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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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JOAN BENOIT: Oftentimes,
I think of myself

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as having been in
the right place

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at the right time for many
of my accomplishments.

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And I think that
starts with my career

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as a student athlete
in high school.

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And that is exactly the same
time when Title IX legislation

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became law.

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Title IX was law that
was passed in 1972.

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And it applies to athletics
and college athletics,

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especially, and then
further on to the Olympics.

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It did not allow for any
discrimination based on sex

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and gave equal
opportunities to women.

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And so it really opened doors.

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That's why I had the
opportunity to then go

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from running as a member of
a club to a member as a team.

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Men had, you know, football,
and soccer, and golf.

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They had many more
opportunities.

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They had cross-country as well.

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The guys on the
cross-country team

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knocked on the office door
of our field hockey coach

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and said that they were
running against high school

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that afternoon who was bringing
two girls along with them.

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The girls wouldn't
count in the scoring

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but they were going
to run with the teams.

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And they said, can
Joanie join us,

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because I used to sneak
out of study halls

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to run a four and 1/2 mile
loop around the high school.

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And I felt that I
could get away with it

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because my mother was on the
school board at that time.

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And I thought everybody
would turn a blind eye.

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Nobody ever said anything.

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And I can't tell you how many
police cars, truant officers

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passed me during
some of those runs,

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but I was doing something
that I loved to do.

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And as long as
nobody said anything,

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I wasn't about to stop.

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And that was a real
turning point in my career

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as well because I beat
the two other girls

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and I beat a lot of
the boys as well.

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I had aspirations of
making it to the Olympics

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or into a world
championship as a ski racer.

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And my dad brought us up
on skis, my brothers and I,

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about the same time that we
were learning how to walk.

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And he had a real
passion for skiing

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and had served in the
10th Mountain Division

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during the war.

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And he wanted his
kids learning how

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to ski as early as possible.

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That was one of the
few sports that I

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could do as a young girl.

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I could ski and I could play
tennis and that was about it.

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So that's where my dream was
to make it into the Olympics

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as a ski racer.

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And then I broke my leg ski
racing my sophomore year

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in high school.

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And as soon as
the cast came off,

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I turned to running as a
form of rehabilitation.

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And that's when I
discovered that I

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had a real passion for running
because it was easy and fun.

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So I started challenging
myself with longer and longer

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distances.

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Girls didn't exercise
back then or it

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wasn't proper really
for young girls

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to engage in rigorous exercise
as in the so-called experts

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and sports before the
'84 Olympics thought

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if a girl or a woman ran
more than 500 meters,

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she'd do bodily harm and never
be able to bear children.

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And two children later and
150,000 miles under my belt,

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I'm still out there doing it.

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And I had no idea it was
going to carry me as far as it

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did in the sport of running.

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I thought it was going to help
me in recovery so that I could

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get back in the starting
gate of the ski racing scene

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the following year.

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And I quickly discovered
no guts, no glory.

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So the 1979 marathon was
really my first marathon.

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And I didn't really have a
clue what Boston was all about.

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And I didn't know
anything about the course.

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I knew it started in the
small town of Hopkinton

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and it ran through several
towns into the city of Boston.

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And I knew Bill Rogers.

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I had met him at some
local road races.

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And he was really
surprised to see me

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when they brought
me into the garage,

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and wrapped me in a wool towel,
and gave me some beef stew.

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I mean it was really
different back then.

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And I think he was expecting
to see Patti Lyons Catalano who

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was the favorite in
that race and who

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I passed just summitting
the Heartbreak Hills

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and then asking the
man running next to me

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at the time how
much longer should I

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reserve my energy for
the Heartbreak Hills.

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And he looked at me like I
was crazy and said you just

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passed the Heartbreak Hills.

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And so I ran and I heard
Tom grill the announcer just

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shouting out my name that I
was coming to the finish line.

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And that's when it finished
at the Prudential Center.

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And I didn't know
what to expect.

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I certainly didn't
expect to win.

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I was just seeing
what it was all about.

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And then the onslaught
of attention,

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and press, and requests
was almost too much

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for me to handle because
I certainly wasn't

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expecting any of the fanfare.

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And I remember lying down on
our family's living room rug.

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And nobody was at home.

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And I said why did I
just do that, because I

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was such a private person.

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And I just ran because
I loved to run,

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but I just wasn't ready to
become a public personality

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in our sport.

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And you know, I've evolved into
a place of comfort and trust.

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It all worked out.

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But I was-- talk about when
you walk away from something.

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I was ready to walk
away right then.