One of my heroines, a pioneer of women's marathoning and star of the sport, Grete Waitz, died today, April 19, 2011, from complications of cancer. Grete was 57. Her major accomplishment was probably winning the NYC marathon 9 times (1978-1988). Grete also has a silver medal from the first women's Olympic marathon, which was held in Los Angeles and won by Joan Benoit (1984). She won the gold medal at the World Championships in 1983. Her running career began in shorter distances, as women weren't encouraged to go much further than 1500 meters. Grete was in the 1972 Olympics as a 1500meter runner for Norway. She lowered the world record in the marathon several times, eventually running a pr 2:24. Grete won the London marathon twice and was a 5 time World Cross-Country champion. She is in the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.
Jan and I had the privilege of meeting Grete at a marathon expo one year. We purchased a poster of her winning one of the NYC marathons and she signed it. The poster is framed and hanging in our house. I remember coming up to the table and barely being able to speak, we were just in awe of her. But she seemed like a really nice lady who was happy to be meeting regular runners like us.
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