“During the winter, you head out into the darkness for a run.
“When spring comes, and the first crocus pokes up its head… you know it was worthwhile.”
When did you start running and why?
I grew up in Brooklyn, active in all kinds of exercise. I was a speed bike racer, and a speed skater on roller skates and on ice skates. We called running “dry training” when us ice speed skaters went running in the summer.
I went to college and became a registered nurse, and I realized how many people didn’t exercise because they had physical work to do, like mowing lawns, cleaning house, walking to shop and to work. But I believed that using your body for daily activities was good for you – even walking several blocks instead of taking a bus.
After giving birth to my three children, and having them play a lot, I started walking and jogging around the areas where they played. Then running was the easiest exercise to do, since I didn’t need to travel to do it. I had, and still have, a great area to run in where I live. I also had some friends from my skating days that also ran, and we would make dates to run together.
Of course, after buying running shoes and running magazines, I learned about the Boston Marathon. My husband also started running, as did two fellows from my ice speed skating group. We heard about the Boston Marathon, and decided to do it in 1969. Of course, women were not official entrants, but we all had a good run and we met other runners, that I am still friends with to this day. We continued to run Boston every year .
Most memorable run and why?
I was so happy to win the women’s Boston Marathon in 1972, and that would be the most memorable for me. I think 1972 was the first year that women were officially recognized by the AAU (the USA governing Organization of that year).
And my 50-mile run in Central Park in 1977. I knew I had to pace myself properly and I was comfortable throughout the run. My training for this event was so good. I worked at Mt. Sinai hospital across the street from Central Park, and I would run after work. Thank goodness, my mother was available to look after my kids.
Biggest disappointment and why?
No disappointments, since I was able to run the paces I chose and if any woman finished ahead of me, that would be ok by me. I hoped they really appreciated their completed marathon.
What would you do differently if you could do it again?
I would do nothing different.
Why? I was very happy and proud with my exercise programs.
What was your ‘best stretch of running’?
My best stretch was 1970-1978. I was in my 30’s, I had already given birth to my three children, who at that time were two- to nine years old.
From 1970-1973, I ran eighteen marathons, and I won fourteen of them, and came in second in the other four.
In 1971, I was one of the first two women to run a sub-three-hour marathon. The other woman was Beth Bonner.
In 1972, I ran seven marathons and won them all.
In 1977, I ran my best marathon, 2:50:22, at the Women’s National Marathon in Minnesota, and set an American record for my 50-mile run in Central Park, NY.
Why do you think you hit that level at that time?
My body was in good shape, and I moved it around so much, doing housework, caring for my kids, and enjoying all the exercise I had time to do.
What was your edge?
I think just the running speed and distance workouts that I did, and climbing stairs as a workout, my bicycling. I did extra exercises every day for my back. And my love of running.
What supplementary exercise did you do?
Same as above – stair climbing, bicycling, speed work, and back exercises.
Because we finished just a couple of places apart at the 1974 Yonkers Marathon, any special memories of that race?
I just remember I finished 94th overall, I think there were about 350-400 runners that year.
I also remember I won the women’s division that year, but I did not break 3 hours, my time was 3:00:01.6.
I had also won it previously in 1970, 1972, and 1973.
EXTRA:
“I remember when I worked at the hospital, I used to bring the medical students out for a run, for them to learn that running or just jogging was an easy to do exercise available to many people. Even walking is good.”
“Are you truly dirty if you don’t take a shower every day? No, but you feel that way.
“It’s the same with running. Just like a shower, running is part of my daily life.”
Nina Kuscik inspired more people than she will ever know.
How Six Women Changed the New York City Marathon Forever
At the 1972 New York City Marathon, six women, protesting a rule separating them from the male runners, sat down at the start line. From left: Lynn Blackstone, Jane Muhrcke, Liz Franceschini, Pat Barrett, Nina Kuscsik and Cathy Miller. Credit Patrick A. Burns/The New York Times
By Talya Minsberg Nov. 4, 2017. The New York Times
In the fall of 1972, the New York City Marathon organizer Fred Lebow contacted The New York Times. He told reporters to come to the start line of the race, then in its third year, promising a sight they would not want to miss.
The race would be the largest yet, with over 250 runners set to attempt the 26.2-mile course, all of which would be run in Central Park.
In the crowd were six women, front and center. They approached the start line and prepared to run in the first New York City Marathon in which women’s results would count.
Women had been barred from road races since 1961, as experts claimed distance running was damaging to their health and femininity. Some officials infamously warned that a woman’s uterus might fall out should she attempt to run such distances.
For years, women had made their way into races, surreptitiously or otherwise. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon under the name K. V. Switzer.
But it was not until 1972 that the Amateur Athletic Union, then the governing body for marathons in the United States, allowed women to officially take part in distance road running.You have 3 free articles remaining.Subscribe to The Times
The relaxed rules issued by the A.A.U. insisted on a separate but equal start. Women were allowed to run the marathon if they started 10 minutes before or after the men, or if they started in a different area altogether.
So on a sunny Sunday that October, the marathon was set to begin with a separate start for the women, 10 minutes before the men. As the gun went off, the women sat down.Gerald Eskenazi’s article from Oct. 2, 1972, about the protest.
The reporter Gerald Eskenazi and the photographer Patrick A. Burns captured the scene for The Times.
“They sat for 10 minutes in protest against the Amateur Athletic Union, which had called for a separate but equal race for women,” Eskenazi wrote on Oct. 2, 1972. “The A.A.U. does not sanction races in which men compete against women. But as soon as the 272 men were ready to go, the women stood and then began running with the men on the 26-mile, 385-yard course.”
The six women — Lynn Blackstone, Jane Muhrcke, Liz Franceschini, Pat Barrett, Nina Kuscsik and Cathy Miller — sat with handmade signs created that morning, a couple of which read: “Hey, A.A.U. This is 1972. Wake up.” Muhrcke, pictured second from left, wore a Superman T-shirt.
Kuscsik, second from right, was one of the main organizers of the protest. “I was just checking to make sure everyone had their signs held up right,” she said of those 10 minutes. “It was fantastic.”
Earlier that year, Kuscsik became the first woman to officially win the Boston Marathon. She went on to be the first woman to finish the New York City Marathon that day. She called the win, one of many in her career, “an important one, because it was official.”
The photograph of the runners was printed across four columns of The Times, and the story spread. The A.A.U., embarrassed by the sudden news media onslaught, scrapped the “separate but equal” rules soon after.
“It was a huge, breakthrough year,” Switzer said. “In 1972, it counted. It wasn’t just, ‘You’re a girl.’ It was, ‘You’re an athlete.’ It made all the difference, and then we realized the potential for women’s running.”
In 1974, Switzer won the New York City Marathon. This year, at 70, she’s running it again.
Switzer will have a lot of company. Women’s road racing has grown rapidly since the rule change by the A.A.U. In 1980, 10 percent of marathon runners in the United States were women. In 2016, that rose to a record 44 percent, according to a Running USA report.
There were 21,464 female finishers in last year’s New York City Marathon — the most ever. On Sunday, a comparable number of women, if not more, will compete. This writer will be one of them.
Could the six women who sat have imagined the revolution to come? “Never,” Muhrcke said. The 77-year-old is still running, and has a coming 15K race in New York.
“I think for some men, the first time they were beaten by a woman, it came as a little surprise,” she said. “But they adjusted to it.”
I went toe-to-toe with Nina. She was tougher than I was and that big toothy smile freaked me out.
But I figured her being female was just the handicap I needed to compete with her as an equal.
I went toe-to-toe with Nina even though she didn’t know about it. I went up against Jackie Hansen the same way.
I am not the kind of runner who can beat these women if they know we’re racing.
1974 Women
2:43:54.6 (1) Jacqueline Hansen (CA/USA) 20 Nov 1948 01 Dec 1974 Culver City CA USA
2:46:24 (1) Chantal Langlacé (FRA) 06 Jan 1955 27 Oct 1974 Neuf Brisach FRA
2:47:12a (1) Michiko Gorman (CA/USA) 09 Aug 1935 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
2:50:31.4 (1) Liane Winter (GER) 24 Jun 1942 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:51:38a (1) Marjorie Kaput (AZ/USA) 28 Sep 1958 21 Dec 1974 Scottsdale AZ USA
2:51:45.2 (2) Chantal Langlacé- 2 06 Jan 1955 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:53:01a (2) Christa Vahlensieck (GER) 27 May 1949 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
2:54:28 (1) Judy Ikenberry (CA/USA) 03 Sep 1942 12 Jan 1974 San Diego CA USA
2:54:40.4 (3) Christa Vahlensieck- 2 27 May 1949 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:55:12a (3) Nina Kuscsik (NY/USA) 02 Jan 1939 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
10
2:55:12a (2) Diane Barrett (AZ/USA) 16 Jan 1961 21 Dec 1974 Scottsdale AZ USA
2:55:18 (1) Judy Ikenberry- 2 03 Sep 1942 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
2:55:59.6 (4) Manuela Angenvoorth (GER) 27 Aug 1946 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:56:25.2 (5) Jacqueline Hansen- 2 20 Nov 1948 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:57:41 (1) Karin Pagaard (DEN) 1947 22 Sep 1974 Copenhagen DEN
2:57:44.4 (1) Liane Winter- 2 24 Jun 1942 05 May 1974 Wolfsburg GER
2:58:09.6 (6) Joan Ullyot (CA/USA) 01 Jul 1940 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:58:16a (1) Ellen Turkel (NY/USA) 1954 26 Oct 1974 Niagara Falls CAN
2:58:34 (2) Irja Paukkonen (FIN) 07 Oct 1949 12 Jan 1974 San Diego CA USA
2:58:44 (2) Marilyn Paul (OR/USA) 20 Jan 1938 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
20
2:58:46a (4) Manuela Angenvoorth- 2 27 Aug 1946 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
2:58:47 (7) Judy Ikenberry- 3 03 Sep 1942 22 Sep 1974 Waldniel GER
2:58:55 (3) Peggy Lyman (CA/USA) 30 Mar 1947 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
2:59:24 (2) Marijke Moser (SUI) 13 Nov 1946 27 Oct 1974 Neuf Brisach FRA
3:00:01.6 (1) Nina Kuscsik- 2 02 Jan 1939 02 Jun 1974 Yonkers NY USA
3:00:10 (1) Kathleen Lynch-Gervasi (CT/USA) 03 Mar 1974 Middletown CT USA
3:00:56 (1) Joan Ullyot- 2 01 Jul 1940 07 Dec 1974 Livermore CA USA
3:01:15 (4) Mary Etta Boitano (CA/USA) 04 Mar 1963 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
3:01:23 (1) Eileen Waters (CA/USA) 03 Dec 1945 13 Oct 1974 Santa Barbara CA USA
3:01:27a (3) Gabriele Andersen (ID/SUI) 20 Mar 1945 21 Dec 1974 Scottsdale AZ USA
30
3:01:39a (5) Katherine Switzer (NY/USA) 05 Jan 1947 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
3:01:49 (2) Eileen Waters- 2 03 Dec 1945 01 Dec 1974 Culver City CA USA
3:01:59 (1) Cindy Dalrymple (VA/USA) 05 Mar 1942 15 Dec 1974 Honolulu HI USA
3:02:48 (1) Anne Marie Saugnac (FRA) 10 Sep 1942 27 Oct 1974 Bordeaux FRA
3:03:15.8 (1) Maria Brzezinska (CAN) 1948 25 May 1974 Vancouver BC CAN
3:04:11 (5) Nina Kuscsik- 3 02 Jan 1939 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
3:05:02 (1) Suzanne Gaylard (RSA) 19 Oct 1974 King William’s Town RSA
3:05:06 (1) Siv Jansson (SWE) 31 Oct 1944 24 Nov 1974 Enhörna SWE
3:05:07 (6) Lucy Bunz (USA) 01 Jun 1946 10 Feb 1974 San Mateo CA USA
3:05:18a (6) Lydia Ritter (GER) 08 Nov 1941 15 Apr 1974 Boston MA USA
(In 1974 I ranked myself #13 among women marathoners in the world. – JDW)
http://www.garycohenrunning.com/Interviews/Kuscsik.aspx
