Kathy Switzer, the frightened runner, had sent the $3 entry fee to register for the taxing 26.2 mile (42.2 km) race as “K.V. “Get the hell out of my race!” he roared, tearing at the number 261 bib on her back.

Suddenly, she was set upon by a furious Scottish-American named Jock Semple. It was 1967 and Switzer was a 21-year-old student running the famous Boston Marathon in a group with a coach and some members of the Syracuse University track team. She is today a noted author, journalist, and broadcaster. She’ll be a special guest at the Toronto Marathon on May 6, representing her 261 Fearless network for female runners. Switzer, now 71, has long been an inspiration to those who run and to women in sports. No matter how crappy the day is, the run makes it right.” ‘‘I don’t rate myself a great athlete-not at all,” Kathrine Switzer tells me, “but running saves my life.

Kathrine Switzer helped pave the way for women in sports, and 50 years after she made history, she remains an inspiration

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