COMMENTARY: This year marks 50 years of women 'officially' running the bostonmarathon. But by 1972, Sara Mae Berman was a seasoned pro -- having won the race three times already.
Sara Mae Berman, at her home in Cambridge, Mass., wears a medal she was presented for her Boston Marathon wins in 1969, 1970, and 1971. The Boston Athletic Association began recognizing women racers officially in 1972.
We got married in 1955, and by 1958, we’d moved to Cambridge to start our family. After having two children in 15 months, I was feeling very little control over my body. Larry suggested I start running. He believed that the shape we were in by the time we reached 30 years old would set the pattern of fitness for the rest of our lives. He was right.
In the winter of 1963, I gave birth to our third child. But by the spring, I was running again. That fall, we held the first ever cross-country races for girls at Fresh Pond Reservoir in Cambridge. Those races were the newly approved one and one-quarter miles — the longest race for girls at that time.
That first year, Larry and I ran together. I had done the training, and he was there to boost my morale. When I made the right on Hereford, and then left on Boylston, I felt elated: I had done it! It felt great! I remember the 1970 race particularly. It was a cooler day than we had dressed for: in the upper 30s, not the upper 40s. Early on, my hands got very cold. I ran most of the race that year with a teenage boy named Dick from our running club. Around Wellesley, another running friend gave me his pair of gloves — it was so cold I had to pull them on with my teeth! Dick and I traded them back and forth every 30 minutes. Larry had finished the race in 2:38:03 that year, his best.
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