track and field at her alma mater, Eastern Michigan University. She’s one of the few women leading a track and field program at the Division 1 level. Years before she became a director, Parks was blazing her own path as one of the first women track stars in her home state. Her most memorable race was against Olympic gold medalist Madeline Manning (now Mims) in the Los Angeles Coliseum, where Parks ran her personal best in the 800 meters at...
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41 | Patti Catalano Dillon
Starting Line 1928
In 1980, Patti Catalano (now ) became the first American woman to break 2:30 in the marathon. She has held American and world records at various distances—including the 5 mile, 10 mile, 10k, 15k, 20k, 30k and half marathon, and she has been inducted into the RRCA Distance Running Hall of Fame. She won the Honolulu Marathon four times and finished second at the Boston Marathon three times, in 1979, 1980 and 1981.
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40 | Janet Romayko
Starting Line 1928
Janet Romayko is a veteran of 49 marathons and countless triathlons including the half Ironman distance. But what she is most thrilled with is her 50 consecutive finishes at the Manchester Road Race in Manchester CT, a 4.748-mile race held on Thanksgiving Day started in 1927. She loves running Manchester. “It’s very special to me. My family grew up there, are buried there. It’s a very sweet feeling I have for the town and the community. It’s truly coming home for me. It’s a wonderful experience,” states Romayko, who now lives in Hartford and still works as a clinical social worker....
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39 | Cheryl Toussaint
Starting Line 1928
Cheryl Toussaint is the meet director of the and an Olympic silver medalist She grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and began running with the Atoms Track Club at age 13. There, Coach Fred Thompson nurtured her athletic talent—and encouraged her academically. Cheryl earned an academic scholarship to New York University and kept training with the Atoms, eventually making the Olympics in 1972; she competed in Munich in the 800 meters and 4x400 relay, where she helped the team make the final—and eventually, win silver—despite losing a shoe. She also began assisting Thompson with...
info_outlineRunning was not Ingrid Walters’ first love. Nor was it her second, or her third. She didn’t run in earnest until she turned 41, at which point she immediately began (quite literally) making up for lost time. After swimming competitively through the first two years of college, she began lifeguarding, and picked up beach running to stay in shape. She enjoyed it enough to accept a college classmate’s “dare” to run the 1993 Los Angeles Marathon, which she completed in 4:03:00. After that, she effectively spent two decades away from the sport. At age 33 she ran the LA Marathon again, this time in 3:37 – almost exactly one minute per mile faster than her first attempt. Then, six years later, she pursued marathoning in earnest, running 3:17 at age 39, then 3:07 at age 40. She first broke three hours at the 2014 Chicago Marathon with a 2:54:58, good for third place in the Masters Division and a spot on “The List” of American-born Black female runners who have run a sub-three-hour marathon. Her marathon progression culminated when she, at age 47, won the women’s Open division at the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon with a time of 2:48:03. Afterward, medical issues temporarily sidelined her—but as she explains, she might not be done with the sport yet. Walters is also an actress who's appeared in the film “Amistad,” and she has appeared in shows including “Baywatch,” “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Shameless,” and “Parenthood,” as well as on stage at the Geffen Playhouse and in over 50 national commercials.