I have fond memories of the race. We were treated very nicely. I felt like a “rock star.” Kathy Lee Crosby was on the course as a commentator. I collapsed at 17 miles with heat exhaustion. - Jan Arenz Klecker
What happens when you unearth an important event in history that no one remembers?
They catch it, they kill it. But you find the body. Today it’s called CRT (Critical Running Theory), Mom called it ‘history.’
Do you remember the 1979 L.A. Women’s Marathon? Which led directly – sorta – to the First USA Olympic Women’s Marathon in Olympia in May 1984. You know where that led. Joanie with her name etched in history. But this is not her story, not yet.
Susan Henderson was at the 1979 L.A. Women’s Marathon.
I think we got onto the L.A. Women’s Marathon because I sent you that old online post from someone researching 20th Century Fox; he had come across the reference to them having sponsored this event. I have periodically tried over the years to find the coverage of the race and never could. Anyway, when I came across that article online again, I thought you might remember it or find it interesting.
Interesting indeed. More from Susan.
The photo is of many of us in the race who were invited to the set of M.A.S.H. I was in the group in that photo but you can’t see me. My husband Matt was with me, too. They were filming a group Christmas commercial for the holidays, something like that.
I asked her to carefully dust around any memories, maybe exhume some interesting tidbits:
We met Jamie Farr, who was funny and strange and oddly unlikeable.
We met Alan Alda, who was incredibly gracious and interested in what we were doing. He asked intelligent questions and seemed very genuine.
Matt caught a glimpse of Sally Kellerman but she didn’t come over to meet us.
The set (not being, you know, movie stars ourselves) seemed chaotic and really interesting. We got to see them actually making segments of the commercial. Fascinating.
They gave us a tour through the commissary, where the stars and employees went to eat. We were introduced to Robert Wagner (married to Natalie Wood … before her unfortunate demise). He was short, extremely tan and pleasant. A little pudgy.
Jamie Farr wanted to organize us to run together on the set and they would film it. They may have actually filmed a few of us jogging with him. Obviously, nothing ever came of it. But the entire experience there was very fun and we were treated like the Running Queens we were supposed to be.
The morning of the race we were bused to the start at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The race started and finished there.
There weren’t too many of us on the bus. Matt was on the bus but neither of us can remember if there were any other spouses/coaches. Must have been.
When we arrived, they were still putting up banners and signage.
They were hoping the first woman would cross the line faster than the 1932 male winner did … 2:31:36. It could have happened for sure and would have been intriguing, except our assembled group wasn’t that fast.
One thing I would want to know about the L.A. Women’s Marathon is why they couldn’t get faster runners there. Was there a conflicting race (New York, etc.?). That was the oddest part to me. As runners in the day, a handful of us were well above average but would not be running anything much faster than we did there, certainly not in the 2:30s.
I remember a long, long four-mile stretch fronting the LAX airport. You could see the heat waves rising up and orange cones disappearing off into the distance.
Matt Henderson Was Out There.
I mentioned the four-mile long straightaway at LAX Airport, with bright cones marking our lane disappearing ahead in the shimmering heat and pollution. Big planes flying overhead. Matt was out there, as well, with his dad and uncle, both serious smokers, not runners. Both of them were raised in the L.A. area and both went to the 1932 Olympics, as well as to the Rose Bowl and all other athletic venues around in the day. They were reminiscing about the LAX area, with the big jets flying just over our heads, and Matt remembers his dad saying, “Yeah, back in the day, this was ALL jack rabbit country.”
We were running through it, mostly a big loop, through neighborhoods that had decidedly changed. People weren’t quite sure what was going on because there were so few of us and we were spread out. But we always got a positive response from every person who happened to be out watering their lawns, polishing their cars. Albeit almost all on concrete, it was a fun trip through L.A.
Susan Henderson finished seventh.
Lolitia (pronounced “Lo-lish-a”) Bache finished 22nd.
My memories of that race are a little foggy. I do remember I was very thrilled to run in it. I believe originally they wanted only very high caliber runners to compete (I was not in that group – I was better than average, but not great). I was also 37-years-old with three young children at home. I may have some correspondence somewhere that explains how I came to run in it, but I’m not sure where it is. At the time, I was pretty active in the National WLDR Committee, and later was on the site selection committee for the first Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon.
I had run a PR at the Mission Bay Marathon in January of that year. (My husband was the race director, and unofficially I was also. Being a stay-at-home mom at the time, what else did I have to do but help out?) I was not sure I would be up to another marathon in between that marathon and the 1980 Mission Bay Marathon. My body could not handle year-round high mileage, only before a marathon. And it was right in the middle of a busy cross-country season.
I do remember that once I got there (not a long trip since I lived in San Diego), we were treated like royalty. I enjoyed hobnobbing with the very fast runners and the treatment that we all enjoyed.
It was hard to run so alone for such a long distance – so few competitors spread out over such a long course. Weird – my memories of the actual race are pretty fuzzy. I was happy to finish where I did, not at the bottom where I might have expected to be!
Wow – I just opened up a photo album that I had made of running photos, and right on top was the single shot I have of me running the LA Women’s Marathon! As you can see, it was not a particularly scenic course, and we had to share the road with traffic. Finishing at the LA Coliseum was pretty special, although I don’t think it was open – we finished out in front of it.
Lolitia Bache
1984, at the L.A. Olympic Marathon, after more pioneering and more politicking, women got to finish INSIDE.
And only then did it become Joan Benoit’s story.
And the story of every woman who ever wanted to run as far as she could go.
So now she won’t stop. Six-Day Races anybody?
There is no going back. Except to thank those who blazed the trail.
Thank you.
