BALTIMORE — Marilyn Bevans is a name that is sketched in the record books for distance running.
The 75-year-old Baltimore native holds numerous records, including being the first Black woman to win a marathon. This marathon being the Maryland marathon.
Watch as a marathon trailblazer reflects on her journey
"Are you sure? Can you look it up? Can we prove this," Bevans recalls asking when she was told she broke a record.
Her accolades don't stop there.
She's placed second in the Boston Marathon, a race that hosts about 32,000 people, and holds the record for being the first Black woman to finish a marathon in under three hours.
The latter feat also happened in the Boston Marathon.
"I was just happy to know that I did that," Bevans said.
She earned her undergraduate degree at Morgan State University and went to grad school in Springfield College. She got a lot of training done here as she trained with the boys' track team at the school.
For Bevans, she's always loved running, even if she tried to be a sprinter in the beginning.
We asked, "How did you discover you wanted to be a distance runner?"
She replied, "Because your grandmother could beat me in a 100 [meter dash]. I was just slow."
During this time, Bevans recalls being the only Black woman in a lot of these races. She's happy to see how the sport as grown and the inclusion it has now.
"Years ago, women couldn't do all this now they can and do it quite well. If you can put one foot in front of the other and have some kind of ability and will to train you can do more than you think you can," she said.
"You can't have people saying that this group can't do that," Bevans added.
Bevans isn't doing much marathon running these days, instead she's a cross country coach.
"I like to see kids get the opportunity to do something to be successful," she said.
"I've never thought about a legacy, I'm just happy there's a lot of Black women running and that's a great thing no matter what."
She was previously inducted into the National Black Marathoners Association's Distance Runner Hall of Fame in 2013 as part of the first class of inductees
