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HAL: Interview with the Legendary Kathrine (K.V.) Switzer (Part Two)

Posted July 25, 2007 at 01:30 PM by Bridget Sullivan

Section: Her Fitness, Her Health, Her Motivation, Special Features, Interviews

Forty years ago, Boston Marathon official Jock Semple jumped off a press truck four miles into the 1967 Boston Marathon and yelled “get out of my race” as he tried to rip the #261 off of K.V. Switzer. Pictures of the confrontation ran in newspapers around the world, essentially changing women’s running forever.

To date, she has helped implement programs in 27 countries for over 1 million women.  Her personal dedication and energy have helped change the face of sports, health and opportunities for women around the world.

To read part one of our interview with Kathrine Switzer, click here.

Her Active Life (HAL): For a woman that seems to inspire so many other women – and men as well – who inspired or still inspires you?

Kathrine Switzer (KS): I think, at first, I was inspired simply by the heroics of the marathon – that there were people ahead of me who had done this. 

I’m inspired by the ancient Greek idea of being a hero in your own life.  But, of course, Arnie [Briggs] led me by hand and I had parents to look up to.  And then you start thinking about other athletes like the great Emile Zatopek.

Now the people who inspire me are all the women out there who are running regularly, who are excelling, or who are just starting for the first time.  I just got back from a trip (I am always just coming back from a trip), and I met a whole group of women who are signing up for a race called the Heart of Summer race out in Minneapolis in August – one of the many races that I am involved with.  Here are women who have never put on a number or a pair of running shoes before and they just decided to do it, and they go through all of these same things – self doubt and anxiety and excitement – that we did when we first started with running.  Those are the women who inspire me because they are discovering a new life for the first time. It’s great. 

HAL:  One of the things that I find inspiring as a female athlete and runner is that you say that you are not a naturally gifted runner, but that you are a hard worker.  And yet you ran a 2:51 marathon.  What was your training like when you ran that?

KS: I trained so hard. When I was writing my book, I looked back at what I was doing and my editor said, “Look, let’s take out all of these training schedules because they are actually kind of boring.” So I kind of alluded to some of it.  But I was reading Arthur Lydiard back then, back in the late 70s, and his book Run to the Top.  I was reading about Kenny Moore. 

Anyway, what I kept doing is adding distance and then I started adding speed, and basically I got up to the point where I was running 110 miles/week, and I would probably run the full marathon distance every Sunday.  Eventually I cut that back to a 20 miler and made it faster.  At least two nights a week, I would do intense intervals on the track – alone and in the dark.  I would do something like 20 repeat 400s with 30 seconds or a full minute rest in between them.  Or I would do forty 200s; repeat miles and repeat two miles. I mean mind-numbing workouts. 

I would change a lot of that now.  I would have worked with a team, with a training buddy.  I wouldn’t do all of those repeats on the track.  I would take it out to the trails and do fartleks and intervals now – having known what I know now.  But, the bottom line is this: I got results.  This is what I’ve discovered and I tell people, that attaching something with achievement is beyond anything that we can imagine, and that we are also the very worst judges of our own capability.  And it’s okay to get good, it’s okay to try to get good, it’s okay to try to get better, it’s okay to be competitive - you just never know what you can do until you really try. 

I don’t have the “talent,” especially when you look at these other women runners – but I did have the persistence to work at it and do the long repeats and keep doing it.  Honestly, it’s the old adage, “practice makes perfect,” and you do get better!  So I tell people that if you want to go longer and faster, you have to do it in training because it works – the body always responds. 

HAL:  What are the most defining moments of your career?

KS: Well, I have to say that Boston in 1967 was a defining moment because it really changed my life and, as a consequence, changed the lives of millions of women around the world.  The inspiration to do a lot of the things that I do now came from the moment that Jock Semple tackled me. But that was something that actually happened to me; I also think of a defining moment as something that you do. 

I think the other defining moment was the moment that I had worked so hard to get the women’s marathon into the Olympic Games, and when it was announced, there I was in a room with the IOC board, and they announced that the women’s marathon would take place in 1984 (the announcement was in February, 1981).  And that was a defining moment.  I turned to a girlfriend next to me and we were all crying and I said, “You know, nobody is going to understand how important this moment is until the first woman comes through the tunnel and into the Olympic Stadium.” And that’s how I ended my book because three years later when Joan Beniot Samuelson ran through that tunnel, that’s when the world got it.  That’s when all of a sudden the world said, “Oh my God, women can do the impossible. Women can do the most arduous, most difficult event.”

But the defining moment for that actually came the moment of the announcement when the IOC said that they were going to include the women’s marathon. 

HAL:  What is your personal life philosophy? 

KS: I think a balanced lifestyle is everything, and I haven’t quite achieved that because I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time - I’m not always living in the moment [laughs].  But, you know what, I keep saying, “I’ll live in the moment later” [laughs]. 

I think my philosophy is trying to do good, trying to do the best you can with what you’ve got.  My philosophy is to be really grateful for things and to pass it on – my dad had always said that to me.  He said you can’t always thank the people that help you, but the best way to say “thank you” is to pass it on to somebody else. 

In terms of my own personal philosophy, trying to get a run in everyday is important to me.  It’s not like it’s a disaster if I don’t run, but it’s a day without a bonus because no matter what – even if the weather’s bad and you only have 10 minutes or you’re in a cranky mood – you just get out there and it always give you back more than you’ve given it.  That is pretty phenomenal because there is not much in life that gives you more than you give it.  Running always does, so that is why I try to run everyday. 

I think there’s something magical about raising your body temperature and sweating. 

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Tags: 1967, 1967 boston marathon, arnie briggs, avon, avon international running circuit, boston, boston marathon, feminism, global change, japan, jock semple, kathrine swizter, kenyan women runners, marathon, marathon woman, running, running globally, women's running

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