Joan Benoit Samuelson: Track & Field

American Star of the Women’s International Sports Hall of Fame

Joan Benoit set the women’s marathon world record of 2:22:43 when she won the 1983 Boston Marathon. She was a blossoming 25-year-old runner with many miles behind her and a plan to run many, many more. Winning the famed Boston Marathon was not new for Benoit; she conquered that barrier at age 21. However, winning the 1983 Boston Marathon at a world record pace meant a whole new world of running and athlete stardom for Benoit. Her victory meant that not only was she chasing her dream of Olympic Gold at the inaugural women’s Olympic Marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, but it also meant that the rest of the competitive field would be chasing her. Joan Benoit is one of those great athletes whose talents place her among the greatest, but her unassuming nature keeps her in humble company. She made a vow just before she finished the Inaugural Olympic Marathon to be herself and remain grounded despite the momentum of her success.

Benoit started a family shortly after she won the Olympic Gold, when she married Scott Samuelson. She took the Olympic victory in stride and beautifully grew into a career that had a place for both a family and athletic stardom. Joanie, as she is affectionately known across the sport of endurance running, built a life in her home in Freeport, Maine, an ideal setting for a distance runner with all of nature’s beauty surrounding her. It is her home that helps her keep the promise she made to herself shortly before crossing the Olympic finish line. The serenity of the water as it breaks across the point and the garden that she obsessively cares for create a peaceful calm. A long-distance runner is, by nature of the sport, patient and dedicated. These two traits suit Joan’s interest in gardening perfectly. Her dedication extends past distance running and gardening, as she has been the exemplary committed mother to her two children, son Anders and daughter Abby. Each sponsor and race director knows that her children’s athletic endeavors always took precedence over her own.

Keeping a variety of interests seemed to ease the strain of a career in an endurance sport. Marathons take their toll on a body over the grueling 26.2 miles, but what can be even more draining is the mileage that a runner puts in each week to prepare for a race. Benoit Samuelson has faced her fair share of exhaustion and pain throughout her career. Injury was never really a hurdle to her, but rather motivation to train more. In fact, she was introduced to distance running in her youth when she was recovering from a broken leg she suffered in her first sport of skiing. It seems implausible to most, to recover from a broken leg by running miles and miles, but Joan was motivated to do whatever it took so she could be strong on the slopes. Her path throughout her career did not stray much from that auspicious start. Joan could not be deterred from any goal that she was striving toward. Just two weeks before the 1984 Olympic Trials, Joan had knee surgery, but she continued training with vigor. With her goal in sight, she completed a 17-mile training run just a few days after surgery even though the run slightly damaged her leg further. She did not let the pain stop her and she went on to win the 1984 Olympic trials and the Olympic gold medal easily.

The very next year Benoit Samuelson won the Chicago Marathon in record-breaking time, 2:21:21, a new American record that lasted until 2003. In 1985, she also won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the country. Throughout her career, she struggled with various injuries, but Benoit Samuelson continued to live a very balanced life, spending time gardening, skiing with her family, and running. Her speed was impressive in non-marathon-distance races as well. She won six prestigious Falmouth Road Races, a 7.1 mile race, with four course record-breaking performances. Benoit Samuelson was also victorious in other major races, such as Bay to Breakers 12K, Bobby Crim 10-miler, Quad City Times Bix 7-Miler, and the Tufts 10K for Women. She has also won seven major marathons throughout her storied career.

In May 2007, Joan Benoit Samuelson celebrated her 50th birthday and although some people look for a more relaxed pace later in life, the years surrounding her birthday were lived at an accelerating pace. Just like the previous years of her life, she continued to set lofty goals for herself. The loftiest, quite literally, was to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania before she turned 50, and she reached the top with ease. Benoit Samuelson sets goals and quite regularly achieves them but it is not with the same motivation that others set out with; she climbs mountains simply because they are there. She entered the Oklahoma City Half Marathon in April 2007 but half way through the race, her old injury flared up in her calf and her foot. Joan’s determination and stubbornness would not permit her to give up, so the woman who runs a full marathon in 2:46:27 limped the remaining six and a half miles to finish a half marathon in 1:54:52. The injury did hamper her goal of running 50 miles on her 50th birthday a month later, but instead of giving up she set out for a 60-mile bike ride with a 70-year-old friend—splitting their ages was the simplest way to settle the distance.

Her overcommitted lifestyle makes it hard to fit 60-mile bike rides in on a regular basis. She keeps busy by supporting environmental causes, organizing her own road race Beach to Beacon 10K, following her children’s endeavors, skiing with Scott, maintaining her garden, running 60 miles a week, and constantly giving back to the sport that gave her so much. It is enough to make anyone feel tired, but that is just a slice of Joanie’s life. Her life has been so rich in experiences and people that adore her. She begged her husband not to throw a 50th birthday party, but he could not let this milestone pass without recognition. Scott secretly asked Joan’s circle of friends and colleagues to send “seeds for her garden with a few thoughts.”¹ He organized the “seeds” in seven large keepsake albums. Some sent roasted coffee beans with encouragement for the miracle gardener to grow something from them, and others sent intricate drawings of something inspiring about Joan. In her hurried state, Joan has only had time to look through the abundance of pages in two of the albums, but she still makes time for correspondence and thank you notes to her crowds of friends.

She invests most of her time in the Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth because it is a symbol of what she has given the sport and what the sport has given her in return. The B2B, as it is affectionately known, is laborious at best for Joan but it is a labor of love. She signs countless posters for thank you gifts, makes at least a dozen appearances on television shows and at volunteer and sponsors’ parties, but the most important thing she does every year is run the B2B with her two children and husband. Seeing Benoit Samuelson run this race is a sight the crowd yearns for while they wait, and the finish line erupts with applause as she crosses the line. Benoit Samuelson kindly thanks everyone again at the final gathering every year.

Joan’s final career race was the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials held in Boston in April 2008. Joan says running at Boston “isn’t about making it to Beijing; It’s about finishing in a respectable time.” For Joan Benoit Samuelson that means that for her last professional running goal, she wants to run a full marathon in 2:50:00 at 50 years old. As usual, she not only succeeded but she also surpassed her goal and turned in a 2:49:08 time and finished 90th of 124 competitors. Her character, passion, and commitment have led her through many full marathons and a full life. Joanie has already finished in a respectable time and in a more than respectable way in most people’s minds.

Note

1 Susan Rinkunas, “The Last Go ‘Round,” Runner’s World, January 1, 2008, 99.

This excerpt was written by Stacy Martin-Tenney.