A line stretched the length of the block outside the Boston Marathon store on Boylston Street as runners waited to embroider their finishing times onto the jackets they bought to celebrate their achievement.
Inside, another line of runners was there Tuesday to celebrate Kathrine Switzer.
A day after she returned to the course on the 50th anniversary of her 1967 landmark run, the first official female entrant saw her bib No. 261 retired by the Boston Athletic Association. It's the first number to be retired, although Boston Athletic Association spokesman Jack Fleming said No. 61 has been held out of circulation in honor of Johnny Kelley, who started the race a record 61 times (and finished 58).
Fans crowded the brief ceremony, hugging and posing afterward for pictures with Switzer, 70, a women's running pioneer.
"People have such an appreciation for what running has done for them and how it's changed their lives," said Switzer, who named her 261 Fearless foundation after the bib number that was nearly torn from her back on the marathon course.
"It's beyond me; it's the number now," said Switzer, who ran the race Monday along with 118 women and "seven intrepid men" who raised money for the charity that uses running to improve women's lives around the world. "We can make it happen through running. The number now stands for all of those things."
Switzer was a 20-year-old student at Syracuse when she entered the men-only Boston Marathon in 1967, using her initials on the registration form. Race director Jock Semple fumed at the sight of Switzer in an official bib and tried to pull her off the course.
Pictures of that splashed across newspaper front pages, and Switzer somewhat inadvertently became a symbol of the women's movement.
"It was the worst thing in my life at the time. It became the best thing in my life," she said Tuesday. "He inspired me to completely not only change my life, but to change millions of women's lives."
Ring tone
The Chicago Cubs are asking each player and employee given a World Series championship ring to sign an agreement reserving the team's right to buy the ring back for $1 if the recipient decides to sell it, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
"We regret the formal nature of this memo, and we do not intend for this information to overshadow our joy in being able to provide this ring to you," a team memo states, according to the Sun-Times.
The memo also said that if the Cubs decide against buying the ring back, the same terms will apply to future owners of the ring. Rings given as gifts to family members are reportedly considered an exception.
Late medal
An assistant track and field coach at the University of South Dakota has been awarded a bronze medal for pole vaulting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after the original winner was disqualified for doping.
Derek Miles, a three-time Olympian, placed fourth in the pole vaulting event in 2008. He reached the same height as Denys Yurchenko, but the Ukrainian won the bronze because he made fewer attempts.
Miles is a former associate director of advisement services at Arkansas State University and trains in Jonesboro under former ASU All-American, world record holder and Olympic bronze medalist Earl Bell,
Yurchenko was among several athletes who were stripped last year of their 2008 Olympic medals after the International Olympic Committee found banned substances during retesting.
Yurchenko initially refused to give up the medal. U.S. Sen. John Thune worked with the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the US Olympic Committee, to ensure Miles received the medal.
Sports on 04/19/2017