Farmville, Jekyll Island, Napa, Patagonia, Venice + Sleeping Bear Dunes
Plus: the amazing life of Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run Boston
Good morning! ☀️
I hope you’re waking up to an amazing day, wherever you are in the world — here in Atlanta, it’s after a night of heavy rain, which leaves our air much cooler than it has been lately, but so muggy you can practically feel the moisture in the air.
This week’s recommendations are ones I’m especially excited to share with you, especially a brand-new profile of Bobbi Gibb below the jump. Remember her? She’s the woman who, despite what so many of us came to believe over the years thanks to a famous photograph, was the real first woman to participate in the Boston Marathon at a time when women were forbidden from entering the race officially.
Back then, the men who organized the race believed women weren’t “physiologically capable” of running long distances, and succeeded in keeping women out of nearly all of them — but not all of them.
It turns out that women had competed in marathons decades before that, including the very first woman known to have finished a major race: a 30-year-old woman named Stamata Revithi, who ran the marathon course the day after the official competition at the 1896 Olympics in Athens, Greece, finishing it in just over five hours.
A few decades later, in 1926, an English woman named Violet Percy ran the London Marathon course — in three hours, 40 minutes — and completed two more marathons in 1933 and 1936.
All of that makes me think: we know of at least these two, who did what they did before Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer came along. There must have been more, maybe many more — and that’s what makes the reaction of the men at Gibb’s 1966 Boston Marathon debut make sense.
Unlike the men who were putting on the race, the men actually running it alongside her didn’t try to force her off the course when they saw her at the starting line. They supported her and cheered her on, much like the crowds she encountered later in the race, who did a double-take when they saw her pony tail swishing from side to side.
Women even competed officially in track and field at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, including three women who broke the then-world record in the 800-meter race. But their triumph was short-lived, as distorted press accounts gave the powers that be the ammunition they needed to keep women off the course for the next few decades.
The whole story is fascinating, and I hope you take the time to read it, if only because it’s so interesting to reflect on the simple stories we tell ourselves years and decades after something has happened — and ignore the real, full, complicated story, which actually is much more interesting, and has so much more to teach us.
I hope you have an amazing, amazing run out there today — as always, let me know how it goes!
Your friend,
— Terrell
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🏃 To run
🐻 Sleeping Bear Marathon + Half. “Miles of sand beach, bluffs that tower 450 feet above Lake Michigan, lush forests, clear inland lakes, unique flora and fauna make up the natural world of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, where this early fall race takes place. You’ll run through the village of Glen Arbor and past Little Glen Lake, as well as past the “Dune Climb,” a popular spot for attempting to climb up pure, wind-blown sand dunes. “At the peak of fall color season, the tree-lined course will be one that both runners and spectators won’t soon forget.” Set for October 7, 2023.
🇮🇹 Venice Marathon + Half. Run through the heart of this world-renowned city built on dozens of small islands along Italy’s Adriatic Sea coastline, where you’ll cross over the iconic bridges that span several of Venice’s canals. You’ll start about 15 miles outside the city in a small town called Stra, where wealthy Venetians vacationed back in the 18th century. From there, you’ll pass by Venetian villas built back between the 15th and 18th centuries, on your way into the city. The last few miles of the race are “simply unique and unforgettable,” organizers say, adding that runners will “cross the Grand Canal on a bridge especially built for the race.” Set for October 22, 2023.