![]() The men running alongside her, Gibb recalled, were glad to have a woman in the race. “I knew I had to finish or I'd set women back 50 years, because I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders,” Gibb said. “I felt elated in my head, in spirit, but my feet were killing me,” she said, recalling the terrible blisters she endured. Gibb ran the race in a hooded sweatshirt, her brother’s bermuda shorts, a bathing suit tank top and boys’ running shoes. “She said, ‘it's something I should have done a long time ago.’” “I said, ‘Mom, you've got to drive me,’ and I could see her lips started to quiver and tears in her eyes, and she said, ‘Okay, get the keys,’” Gibb recalled. The day of the marathon, Gibb finally changed her mother’s mind. “She felt, ‘for your own good, I really have to get you shaped up and you've got to become a conventional woman,’” Gibb said. ![]() Gibb said she clashed with her mother, who also faced limited opportunities. “My dad was very upset, he thought I would hurt myself or possibly die if I tried such a thing.” ![]() “My parents thought I was nuts, they thought I had really lost my grip on reality,” she said. “When I ran, especially in nature, in the woods, I felt that sort of miracle of life around me, and I felt free, I was away from society's constraints,” she said.īut before she could race the Boston Marathon, Gibb needed a ride to the start line. In spite of society’s restrictions, Gibb loved to run. ![]() 'They really opened the doors for all of us': Joan Benoit Samuelson on women in the marathon Honoring 50 years of women in the Boston Marathon A new Boston Marathon goal: Become more inclusive to local Black runners ![]()
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