One day they decided to see how many days in a row they could run. She moved to Roanoke, Virginia 30 years ago and began running with a few friends from college. But she found that her love of the sport lasted longer than her interest in the young man. Mick, from Lewisberg, West Virginia, originally began running to catch the eye of a cross country runner she fancied. We are the last to be allowed to do most sports.” “Even now, after so many years, they are forming a football team for women. It was a male-dominated sport, which most sports are in the beginning,” Latta said. When she first began running, children would point to her and say to their mothers, “Look, that woman is running.” Latta said women’s late start in athletics is why there are far fewer of us on top of the running streak list. “I majored in library science and always had a methodical, structured way of doing things.” “I got in the habit of running, and I was up and out the door before I’d had a chance to think about it,” Latta explained. Still, it was over a decade later that she realized she had a running streak going, after reading about fellow streaker John Sutherland in the Wall Street Journal. Latta’s brother bought her first pair of running shoes, which she “wore until they disintegrated.” Next, she got a pair of New Balance running shoes, and her favorite routes became the mountain and woody areas near her home. After a few weeks, he was satisfied Latta had formed a habit. He kept checking on her, encouraging her to run on weekends, too. If you miss a day, then you won’t go back.'” I told the principal the next day and he said, ‘That’s good-run every day, don’t stop. “So I went by myself, and I ran 1.5 miles. “One day after school I proposed to my sons that we should go for a run, and neither of them thought that was a good idea,” Latta said. He later told her she should run instead. The principal of the school was a good marathon runner himself, and saw Latta out walking one day. In the 1970’s, not long after Kathrine Switzer’s famous appearance as the first woman in the Boston Marathon, Latta was a young elementary school librarian. RELATED: Coaches Weigh In: Should You Do A Running Streak? Latta, Mick and myself all had different paths in our unique running journey. I am the baby of the bunch at 49 years old, having begun my running streak as a 17-year-old, while a senior in high school. Virginia resident Judy Mick, 58, will tally 31 years in November. Lois Bastien of Florida, who is 79, has run everyday for 36.5 years, while 75-year-old Barbara Latta of North Carolina will notch 33 years in December. I have the third-longest streak for women in the U.S., with a streak defined as running at least one mile within each calendar day. Why so few women, and why run every day, anyway? The answers reflect a stark change in the way women in athletics were viewed not long ago, and the differences between why people ran then, and why they do now. The next female “streaker” will reach the quarter century mark in about a year, and then there is a two-year gap until the next woman does the same thing. Only four of us, including myself, have reached this three decade milestone. Within this exclusive club there is an even more elite group: women. I’ve been called crazy for running every day. And who knows? With my running streak hitting 32 years this December, people could be right.īut the thing is, there are others like me-62, in fact, who are listed on the United States Running Streak Association registry as running every day for 30 years or more. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |