Switzer is a promoter, no doubt, and I used to think of her as a self-promoter, yet I think it's important to look at how she has done that. One very telling way is how she convinced a large company, Avon, to sponsor a series of women's only races, when that was a concept that was unheard of. Yes, we all think we can be a race director, just cause we ran a race, she did it on a major scale. One of the most important was the Avon International Women's Marathon in Paris (I think that was the name of it), the first or near first marathon they sponsored of the series, and it was literally run past the hotel in which the IOC was meeting, forcing the IOC to be confronted with the fact that women could run the distance. There was much political work done, too, to get women into the Olympic Marathon, but symbolism was also very important, and this was of major symbolism. Imagine the work to get this race together, especially in a city the size of Paris, when you don't live there.
Others also worked their tails off to get the marathon in place, such as the running writer Joe Henderson.
