March is Women's History Month

(I took this from "Her Sports and Fitness" March/April issue)
Inspiring accomplishments in women's endurance sports:
1900-women compete in Olympic Games for the first time
1926- at age 19 Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel, traveling 35 miles in 14 hours and 31 minutes
1960- Wilma Rudolph, who wore leg braces until age 11 from polio, becomes the first American woman runner to win three gold medals during a single Olympic games.
1966- Roberta Gibb becomes the first woman to run Boston marathon, sneaking into the race and finishing in 3:21:40. Women are officially allowed to compete in 1972.
1971- Adreienne Beames becomes the first woman to run a sub three hour marathon in 2:46:30.
1972- Congress passes Title IX, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender in federally funded education programs and providing a much-needed boost to women's athletics.
1979-Lyn Lemaire becomes the first woman to compete in the Ironman triathalon, finishing in 12:55:38.
1984- Ameriacn Joan Benoit Samuelson wins the gold medal in the first Olympic women's marathon with a time of 2:24:52. The same year, the first Grande Boucle Feminin, the Tour de France for women, covers 616 miles and is won by American Marianne Martin in 29:39:20.
1992- Paula Newby-Fraser becomes the first woman to finish an Ironman in less than nine hours (8:55:28). Two years later she wins her seventh Ironman World Championship title, more than any other athlete, male or female, and racks up her eighth in '96.
2002-Paula Radcliffe wins the London marathon, her first, with the second best time in the world, 2:18:56. She takes London again in 2003, with a new world record of 2:15:25 in only her third marathon.
2005- Nikki Cleary runs her first race, a 15K. She ran a 5 miler fun run, a 5K adventure race, and a 5K run that year as well.
2006- Nikki Cleary ran her first half marathon in 2:18:05 (I guessed on the seconds)
2007- Nikki Cleary ran a 15K in 1:41:56, just ten weeks after she had her second baby. She ran the Sarasota half marathon in 2:20:55 (just 12 weeks after her baby was born).

The last three milestones may not mean much to most, but to me they are huge. I never ran, in fact I hated running until I tried the Jeff Galloway method in October of 2004. It consists of a 2,3 or 4 minute run then a one minute walk. We train at 3/1 or 4/1 and then we race at 2/1. It is so much easier on your body, in fact I have never had an injury to date (besides your normal muscle soreness).
Run on.....Nikki