They were the most expensive shoes Kathrine Switzer had ever purchased: a $26 pair of kangaroo-skin Adidas, that in 1967 Switzer wore to become the first woman to compete in the Boston Marathon.
“I have a love-hate relationship with those shoes,” says Switzer, who had to take a razor blade to her brand-new sneakers because they were pinching her toes. “Today, I look at my wonderful Manolo Blahniks that were, like, $500 on sale, and the idea of cutting them would kill me.”
