About this item
Amby Burfoot has been following the women's running movement for 50 years and in this book, Burfoot presents 20 inspiring stories of the women runners from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s who have shaped the face of running, including an incredible profile of Joan Benoit Samuelson, the winner of the first ever Olympic women's Marathon in Los Angeles in 1984. From there, women's running grew in popularity. Ten years later, in 1994, Oprah Winfrey ran her first marathon, and Burfoot was there to chronicle the effect it had on the women's running world. Running became the sport for women to embrace, setting into motion a widespread women's running boom that continues unabated to this day, with women now making up 50 percent of the running population. The other equally divine women featured in The First Ladies of Running, including legends such as Grete Waitz and Kathrine Switzer, personify inspiration.
About the Author
Amby Burfoot is the 1968 Boston Marathon winner, and a long-time editor and writer (since 1978) at Runner's World magazine. Burfoot has run approximately 110,000 miles in his life, and has finished the Manchester (CT) Thanksgiving Day road race every year since 1963 (53 straight years through 2015) . Along the way, he won Manchester nine times.
Burfoot has finished the Boston Marathon 20 times, including 2013, 2014, and 2015 (the 50th anniversary of his first Boston in 1965.) He hopes to maintain his mini-streak through 2018, which will be the 50th anniversary of his victory in 1968.
Burfoot has run a smattering of other global marathons, including his personal best, 2:14:29, in the 1968 Fukuoka Marathon in Japan. He has also finished South Africa's famed 54-mile Comrades Marathon on two occasions. He's married to Cristina, a fellow runner-writer, and has two grown children--Daniel and Laura.
He feels lucky to be one of those fortunate few who have managed to combine passion and profession.
