She approached the men’s cross country coach and asked if she could train with the men’s team since, again, there wasn’t a women’s team for her to join. Switzer decided that Lynchburg College was not going to be the supportive environment she needed to be an athlete, so in 1966 she transferred to Syracuse University. Switzer even received hate mail from people telling her that God would strike her dead for trying to run in a men’s race. The event drew a lot of attention-many criticized her for trying to run with men. One day, the men’s track team coach, (there was no women’s team), asked her if she would be willing to run in a meet.

Switzer was still running when she enrolled in Lynchburg College in Virginia. Many people discouraged her from running, including her field hockey coach-not only was running not nearly as popular today as it was in the ’50s and ’60s, but women were seen as far too physically weak to handle the sport. Instead of cheerleading, she began running at a young age to help her get in shape to be an athlete-which she did initially through field hockey.

Her father told her that life is for participating, not sitting on the sidelines watching others do things. Growing up, Kathrine Switzer once told her father that she wanted to be a cheerleader because they seemed to be the happiest and most popular girls.

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