Grete Waitz/Courtesy of Adidas
As the oft-told legend of Grete Waitz’s first New York City marathon goes, it was an event she just ran for a free trip to New York.
A championship runner who had planned on retiring, she was one of less than 8,000 people to take to the Big Apple for the 26.2 mile course. To her surprise, she won — though that didn’t quell her annoyance with her husband.
“She ran the race she was not too happy with me,” said her husband, Jack Waitz, “because she was so much in pain. [When she crossed the finish line] she threw one of the shoes at me and fortunately enough there were not too many people around because she was really not too happy.”
Still with an eye on retirement, Waitz was convinced to run another road race in California and she was hooked. She went on to win eight more New York City marathons and become a pioneer of women’s marathoners and an icon in the New York City race.
In the 36 years since she ran her first marathon, the New York City marathon has grown to be one of the biggest in the world — this year boasts 50,000 runners, large corporate sponsorships and appearances from some of the world’s top runners.
“Back then it was on the bucket list to break three hours,” Adrian Leek, adidas’ head of global running at the adidas Sports Performance, who is working with Jack Waitz on an campaign to promote Waitz’s AKTIV Against Cancer movement. “People were competitive back then, now its more these races have become big charity events whether it’s New York, London, Boston they’re all very much charity events. People want to do it as part of their bucket list but they don’t necessarily want to run fast they just want to compete.”
The apparel, Leek pointed out, has drastically changed with that. While runners used to wear outfits unsuitable for anywhere but the race course or track, apparel is now more geared to casual runners who want to go for a run through Central Park and then grab brunch afterward.
“Another bigger change is that women embrace running so much and I think my wife has a big role in that,” said Jack Waitz, citing a recent Running USA study. “It’s amazing to see more than 60 percent of participants in half marathons are women.”
Waitz died after a long battle with cancer in 2011, but her presence has always been felt at the marathon she helped put on the map. This year, many of the top runners will be wearing a patch to honor AKTIV Against Cancer, a movement the Waitzs began after she was diagnosed with the disease. Adidas, which sponsored Waitz during her running career, also launched a new product line to benefit AKTIV.
“I’m very proud of seeing top athletes from Adidas like the former world record holder running this week with a logo on his chest,” Jack Waitz told For The Win. “For me this is really emotional and great to watch the top runners in the world wearing my wife’s logo on their chest.”
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AKTIV Against Cancer works to promote physical activity as a way to prevent cancer and improve patients’ quality of life and chance of survival. “We still hope to educate parts of the world in what we have learned in Norway in physical fitness and cancer both during the treatment and after the treatment,” Jack Waitz said.
The foundation’s presence in the New York City marathon gives him a chance to be connected to the race that changed his wife’s life.
“Nothing comes [close] to New York because of the support you get from the crowd,” he said. I can honestly say that all the people running it just feel like winners when they finish. And I don’t think you see too many races where people wear medals Sunday after the race and Monday after the race.”
