Starting Line 1928

“I look back now and I don’t think of myself as a trailblazer. We were setting the standard for other women and encouraging them.” Freddi Carlip started casually running in 1978 as an outlet from her daily life as a stay-at-home mom to two small children. Little did she know that the healthy activity would soon become her life’s work. In addition to serving as a founding member of the Starting Line 1928 oral history project, Carlip has served multiple terms as the President of the Road Runners Club

“I wasn’t known for anything else but my running. That’s what I kind of latched onto. I didn’t have many extras, like summer camps or lots of material goods, but I did have my running and my legs and a TV set and goals.” Alisa Harvey’s impressive running career spans decades and distances. The first time she qualified for the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials was in 1988, in the 1500 meters, when she was still a student at the University of Tennessee. The last time she did so was in the 800 meters

“They [the men] didn't like it when we beat them, but they were very accepting and very encouraging. It was always the officials that were the problem, you know, and it's just two different classes of people. And they get their kicks from enforcing the rules. We got our kicks from being in shape.” Judy Shapiro-Ikenberry ran in her first track meet at age 12, and her first Olympic Trials, in the 800 meters, at age 17. She continued to train and took on longer distances while working as a teacher. She

"All I can do you know that let people know that Black folks can run—we have been running. I've had calls, people asking me, Marilyn, how can we get more Black distance runners in high school? If you never see any black distance runners, it's hard ... we still have to keep pushing, and you need people that know how to coach distance." Marilyn Bevans has no regrets. She did what she loved to do and did it on her own terms. In her own quiet way, she became a trailblazer for African-American women and

“I was doing it for my own survival, because I was a stay-at-home mom. And I felt that I needed to do something for me, because I felt like my brain was dying. I needed something for me. It just turned out that way, I just didn't know. I was pleased when people would come out and maybe I encouraged somebody else to do that.” Bjorg Austrheim-Smith, multiple Western States winner, will tell you upfront that her story does not fit the typical narrative. She was a stay-at-home mom who was looking for a

The first modern Olympics were held in 1896. Women runners, though? They weren’t called to the starting line until 1928. After made-up reports of women collapsing after the 800 meters, track and field’s governing body eliminated the event after just one try—a change that lasted until 1960.  It wasn’t the first, and certainly not the last time the story of women’s running was twisted, and athletes’ voices lost.  Running fans will know some of the stories of women pioneers in the sport: Bobbi Gibb,