Arlene Pieper Stine became the first woman to officially finish a sanctioned marathon in 1959, when she ran the Pikes Peak Marathon.When Stine made history, she was running Arlene’s Health Studio, a women’s fitness center in Colorado Springs along with her husband.
She decided to run the grueling Pikes Peak Marathon to promote the studio. Running in dime-store tennis shoes, Stine first attempted the marathon in 1958, stopping before she finished.
When she tried again in 1959, she completed the marathon with an official time of 9:50.20.Stine never ran another marathon, and her achievement was almost lost to history as other women made notable achievements in other marathons.
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