For weeks I've been bursting with this news, but we had to nail down some details. Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first women's Olympic marathon gold medalist and one of the best long-distance women runners ever, will speak at the carbo-load dinner Friday night before the NC Marathon, half-marathon, and 5K. And I feel like a kid about it -- how many times do you get to meet one of your all-time heroes? My awe for Joan goes back three decades. I was a New Englander then, like her. She won her first Boston Marathon in 1979 as a senior at Bowdoin College. She wore a Bowdoin singlet and a Boston Red Sox hat backwards, nothing high-tech about her, yet she set a course record that year. She won Boston again in 1983, setting a world record of 2:22:43. Her Chicago victory of 2:21:21 stood as the world record for 17 years
Among her many victories, the one that best illustrates Samuelson's grit is winning the Olympic marathon trials just three weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery. The story that best captures her character? After winning the gold medal in 1984, in a decisive victory over Grete Waitz, she told reporters she was excited to get back home to Maine -- because it was blueberry season and she wanted to get picking.
These days, as I face the realities of middle age, what I love about Joan is that she's still at it, which is remarkable for anyone, male or female, at the elite level of the sport. Last year, at age 50, she ran in the Olympic marathon trials and beat her personal goal of 2:50, setting an American record for women 50-54.
Be sure to join us at the pasta dinner May 1. Visit ncmarathon.org for dinner tickets and other ways to see Joan during race week. Hope I don't elbow you out of the way too badly.
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