Sacramento Running News

The world of sports lost one of its true champions today in the passing of marathon great Grete Waitz.

I can’t think of a runner today who enjoys the stature of Grete Waitz in her heyday. Only in the rarest of individuals does one ever find her combination of incredible talent, indomitable spirit, and humility.

In 2007, I had the pleasure of hearing Grete speak at the Boston Marathon Expo. She told of her first run of the New York City Marathon. She was warm, engaging and funny. She charmed the audience with a tale, not of the unbreakable champion, but of the incredible naif. Out of her depth. Overwhelmed by the experience, and difficulty of the marathon, she somehow emerged an unlikely champion.

In 1978, Greta Waitz was the world record holder in the 3000 meters and, as she told the story, her husband thought they should use that to get a free trip to visit America from their native Norway.

The race director of the New York Marathon was the first race to take them up on this, thinking that she would make a good rabbit to help speed the elite women to a fast time.

So Grete found herself at the starting line of the 1978 New York City Marathon with no marathon training under her belt–she says she’d never run more than 13 miles–and no real idea of how to race that distance.

She started an unknown, and finished a celebrity. When she broke the tape, with a world best time of 2:32:30, no one knew her name. She also, as she tells the tale, finished furious at her husband for tricking her into running the marathon. At the finish line, she stripped off her shoes and hurled them at him.  “Never again!” she swore.

Fortunately for all of us, she broke that vow and went on to win the New York Marathon an astonishing nine times. She also won the London Marathon twice and several world cross country titles.

Although she was a pioneer in women’s distance running, the times she produced then are still remarkable today. Her 2:24:54 personal best would still put her amongst the elites today, and her 2:28:24 time at the1988 Stockholm Marathon remains the course record.

Runners World’s Amby Burfoot wrote a nice remembrance of Grete. You should read it.

We’ll miss you Grete!