Kim Merritt Interview

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Kim Merritt — July, 2025

Kim Merritt is best known for winning the 1975 New York City Marathon and 1976 Boston Marathon. Kim was only twenty years old when she won at NYC and Boston and is one of only three American women to win both iconic marathons. She started racing at a time when young women had little opportunity to run and race in high school and college. Kim improved tremendously when she began training with the men’s team at Wisconsin-Parkside under Coach Vic Godfrey. She won the 1976 Honolulu Marathon and the 1977 AAU Championships Marathon in Eugene, Oregon where she set an American Record of 2:37:57. Kim twice finished in Silver Medal position at the 1976 and 1979 Waldniel Marathon in Germany when it was the unofficial World Championship. She was second at the 1977 New York City Marathon, 1978 Cleveland Marathon and 1983 Milwaukee Marathon, while tacking on fourth place at the 1978 Boston Marathon. At shorter distances, Kim won the Charleston Distance Run 15-mile (1975, 1976, 1977), Quad City Bix 7-mile (1975, 1976), 1977 Falmouth Road Race, 1977 Bobby Crim 10-mile, 1977 Virginia 10-mile, 1978 Jacksonville River Run 15k, 1978 Elby’s 20k, Chicago Distance Classic 20k (1978, 1983), and the Bellin Run 10k (1977, 1978, 1979, 1984). At Wisconsin-Parkside, she won the 1973 Wisconsin State Collegiate Cross-Country Championship and finished fifth at USA Cross-Country Nationals. Kim was tenth at the 1974 AIAW Track and Field Championships in the mile and fourth at the 1976 AIAW Cross Country Championships. She competed for Racine Case High School and was 1972 and 1973 State Champion in the mile, setting a State Record of 5:11.1. Her personal best times include: Mile – 4:51; 3-mile cross-country – 16:43.4; 10k – 34:37; 15k – 53:54; 10-mile – 57:32; 20k – 1:12:57; Half-marathon – 1:18:27; Marathon – 2:37:57. Kim was inducted into the Wisconsin-Parkside Hall of Fame in 1980, the Racine County Sports HOF in 2011, and the National Distance Running HOF in 2014. She is retired and resides in Michigan where she keeps active with a combination of running and walking at least fifty miles per week. Kim was very gracious in spending over two hours on the telephone for this interview in July 2025.

GCR:	THE BIG PICTURE You are one of three American women to win both the New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon along with Nina Kuscsik and Miki Gorman. How does it feel to be in this select group as women’s marathon running was becoming more popular, and you helped push it forward?
KM	When I won, I finished ahead of Miki. My wins were a little bit after Nina. I was only twenty years old when I won both of those marathons. I was a pioneer, and girls just didn’t do what I was doing. Until I got sick with chronic fatigue syndrome, my running career was pretty interesting.

GCR:

What are your thoughts on being part of the ‘Pioneers of Women’s Distance Running’ with athletes like Jacqueline Hansen, Kathryn Switzer, Julie and Mary Shea, Gayle Barron, Joan Ullyot and the aforementioned Nina Kuscsik and Miki Gorman that grow the sport and set the stage for the inclusion of the marathon in the Olympic program?

When I went to high school, there was no girls track or cross-country program, so I trained with the guys. When I went to college at Wisconsin-Parkside, the men had a very good coach in Vic Godfrey. There was no women’s cross-country program or team. Coach Godfrey was a former Marine. He was probably thinking, ‘What is this little blonde girl doing here?’ I don’t think he liked me at first. I was shy, but I got out there and I trained hard right with the guys. I did what they did and didn’t complain and I won his respect quickly. No one was used to girls running like I was doing back then but he realized I was the real deal. I was young and the first big race I ran was the Charleston Distance Run 15-miler, and I was able to beat Jacqueline Hansen. Coach Godfrey suggested I run a marathon and did a fund raiser for me for my airplane flight and hotel stay. He’s the one who got me there. I didn’t know anything about running marathons. I went out to run with the cross-country guys and he noticed I was good at distance running. So, my coach, Vic Godfrey, is the one who opened all the doors for me. I’m getting teary eyed because, if it weren’t for him, everything I did never would have happened. I get choked up and start to cry when I think of him because of all that he did for me. My running would have gone nowhere without him.

GCR:

When we review the results of the 1975 New York City Marathon, your winning time of 2:46:14.8 placed you well ahead of the stand out women of that time as the next six women to finish were Miki Gorman at 2:53:02.8, Gayle Barron at 2:57:22, Joan Ullyot at 2:58:30.8, Marilyn Bevans at 2:59:19.8, Diane Barrett at 3:01:41.4 and Kathryn Switzer at 3:02:57. Did you know you were out in the lead and were you running along with guys who raced at your pace?

I know that some people along the way were telling me I was in the lead. But this was my first marathon, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know if there were good women racing. I just went there to run. It was five or six laps around Central Park, It’s hard to remember how many laps there were. I also was never a particularly good hill runner. I do recall that I almost got my foot stepped on by a horse. At the starting line, there were mounted police and one of the horses almost got me. I had a horse at home at that time and know what it feels like when you have light shoes on as I had been stepped on by my horse before. It can break bones on the top of your feet. Mine didn’t do that but it didn’t feel good when I was stepped on.

GCR:

At the 1976 Boston Marathon, which was run in temperatures in the nineties and approaching one hundred degrees, you won in 2:47:10 ahead of great runners such as Miki Gorman in second place at 2:52:27, Gayle Barron in fourth place at 2:58:23 and Marilyn Bevans in sixth place at 3:01:22. Liane Winter, Joan Ullyot, Penny DeMoss and Kathryn Switzer were also in the field. What do you recall as far as the crowds, the hills, the heat and the awards ceremony for Jack Fultz and you?

It was at least ninety degrees. It was hot and I didn’t know enough to drink water. I did take ice that people along the roads gave to me. I was dehydrated at the end, and I was lucky to finish. I stopped and walked quite a few times during the last mile-and-a-half. I was severely dehydrated. The crowd had creeped in so closely that they were right on the runners. There was only a path for about one runner to go through. They were cheering loudly. ‘Yay – you’re the first woman!’ When I stopped to walk, there would be worried cries from them. Then I would start running and they would cheer. That’s the only reason I finished. My legs were trashed from running down hills. I was losing my ability to run, but I was thinking, ‘I’m not going to quit until Miki Gorman passes me.’ I hurt so badly. My legs were swollen with pain, but I was going to keep going until Miki passed me. And she never passed me. I made it to the finish line and won the race. Back then there weren’t medical staff at the finish area to give runners IVs when they were severely dehydrated. Somebody took my pulse, evaluated me and they took me to the Emergency Room of a nearby hospital in an ambulance against my will. I was shouting, ‘No, no, no! You’re not taking me back to the hospital.’ My heart rate was irregular because I was so dehydrated. I was afraid to drink much water during the race because I thought I would get a side ache. The way I felt was worse than when I went into childbirth with my kids. I would never want to feel like that again. There is no way I would ever voluntarily be in that much pain. I made it back for the awards ceremony. The awards back then weren’t as nice as they are today. I got this black trophy that didn’t even say ‘Boston Marathon’ on it. It had ‘B.A.A.’ and no one would even know it was the Boston Marathon winning trophy.

GCR:

Since we are approaching the fiftieth anniversary of your New York City Marathon win this fall and the fiftieth anniversary of your Boston Marathon victory next spring, if they invite you back, do you plan to attend?

I was invited back once before, but I didn’t go because I had to work. If I went, I was going to lose pay. I had been through my divorce and those were my circumstances. This time I will go if invited because I am retired. It will be good to see old friends. My favorite guys are Bill Rodgers and Don Kardong. They are the nicest runners. I would get invited to the same races as they did. Don Kardong was the nicest runner, and Bill Rodgers was next.

GCR:

Didn’t you run one marathon before your iconic 1975 New York City Marathon win?

I did do one marathon, but it was a training run. That is when Coach Vic Godfrey discovered that I was a good marathon runner. I was training with the guys who were running cross-country. There was a marathon in Illinois that was in early December. There may have even been snow on the ground. It was about fifty-five degrees. Since it was in between cross-country season and indoor track season for the guys, Coach Godfrey told them,’ Just do a training run. Don’t race.’ Two of the guys ran with me the whole way. I was yipping and yapping with them as we talked for the whole distance. We were running along, and I wasn’t racing. But I ran right around three hours. It was a hard run, but it wasn’t a race. That was my first marathon. I didn’t know what I was doing. I ran with those two guys on the team while the rest of the guys ran a little faster.

GCR:

When I looked at races you won, on the men’s side, guys like Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter won. Duncan McDonald won in Honolulu and Ron Wayne was second. Jeff Galloway and Kenny Moore were also at Honolulu. Jeffs Wells was second at Boston when you were fourth. So, I was wondering which ones you enjoyed at the post-race get-togethers?

Don and Bill were the men I remember. The female that I was good friends with was Gayle Barron. She ran many of the races that I did. Gayle was about ten years older than me. When we went to a marathon in Germany, I could speak a little German and she couldn’t. Gayle was so beautiful that, at all the races we ran, she got lots of attention. I didn’t care because I usually beat her, and she was like my mom. I was shy and she took care of me. I didn’t have to speak much. When we were speaking at a clinic, I didn’t talk much, and Gayle answered questions. I got along so well with Gayle because she took care of me. I really like Gayle and thought the world of her. It was great and I loved her.

GCR:

Several runners I have interviewed from the late 1970s and early 1980s racing days ran very frequently because of appearance money and prize money. At one stretch in particular in August and September of 1977, you won five big races on five weekends in a row, at Falmouth in 38:40, the Bobby Crim 10-mile in 58:41, the Charleston Distance Run 15-mile in 1:30:12, the AAU Championships Marathon in Eugene, Oregon in your personal best time of 2:37:57 and the Virginia 10-mile in Lynchburg in 58:11. What was the mindset that you had to race five big races including your marathon PR back-to-back?

They weren’t short races. They were seven miles, fifteen miles, a marathon and ten miles. I don’t know how I didn’t get injured, but I never had a lot of injuries. At the Lynchburg, Virginia 10-miler, I totally crashed. That was too much racing. I wanted to drop out of that race so badly. I kept thinking, ‘One more mile, one more mile,’ as I ran. The first thing I did after I crossed the finish line was to look for some shade. I lay down and someone had to get me up so I could catch my airplane. I was that tired that I lay down and almost passed out.

GCR:

Can you tell us about the unfortunate ending of your competitive career when you were diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome?

It was probably because I overdid my training and racing. I had to stop racing, and I even had to stop running for a while. All I could do was walk. I was very sick for a while. I tried to come back, and I couldn’t. I felt normal when I was doing normal things in life, But, when I pushed myself to max out in training so I could race my best, I got sick again. My performances went down, and I couldn’t even get back to where I was, so I finally realized that I wasn’t going to be able to run like I used to. I had to be satisfied with doing seventy or eighty percent. If I did one hundred percent, I would get sick and couldn’t do anything at all. I had to learn how to reign myself in. There have been quite a few times since then when I get greedy. I push too hard and then can’t run for a month. I have learned that I can’t get greedy. I have to take a rest day sometimes. If I push too hard every day, I get sick for a month and can’t run. If I run too many miles, I have to back off, so I don’t have to take a month off from running

GCR:

YOUTH AND HIGH SCHOOL RUNNING You’re a Wisconsin girl – I spent seven years in my youth in the Town of Hallie, between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire. Were you an active child and in what sports did you participate prior to high school?

There were hardly any girls’ sports. My mom did get me involved in gymnastics. It was different back then and was basically tumbling down a mat. I was always dancing around and tumbling on the kitchen floor, so my mom enrolled me in acrobatic lessons and gymnastics. We lived out in the country, and I used to pretend I was a horse and run around the town until I got exhausted. In the wintertime, I would pull all the neighborhood kids on a sled while pretending I was a horse. I ran around the neighborhood pulling all the kids behind me because I was a horse and I liked running. There was a hill that my brother would run up and my goal was to run up the hill more times than he did. No one ever knew I did that kind of stuff. That was between me and myself.

GCR:

How did you get started running in high school? Was Sylvia Krause your coach and what can you relate about your training, mileage, and speed workouts?

I was doing gymnastics in ninth grade and noticed people running around the track. So, I asked my gymnastics coach if I could go down and run around the track a few times. I ran around the track and soon afterward I quit gymnastics to run. I wanted to run. Gymnastics didn’t tire me out and I also was a scaredy-cat and had trouble learning new tricks. I didn’t like falling. There weren’t any girls to train with who wanted to run the mile like I did. Sylvia Krause was the coach in the years before I ran. There was a different coach when I was running who didn’t have much knowledge about running. My ankles were weak, and I had trouble doing fast track workouts, so I did a lot of tempo running with the boys. There were no girls to run with. The boys had a very good coach, Bill Grabner, who died not that long ago. He took me under his wing. When I was a senior, the girls coach didn’t like me training with the guys, so she complained to the Athletic Director. Then I wasn’t allowed to run with the guys. So, here is what I did – there were guys who were injured, and they couldn’t do track workouts. I would wait around the back of the building and run with them to get in my tempo runs. I tried to keep up with them. And do you know what? Those guys were great to me. They never, ever didn’t like a girl running with them. It was because I ran hard, and I always tried to keep up with them. In the beginning of the distance runs, I was with them because we were all warming up. Then they ran faster and were ahead, which was fine. They knew I didn’t like them being ahead of me as I would run my guts out. So, they started playing games with me. They would see how tired they could get me. They would ease off a bit and let me reign them in and then they would take off. They would laugh at me when I got back to the gym, and I collapsed because I had run a race trying to keep up with them. Those were my tempo runs and that’s what made me good.

GCR:	Were you aiming to get in a certain number of miles per week and did you do any speed workouts on the track like repeat 220s or quarter miles?
KM	I did some of those track workouts, but not too many because I always got injured.

GCR:

You won the Wisconsin State Championship in your junior year in 1972 with a State Record mile of 5:11.1 and defended your title in 1972 with a 5:12.6. Was there anyone close to you and do you remember much from those races?

When I was a sophomore, my ankles gave out so I didn’t really start running seriously with the team until I was a junior. When I was in high school, I never lost a mile race. At the State meet my junior year, there was another girl with me, and we were neck and neck until 220 yards to go. I outkicked her even though I wasn’t a good kicker. The only thing that makes sense is that she died while I just kept my pace because I beat her by quite a bit. My senior year there was nobody close to me.

GCR:	I noted in State Championship results for 880 yards in 1972 Katie Glassner won in 2:24.9 and in 1973 Elizabeth Berry won in 2:21.2 Were you also racing the half mile and in those races?
KM	They did not let girls run both the mile and the half mile. That was awful. I wish they would have had the two-mile. The longer the race, the better it was for me.

GCR:

Were there any other memorable high school races?

We didn’t have cross country for girls at that time. We had races like the Conference and Sectionals, but they were local and easy to win. In my first couple of races, I developed a strategy that I wasn’t going to go out too fast. I ran at an even pace. We would finish the first quarter mile, and I would be in about fifth place. That rattled me in those first few races. But then I ended up winning by a lot. Many of the girls would sprint out and that rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t know why they went out so fast and then had trouble finishing the race. So, I started at the same pace that I was going to run the whole race. How I knew that I don’t know except I am not one of those runners that likes to sprint when the gun goes off. I don’t think I was ever in the lead after the first quarter mile of any race in high school. After seeing what happened in those first races, it didn’t bother me anymore because I knew the other girls were all going to choke.

GCR:

Another item of interest I found in the Wisconsin State meet results is that your teammate, Terry Simonsen, who was a year behind you won the 1972 State Shot Put with a toss of 43-5 ½, defended her title in 1973 with a 43-2 toss and got a three-peat in 1974 at 46-11 ½ while also winning the Discus at 121-8. Have you stayed in contact and remained friends over the years?

I wish I could have because Terry and I were good friends. There were also a couple sprinters who were good friends of mine. None of the sprinters won the State title, but the relay team was good. I would sometimes run a leg on the mile relay. They would give me the baton in the lead, but I couldn’t run a quarter mile fast, so I would get passed and we would finish third or fourth. I was on the mile relay team at the State meet and on a medley relay that included girls running 220s while I ran a quarter mile. It irked me that I couldn’t hold the place for them.

GCR:	COLLEGIATE RUNNING AT WISCONSIN-PARKSIDE How did you end up going to Wisconsin-Parkside, were there other choices and were you aiming to get your degree, improve as a runner, or both?
KM	I showed up there and ran with the guys. There was another girl who was a sprinter and jumper who got a scholarship that year. Then I got a scholarship the next year.

GCR:	Your freshman year, you were Wisconsin State Collegiate Cross Country Champion and finished fifth at USA Nationals. How exciting was it to be coached by Vic Godfrey and to run cross-country for the first time?
KM	It was an exhibition for us girls who ran cross-country and didn’t become the real thing sanctioned by AIAW until my junior year. During the season, I was training with the guys. I would go up to Milwaukee and run races when I could. I can’t recall where that Nationals was held.

GCR:	Your freshman track season, at the 1974 AIAW Track and Field Championships, you finished tenth in the mile at 5:10.9 as Francie Larrieu and Julie Brown both ran 4:59.4, with Larrieu winning the photo finish. Do you recall much of that race?
KM	No, that race doesn’t bring back any memories.

GCR:	I came across an indoor race result from 1975 as you ran the 2-mile indoors at Madison, Wisconsin in 10:26.2. Was that on the board tracks that were typical back then?
KM	I don’t recall that race, but I remember one race where I broke five minutes indoors. I ran either a 4:49 or a 4:51. It was a local race. I was so happy about that.

GCR:

What was Coach Vic Godfrey having you focus on in training?

Since I was training for the marathon, during track season, he would have me run the half mile, mile and two-mile and told me to consider it a good workout for the marathon. The mile was first, then the 880, and then the two-mile. So, I was exhausted after the two-mile. The last half of the two-mile was hard. I did ask Coach Godfrey once if I could run only the two-mile to get a faster time, but he didn’t have me run a fresh two-mile. He liked training me for the marathon. I never really trained specifically for track. My training was geared towards the marathon.

GCR:

The 1976 AIAW Cross Country Championships your junior year on the Yahara Hills Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin had a strong field over the three-mile course as Julie Brown won in 16:29.8, followed by Carol Cook in 16:39.2, Kathy Mills in 16:42.1, you in 16:43.4, Ann Mulrooney in 16:45.3 and Cathie Twoomey in 16:46.4. That was a great group of ladies to race with. Were you together in a pack or was Julie Brown off the front?

You’ve got that right that it was a good group. Julie Brown was tough, was out in the lead, and she ended up being an Olympian.

GCR:

MARATHON RACING We discussed earlier your victories in New York and Boston. We briefly touched on you racing in Germany. What are highlights of the 1976 Waldniel Marathon won by Christa Vahlensieck of Germany in 2:45:24.4 with you a couple minutes back in 2:47:11.2 , followed by Gayle Barron in third place at 2:47:43.2, Claire Spauwen of the Netherlands fourth at 2:47:50.4, Manuela Angenvoorth of Germany fifth at 2:48:28.6 and the USA’s Jacqueline Hansen eighth at 2:55:50 as this race was the unofficial World Championship?

It was the World Championship. Ernst Van Aaken organized the race. He was the first man who was saying that women had extra body fat and should be able to run marathons. He was a doctor and said this gave women more fuel. We have to give Von Aaken credit for helping women’s marathoning along. I don’t remember being in a pack. Christa was always out in front, and I was always in second place during the race. I ran the whole race by myself.

GCR:	Two months later, in December of 1976, you won the Honolulu Marathon in 2:44:44, eight minutes ahead of Elizabeth Richards of Australia at 2:50:26 with Gayle Barron third at 2:52:16. What do you recall of that race?
KM	It was hot, but not as hot as Boston was earlier that year. Gayle and I ran many races together and we got to be very good friends. She took care of me. Jack Fultz was also there, and we were the reigning Boston Marathon winners.

GCR:

We discussed you racing those five strong races in a row in late 1977 and touched briefly on when you won the 1977 AAU Championships Marathon, Eugene, Oregon in your personal best time of 2:37:57. Gayle Barron was second, but eleven minutes behind you at 2:48:34. Were you running along with some of the sub-elite men?

Yes, there was one good runner who wasn’t racing all out. I can’t remember his name. I ran with him, and we were chatting. I lost track of my pace. When I heard my twenty-mile split, it was slow and I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness. I just wrecked my race.’ I took off so fast and that last 10k was one of the fastest 10ks I ran in my life. I could have run that race a lot faster if I hadn’t lost track of my pace. I smoked the pace and made up a lot of time the last six miles. I kept thinking, ‘How did I slow down and let that happen?’ That hadn’t happened before in a race.

GCR:	At the 1977 New York City Marathon Miki Gorman passed you in the last 10k to win in 2:43:10.0 while you ran 2:46:03.1 for second place. Do you remember much from that effort?
KM	I thought I had dropped out that year for some reason. Kim was older and was a sweet little lady. She was Chinese and came to the USA when she was young. She was so cute and so tiny.

GCR:	The next spring at the 1978 Boston Marathon, Gayle Barron won in 2:44:52, followed by Penny DeMoss at 2:45:36, Jane Killion in 2:47:23 and you in 2:47:52. Do you have any memories of that race where Gayle won?
KM	I was hurting already after eight miles, and I was limping. Gayle and I ran along for much of the race.

GCR:	In 1979 at the Boston Marathon, the race went to a higher level as Joan Benoit won in 2:35 and the top four women all ran sub-2:40, while you finished in sixth place in 2:44:29. Was that when women’s marathon running stepped up to the next phase?
KM	Women finally got to the next level and, unfortunately, that is around when I got chronic fatigue syndrome. I know I could have run faster than 2:37, but I was sick. I felt great when I had that breakthrough race and I was looking forward to my next marathons. I thought I could run a 2:35 since the fastest part of my 2:37 was the last six miles which was unheard of.

GCR:	In September of 1979 you ran the Avon Marathon in Waldniel, Germany and finished second in 2:39:43 behind Joyce Smith of England who ran 2:36:27 at age forty-one. How did your second trip to Germany go?
KM	That’s another race that doesn’t bring back memories. There were so many races that I can’t remember all of them.

GCR:	One marathon I want to mention was several years later at the 1983 Milwaukee Marathon. My friend, Jim Dill, was fifth in 2:18:37 and Richard Dodd, who connected us, was tenth in 2:19:39. What do you recall of that race where Nancy Mieszczak won in 2:39:15, with you two minutes back in 2:41:16, followed closely by Cheryl Konkol in 2:41:27?
KM	I remember that race but didn’t recall my place. I also am surprised I ran that fast there. I remember that race was point-to-point. Towards the end of the race, the road was slanted and that started bothering one leg.

GCR:

In 1984 you did run the inaugural U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon for women. You ran solid in 2:43:31 but only finished in fifty-third place as thirty-one women ran sub-2:40. Even though you weren’t where you wanted to be, was it amazing that in ten years’ time we went from women’s marathon running in its infancy to so many running so fast?

I had gotten injured, wasn’t training normally and wasn’t a hundred percent. I had missed going to Japan for a big marathon because I wasn’t up to par and I later regretted that decision. The only reason I went to that race was I told myself, ‘The next time you get invited to a race, you’re going to go.’ The Olympic Trials came up and I told myself, ‘You’re going to go. Even though you’re not a hundred percent yet, you have to go.’ I was one of the women who just wanted to be a part of the race. I could still run respectably, but I knew I wasn’t going to be running a PR.

GCR:

Your final marathon was about eighteen months later at the 1985 Twin Cities Marathon as you went sub-2:40 for ninth place in 2:39:35 as two runners ran 2:35, three ran 2:36, and three more were at 2:38. Was that a solid effort since you were at age thirty and had two young children at the time?

Yes, I was sick after I had that second child, but I went downhill fast with that chronic fatigue syndrome and didn’t recover. My kids were born in 1980 and 1982. I never could live life or run at one hundred percent again. It didn’t affect my everyday life, but I couldn’t push myself to be a top-notch racer without getting my symptoms back. My lymph nodes would swell; I would get very fatigued and feel malaise.

GCR:

ROAD RACING – OTHER DISTANCES What do you recall from when you won the iconic Falmouth Road Race in 1977 at 38:40?

That was one of the best races I ever ran. I was running along, and I said to a guy who was running next to me, ‘I think I went out too fast.’ After the race was over, he told me, ‘You said you think you went out too fast a few times during the race. And every time you said that you sped up.’ I had a breakthrough in that race. My 10k split was about a minute faster than my best 10k. I had been at a plateau until that race. It was nice when that guy came up to me and told me, ‘You were complaining that you went out too fast, and then you kept getting faster.’

GCR:	When I interviewed Lucien Rosa, we talked about when he won the inaugural Quad City Bix 7-mile in 1975 when you won the women’s division in 41:04. You also repeated the win in 1976 with a 41:33 time. What do you remember about running that big race and winning by over twenty minutes in 1975?
KM	One year it was about ninety degrees. It was so hot that it was one of the few times I ran under a hose. I didn’t like that, so I usually avoided running under hoses. But that year I ran under every hose I could find.

GCR:

I’ve run the Charleston Distance Run 15-miler and it has such a tough uphill, followed by a steep downhill before it gets flat for the final ten or so miles. You won it three years straight with times of 1:32:15 in 1975, 1:28:50 in 1976 and 1:30:12 in 1977. Gayle Barron was again second to you in 1976. How do you like that race distance since it ends before the time that the ‘marathon wall’ hits?

I got to that race because of my coach, Vic Godfrey. He took a road trip with the men’s team, and I went along. Coach Godfrey opened up so many doors for me when road racing wasn’t too popular for women. My first important race was in Charleston, and I was able to beat Jacqueline Hansen. That is how I met her. I remember running up that first hill because we got to run down it afterward. That is where I passed Jacqueline, and I never saw her again. I am a good downhill runner. We ran up the hill for a long time, then down the hill for a long time and then it was flat.

GCR:	When we discussed those five weekends in a row in 1977 when you won big races each time, two were ten-milers. You won the Bobby Crim 10-mile before the AAU Championships Marathon in Eugene, Oregon in 58:41 and won the Lynchburg Virginia 10-miler six days after the marathon in 58:11. What do you remember about the Bobby Crim 10-mile up in Michigan?
KM	I don’t remember much about it because it wasn’t as tough as the Virginia 10-miler when I just wanted to curl up under a tree and die.

GCR:	You won the 1978 Jacksonville River Run 15k, which I’ve raced numerous times, in 55:46. Was that race especially tough since you had to traverse the Hart Bridge in the final 5k, which can also be a windy proposition?
KM	I remember going to an amusement park with the guy who won the wheelchair race, but I don’t remember the actual race.

GCR:	Let’s try another race – one I haven’t done – you won the 1978 Elby’s 20k in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1:14:48. What was that like on what Bill Rodgers, Jeff Galloway, Jacqueline Hansen, and Tom Fleming have told me is a very hilly course?
KM	You would think I would remember that one since I do not like running hilly races because I am not good at running uphill. But I don’t remember it though, as I mentioned, I do recall the hill at the Charleston Distance Run.

GCR:	The final road race I would like to chat about is the Bellin Run 10k in Green Bay, Wisconsin which you won in 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1984, were second in 1981 and 1983 and finished third in 1985. There were also great men winning such as Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Garry Bjorkland, and Kyle Heffner. Was that a cool race to win since it was in your home state?
KM	That became Joan Benoit’s race. She started winning when I was there and kept winning and winning for many years. I quit going there when I got sick. The Bellin Run is in Green Bay and is only two or three hours from where I lived. That was a race I liked.

GCR:

MISCELLANEOUS AND WRAPUP Let’s talk a bit more about your training. What did you do when you stepped up from high school to college to marathon training in terms of your long runs, weekly mileage, or any other aspects of training that we haven’t discussed?

In high school, I saw a note in the girls’ locker room that stated that good track runners run seventy miles a week. So, that’s what I started running right off the bat. That’s probably why I had trouble with my ankles because I have very thin ankles. I ran seventy miles a week throughout high school. When I got to college, I upped my weekly mileage into the nineties. That is where I had to level off. I wanted to do more, but I couldn’t without getting fatigued or injured. Twenty miles was the longest I ran. I didn’t go that far for my long run each week. I would do a weekly long run from fourteen to twenty miles. I did a lot of sixteen milers.

GCR:

When I chatted with Benji Durden, he told me that, when he was racing nearly every weekend, he would do a twenty-miler on Wednesdays or Thursdays to get in his long run. Did you ever do any mid-week long runs when you were racing frequently?

I didn’t do as many long runs when I was getting invited out of town for so many races. I didn’t do any in the middle of the week. There was one thing I did when I ran local races. It was easy to win those, so I would connect the race into a long run. I would do a long warmup of four or five miles. Then I would run the race which was usually a 10k. Then I would run more after the race until I couldn’t run anymore. Most of the time that would total fifteen or sixteen miles so that is how I completed my long run.

GCR:

When you were training for the marathon, but were on your own after college, did you still do many tempo runs or were you doing track intervals and road fartlek? And were you self-coached?

Not long after I graduated, Coach Vic accepted a job in Bahrain and he moved. When he came back, he went to his home state of South Dakota, and he still lives there. The worst coach a runner can have is themselves and that’s basically what I was. One thing I did has to do when I went to races. When there were good men runners like Bill Rodgers or Jeff Galloway doing clinics, I would talk to them. There wasn’t one time that I didn’t ask them what they did for training. I would listen and always implement something from their workouts. Everyone is different in training. I’m not a speed demon. I did intervals and fartlek running. I probably should have become a coach, but I got sick, had my daughter, and started helping her with gymnastics lessons. Sometimes after work I had to drive to Illinois for her competitions, and I didn’t have time for coaching. I was offered a few coaching opportunities but had to focus on my daughter’s gymnastics lessons. She did end up getting a scholarship to Michigan State.

GCR:

That is a perfect segue into my next thought that starts with you transitioning from gymnastics to running. As you noted, your daughter, Kristin, went to Michigan State on a gymnastics scholarship. Your son, Kenny, ran on a scholarship for your alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Did they each get a bit of your skill sets?

My daughter would have been a good runner or skater, but she fell in love with gymnastics. She isn’t as skinny as me and has bigger muscles, so she was better at gymnastics than I was. She runs a lot now and does half marathons. Her goal is to run a half marathon in every state, and she is on state number twelve. She coaches gymnastics and tells me that most kids are much weaker mentally than kids of her generation were at young ages. My son doesn’t run much anymore.

GCR:

You spoke earlier about understanding your running limits after you developed chronic fatigue syndrome. How is your current health and fitness, and what is your running frequency and distance?

When I was in Wisconsin, sometimes I would run with high school girls because I knew the coach and saw his team at the park. But basically, I would run by myself. I’ve always been a morning runner. When I started running in high school, I ran before school. When I got a job, I ran before work. I’m a morning person. The first thing I do when I get up is go for a run. When I worked at six o’clock, I got up at two o’clock to run. I always made sure that I got in a run and cleaned up my house before going to work. That’s what I’ve done my whole life. When I got chronic fatigue system, there were several years that I went for a walk and had to lay on the couch to recover. Now I do a combination of running and walking. Sometimes I go for a fast walk with my dogs. Sometimes it may be mostly running. Other times I run half and walk half and there are also times that are mostly walking. There was a three-month period last year that I did eighty-four miles a week, which is twelve miles a day. That was too much, and I crashed and did hardly anything for a month. I have learned that I need to take a day off every couple weeks or every week because fatigue accumulates. If I don’t take regular days off, I end up having to take at least a week off. So, it’s better if I take a day off a week so the other six days go better, and I don’t crash. Right now, I run anywhere between five and thirteen miles a day. Today I did eight miles in the morning, and I’ll probably do another two miles later in the day. I like to run fifty or sixty miles a week. Last week I did seventy miles, but I didn’t take a day off. I can’t do that every week.

GCR:

Since you retired and have moved to Lansing, Michigan, what are your goals for the future and can you tell us about your bout with cancer?

My goal is to stay alive. I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia a year ago. I ended up in the hospital for five weeks and I almost died. When I walked into the Emergency Room, I was so weak I could barely walk. I thought I was going to pass out. The doctor came in and said, ‘Your blood counts are way off. Have you ever had cancer?’ I told him I hadn’t. Then he told me, ‘You have to be admitted to the hospital, and you need a blood transfusion.’ I was tested, they did a bone marrow biopsy the next day and they got the results in a couple days. In the meantime, on the first night in the hospital I almost died from septicemia, which is blood poisoning. They had me on two intravenous antibiotics. If they hadn’t kicked in, I would have died that night. My immune system wasn’t working, and my kidneys were failing, though I didn’t find out about my kidneys until later. The doctor had told me he would come immediately from wherever he was to tell me the results when they were available. He held my hand and told me, ‘If you don’t stay in the hospital and get treatment, you only have a week or two weeks to live.’ I got a blood transfusion. Then I was sent by ambulance to Milwaukee where I had chemotherapy for a week. Since my heart was strong, I was able to have the most severe chemotherapy. Every day they tested me multiple times. I had six blood transfusions and three platelet transfusions. Chemotherapy destroyed my immune system even more. I couldn’t leave the hospital, or I would surely get an infection. They kept close tabs on me. I was self-bathing while they took my temperature and blood pressure every four to six hours. Quite a few times over the first three weeks I was on antibiotics which also caused severe diarrhea. Toward the end, they did another bone marrow biopsy, and they checked to ensure my white blood cell count was high enough to leave. When I was discharged, my doctor said, ‘You’re lucky to be alive Missy!’ And they told me that I was in remission. I have a seventy percent chance of recurrence and a thirty percent chance of remission. When I was discharged, they wanted me to do chemotherapy for a week each month. When I did that the first month, my platelet counts had trouble recovering, so my doctor changed the plan to a week every three months. After a few more times, I decided against continuing with that treatment plan. The chemotherapy also had so many potential side effects that they would read off. Luckily, I had little side effects.

GCR:

Over the years, based on your career, you were inducted into the Wisconsin-Parkside Hall of Fame in 1980, the Racine County Sports HOF in 2011, and the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2014. Was it both an honor and humbling to be recognized?

I was always a humble person who didn’t like getting up on the awards stand so they could make a big fuss about me. I was never one of those people who put my arms up when I crossed the finish line. I did it for me, not for recognition. I don’t tell people that I won the New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon. When I started working at one place, someone found out and told everybody else. There is only one person that I have ever told I won those races. It was my daughter’s husband’s dad. He was bragging about himself so much that I almost felt like throwing up. I looked at him and I said, ‘I’m a World Class runner. I won the Boston and New York City marathons.’ That’s the only time. I don’t like it when people think they are better than others. It is nice now to get recognition and to be remembered.

GCR:

When you give advice to your kids or grandkids or young runners, how do you sum up the major lessons you have learned during your life from the discipline of running, overcoming adversity, and applying skills learned from running to other aspects of life, that you can share with my readers is the ‘Kim Merritt Philosophy’ that will help them on the pathway to reaching their potential athletically and as a person?

Always give it your all and you will eventually be rewarded. Everybody hits a plateau where you are training hard, every race is the same and you can’t get any better. If you hang in there, one day you will have a breakthrough, and it will be wonderful. Keep training hard and you will get better. There is one thing I have to mention about my daughter when she was a young gymnast. I only yelled at her one time, and she didn’t talk to me for four days. Afterward, I was ashamed of myself and told myself I would never do that again. But, the fact of the matter is, I never had to again. She was only a little girl, about eight or nine years old. It was her last tumbling pass on the floor exercise when a gymnast gets tired and she gave up. She didn’t run into it all and I could tell she wasn’t digging deep. She fell. I didn’t care that she fell but I cared that she didn’t give it her all, wasn’t running fast, and she gave up. That is why I yelled at her, ‘You never give up! Even if it hurts, you always give it your all!’ She was a hard worker who reached her potential. When I raced, there were a few races where I felt like I could have tried harder, and I gave up – and I didn’t like that feeling. When that happened, in the next race I gave it my all.

	Inside Stuff
Hobbies/Interests	I had a horse when I was in high school. I had another horse around the time I was getting sick, but someone cut my fence and stole it. I love animals and I wish I had a horse
Nicknames	I didn’t have nicknames, but it was unusual at the time for a female to be running. When I started running, I received so many comments when I was running along the road from people in cars. It was uncommon for women to run, so some people made sure that they made comments. One time my dad told me that I couldn’t go out for a run, but it was the first time I defied my dad. After that, he didn’t say anything. It was almost like he told me that I had to stop breathing
Favorite movies	Western movies and movies with animals
Favorite TV shows	I liked Bonanza, Flipper, Roy Rogers, and Lassie. I had to watch Bonanza every Sunday night
Favorite music	I’m not a big music person and am not very musical. I do like the oldies from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. I didn’t listen to a lot of rock music, though I liked Bruce Springsteen. I listened to Elvis Presley and liked him better than the Beatles. Back then, young girls were crazy over the Beatles. My young cousin was nuts over them
Favorite books	Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of Danielle Steele stories. Every one is a love story that ends up good. I do want to find something else – maybe some mysteries. There is an author my father liked, Nicholas Sparks, and I like several of his books
First car	I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was seventeen years old because I didn’t care about it. My first car was a Ford Cougar. My dad bought it for me because he didn’t want me to touch his car. He was a ‘Felix Unger clean freak’ like the character in the ‘Odd Couple’ program. That’s why I got the used Ford Cougar. Some people commented that my dad was spoiling me with that car. He responded, ‘I’m not spoiling her. She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever had on the farm. I just don’t want her touching my car.’ Everyone in high school was jealous of me
Current car	A Dodge minivan. I like it because I can put my dogs in there. When I put the seats down, I can also haul plywood. When I had three Golden Retrievers and took them to the river, the dogs would be all wet and muddy. I would put a big blanket back there and that would give them plenty of room
First Job	My dad grew potatoes and onions on our farm. I wanted to work on the farm because I wanted to earn money. For some reason, my dad said that my grandfather had to say it was okay, which he did. I walked up and down the fields pulling weeds. I worked with the onion harvest. I started working on the farm when I was young. I did that when I was in junior and senior high school. Even when I was in college, I worked on the farm in the summers. I lived at home since Wisconsin-Parkside was only four miles down the road from where I lived. I took extra credits, sometimes over twenty, in school since I didn’t have a job during the school year. I decided that my job was getting through school faster
Family	My mom and dad were married until they died five months apart about eight years ago. They got married when they were twenty years old and were eighty-four when they died, so that’s well over sixty years of marriage. Their names are Karen and Ronald Piper. I have two brothers who are highly successful. My oldest brother is a self-made millionaire who owned a distribution center for home goods. He sold it to two of his kids. Now he also owns a factory in China. He lives in Florida. He’s been on over a hundred and ten cruises. When he’s home, he plays poker night. My other brother, Paul, is thirteen years younger than me. He was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy who served for twenty years. He was a nuclear engineer and was on submarine duty for many years. His crew and he had to maintain their nuclear missiles. He has a good job now in Indiana with a chemical company at the south end of Lake Michigan
Pets	My horses were great and so were my dogs. When I had the three Golden Retrievers, I was away from them for five weeks when I was hospitalized. When I got out, one was very possessive, and his personality had changed from timid to aggressive. I had to rehome him and that broke my heart. The two dogs I have now are ‘Stan’ and ‘Hunter.’ The rehomed dog is ‘Micky.’ I also had a Rottie named ‘Max.’ Rotties are hard to train. They want to be the boss and to test you. Max was the smartest and funniest dog I ever had. Before that I had a German Shepherd. My favorite dogs are Goldens. They are people pleasers
Favorite breakfast	My favorite breakfast is no breakfast. I haven’t eaten breakfast since I was a little kid in junior high when I had to eat a bowl of cereal
Favorite meal	I love salads, fruit, and pasta. I’m a vegetarian. When most people hear I’m a vegetarian, they will say something like, ‘You’re one of those people, one of those wackos.’ I’m not a wacko. I’m a vegetarian because I can’t stand eating meat. I used to sit at the dinner table and gag when my parents made me eat meat. When I moved out, I quit eating meat. I don’t eat fish as that is even worse than meat. I’ll ask people what foods they don’t like and, when they tell me, I ask, ‘Do you eat them?’ Then they understand me and leave me alone
Favorite beverages	Water and lemon water. I used to be hooked on Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi until I found out how bad those artificial sweeteners are. I used to drink two liters of diet drinks per day. I quit many years ago. I don’t drink anything with sugar. I do drink some flavored water that has stevia and natural flavors
First running memory	I won races and was a tether ball champ. When kids played marbles when they weren’t supposed to, the teacher would confiscate the marbles. She had a big jar of them by the end of the year. We had a field day and, if you won a race, you earned so many marbles. Guess who ended up with everybody’s marbles? Me! I ended up with the whole jar full – and I didn’t play marbles! When kids got their marbles taken away, I knew they would be mine by the end of the year
Running heroes	When I was young there weren’t any women distance runners for me to look up to. As the years went by, I wanted to be like Julie Brown. When I got on the starting line at races, I always checked out the other lady runners to see if one looked like they had a running body and might be able to beat me. I didn’t have confidence. I never went into races thinking I was going to win. I was always very humble. Bill Rodgers was very friendly and was in many races that I ran. Bill was a humble guy and sweet man who was on top of the field for a while. It’s too bad we boycotted the 1980 Olympics, and he might have won. Bill Rodgers, Don Kardong and Tom Fleming stick out as they were nice to me
Greatest running moments	Winning the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon are memorable as was setting the American Record at the Nike Marathon in Eugene and holding it for a year. That was a breakthrough, and I finally started running faster than 2:44. My win at Falmouth was also another breakthrough when I began running faster at the shorter distances. That was a fantastic race as I went out ‘too fast’ and then kept getting faster. I was thrilled to run my fastest 10k there and then I still had almost another mile to go
Most disappointing moments	There were a few races that I dropped out of. Those stick out in my brain and were horrible. There was that Virginia 10-mile where I wanted to drop out after two miles because I was tired from racing so many weekends in a row. I would get to mile three and set a goal to make it to mile four. Then I would aim to make it to mile five. I did one mile at a time and that’s how I finished the race. I tell people who are feeling bad early in a race to break the race down into bites they can manage. If they think about the whole remaining distance, they will quit. I felt so bad and was disappointed but then found out I was only about forty seconds slower than my best time
Childhood dreams	I wanted to be a cowboy and work on a ranch. I wanted to be a horse trainer. I was registered to attend a school out west in either Montana or Wyoming. One of my high school friends, who also had a horse, and I were going to go to a horse training school. I was set to go, but my friend backed out. So, I was afraid to move there on my own and I decided to go to Wisconsin-Parkside for a year and to stay close to home. That may have been a good thing in my life because I could ride horses and was an excellent horseman. When I had my horse, I rode it at least five times a week. I was fit and wanted to have a fit horse. I always concentrated on becoming the best rider I could ever be
Funny memories one	Falmouth was also a fun race because the days before and after the race Bill Rodgers and some other top men ran with me. The day after the race, a woman pulled out in front of us with her car. Runners don’t like it when that happens. Bill Rodgers jumped on top of the hood of her car. He didn’t go around it. He just jumped up and - boom, boom – ran right across. I couldn’t believe Bill did that
Funny memories two	The guys always did funny things when I was running with them. They would spit and sometimes it would blow in the wind and get on me. Girls spit now but didn’t back then. When I would go out in the summer to train with Coach Mike DeWitt and his high school girls, they would be spitting. We didn’t do that back in our day – girls ran but didn’t spit. Even when I ran by myself, I wouldn’t spit
Favorite places to travel	I liked it out west when I was in Colorado. It was rough running at altitude. I came in second in a race in Aspen, Colorado. When I came down to Denver, I felt okay. So, it was tough running, but Colorado is beautiful, and I love the mountains. I also love northern Wisconsin. Door County, Wisconsin and Traverse City, Michigan are across Lake Michigan from each other and are both simply gorgeous. Those two areas are as pretty as Colorado
Choose a Superhero – Batman, Superman, or Spiderman?	Not Batman. Probably Superman
Choose a theme park – Disney World or Universal?	I’m not familiar with Universal. I was at Disney World with my kids, and I went to quite a few races in Florida so we would spend the next couple of days at Disney World
Choose a Sylvester Stallone character - Rocky or Rambo?	I never saw Rambo and don’t like war movies. I watched Rocky so that is my pick
Choose your favorite Green Bay Packers quarterback – Bart Starr, Brett Favre, or Aaron Rodgers?	Bart Starr. He was the star when I was in junior high school. My parents would sit in front of the TV and scream when the Packers played. My mom was a big football fan. I was forced into watching football, but don’t now, though I still know all the rules. Vince Lombardi was also my hero. I didn’t like it when Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers left the team. After all that time you can’t stick it out?
Choose the beach or mountains?	I like a beach that has trees. In Door County, part of it is in Green Bay, so that is nice. I grew up on Lake Michigan. I grew up in a house one block from Lake Michigan and went swimming in the lake even when the water was cold. I love Lake Michigan. I also like small lakes with trees. The people across the street from me now live on a lake and there are trees along the lake. In our neighborhood there are public beaches, and we pay an annual fee for access. It’s very nice