The Race They Said She Couldn't Run

In April 1967, twenty-year-old Kathrine Switzer pinned bib number 261 to her sweatshirt and lined up at the start of the Boston Marathon. No woman had ever officially entered the race. Around mile four, race official Jock Semple charged out of the press vehicle, grabbed her shoulder, and tried to rip off her number, screaming at her to get out of his race.

Her boyfriend, Tom Miller, threw a body block that sent Semple stumbling. And Kathrine kept running. For twenty-two more miles she ran — shaken, furious, and utterly determined. She crossed the finish line in four hours and twenty minutes.

Switzer later reflected that if she had stopped, it would have confirmed what everyone already believed: that women simply were not strong enough to finish.

The apostle Paul understood this kind of perseverance. "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). Paul's race was never about proving himself. It was about faithfulness to the One who called him.

There will be miles in your faith where voices — external and internal — demand that you stop. When you press on anyway, you discover what Kathrine Switzer and the apostle Paul both learned: the finish line belongs to those who refuse to quit.

The Almighty who marked out your race will carry you across it.