Bobbi Gibb didn't wait for permission—she changed history by stepping across a line she was never meant to cross. In 1966, when women weren't allowed to run the Boston Marathon, Bobbi showed up anyway. Denied an official race number simply because she was a woman, she hid near the starting line, slipped into the pack, and ran 26.2 miles on determination alone. She finished in three hours and 21 minutes, faster than many of the men competing, and challenged a long-held belief that women couldn't endure the distance. But Bobbi's story is bigger than one race. It's about questioning limits and reshaping what people believe is possible, not just in sport, but in life.

When Ellen Wessel and Elizabeth Goeke started running in the 1970s, they quickly realized the apparel available wasn’t well suited to women’s needs. Shorts bunched between the legs, didn’t fit right around the waist, chafed in unmentionable areas—and definitely didn’t have pockets. Sports bras, let alone those that supported larger breasts, weren’t yet available. So they started a company, Moving Comfort, to meet the needs of a growing group of women runners. Though there were plenty of ups and downs along the way, Moving Comfort outfitted women runners with quality apparel for four decades—staying true to the pair's mission, “A fit woman is a powerful woman,” along the way.

Jan Seeley is a modern Renaissance woman, succeeding in pursuits as wide-ranging as field hockey, running, writing, and race directing. She's been running for more than 50 years, was an editor at Human Kinetics and then of Marathon & Beyond magazine, and is now the race director for the Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend, a marathon and more in Champaign-Urbana. In this interview, she discusses her journey through the sport, her relationship with her husband and fellow runner Joe (and her grief after he passed away in 2012), and how the Illinois races have grown into a beloved regional event with a wide-ranging impact on the community.