Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers around the world who give all of their time, dedication, and love to not only their children, but to all the people they come in contact with. We often times forget to give them all the credit that they deserve.

In the dictionary, ‘mother’ is defined in a few ways. One of them is ‘to give birth to.’ Giving birth is understood as the beginning of something. You may have heard people use terms such as ‘they gave birth to the revolution’ or ‘that thought gave birth to new ideas.’ Along with that, you may have heard people call something ‘the father’ or the ‘grandfather’ of something, such as Alexander Graham Bell being the grandfather of today’s modern iPhones.

But what about mothers? Where do they come into the picture?

Women have fought to do the same tasks as men for years. However, men cut them out, as they thought they couldn’t handle the caliber of doing the same, or even half the amount of what they do.

They were wrong.

One of the few women who started it all was Doris Brown Heritage. Born on September 17, 1942(age 71) Doris Brown Heritage became the first woman ever to break the 5 minute barrier in the mile, clocking an impressive time of 4:52. Of course, some men felt challenged, even threatened by Doris, but that didn’t stop her. At one point, Doris held every national and world record from the 440 yard dash(today’s 400m) up to the one mile run(today’s 1600m).

She is remembered for her five victories in the International Cross Country Championships(1967-1971). She represented the U.S. at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic games, in Mexico City, Mexico, and Munich, Germany.

She also won the Vancouver International Marathon, and placed 2nd in the New York City Marathon.

With an impressive history, and groundbreaking times to justify it, Doris was the second woman to be inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall Of Fame in 1999, and the National Distance Running Hall Of Fame in 2002.

Another pioneer was Julia Chase-Brand. Julia was born in 1942,(now age 72) became the first woman to run the Manchester Road Race at age 19.

In 1961, the Amature Athletic Union(AAU) prohibitted the participation of women in road races. Julia, along with two other women, were sympathized upon, and were allowed to race, but only under the conditions that their results would not be recorded.

The course is 4.748 miles, and officials tried to persuade Julia and the others not to run, including the Olympics, women were not allowed to run more than a half-mile. It was believed, they would risk their femininity and reproductive health. The most alarmist officials warned that a woman who ran a more ambitious distance might cause her uterus to fall out.

No matter what they said, Julia still ran. She is referred to as the first true American women road racer by Amby Burfoot, longtime editor of Runner’s World Magazine.

Women have changed a lot of things over the course of a few decades. And just like men, with that change, honor is both deserved and received. Women like Doris Brown Heritage and Julia Chase-Brand have helped pave the way to allowing women to perform just as well as men, and in some cases, even better. They’ve given birth to a revolution that will last for years to come. They’ve inspired many other great runners of the past, such as Zola Budd, Tirunesh Diaba, Lynn Jennings, Edith Masai, Deratu Tulu, Grete Waitz, Gete Wami, Sonia O’Sullivan, and now national phenomenon and high school senior Mary Cain.

These women may not have physically given birth to all of these women, but they did give birth to a revolution. They say that behind every great man is a great woman. Behind every woman is a great woman who made it possible for the generations after to enjoy what she had to fight for.

Thank you to all of our female runners and all that you do and have done not only for women, but for the betterment of the sport of running. Happy Mother’s Day.