When Joan Benoit Samuelson '79 arrived at Bowdoin, there was just one other female runner.
By the time she graduated, she had won the Boston Marathon and was well on her way to becoming one of the sport's most recognizable figures.
Last Sunday, Samuelson ran what she said would be her last competitive marathon, which she finished in two hours and 49 minutes. She said she was satisfied with the results.
"I told people that my goal was to run a 2:50-something at age 50. Deep down, I was hoping to break 2:50, but based on my training this winter, I didn't know if that was really going to happen."
Samuelson said her hamstring and calf had bothered her throughout the winter, and she ran in training shoes rather than racing shoes for more support.
"I ran a conservative race, with my primary goal being to just finish, and as it turned out, I was able to break 2:50. I finished in the back of the pack, but I was pleased with the fact that I did finish," she said.
Samuelson burst onto the running scene during her senior year, when she won the Boston Marathon?while wearing her Bowdoin singlet?and set a course record in the process. She won again in 1983, setting a world record with a time of 2:22.43, which would have won each running of the marathon for the last six years.
She continued her streak of wins into 1984, where she won the inaugural running of the women's marathon at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The Olympic Trials were also held in Boston, the same city of Benoit Samuelson's first major victory.
"You couldn't have written a better story, as far as starting and ending a career at the same venue," she said. "I feel as though I'm at home when I run in Boston."
Samuelson, who lived in Winthrop, Coles Tower, and Mayflower Apartments, said that the Bowdoin running scene for women was "nonexistent when [she] arrived." Women had the option to run with the men's cross country team, but Samuelson opted to play field hockey for her first two years. She received a scholarship to attend North Carolina State University for a year, and by the time she returned, the women's cross country team had formed.
The lack of women had little effect on Samuelson.
"From the time I was in high school, I did 90 to 95 percent of my training alone," she said.
Despite her solitary training, Samuelson was extremely satisfied with the help she received here.
"I had a huge amount of support at Bowdoin. I remember after winning the Boston Marathon my senior year, I walked into the dining hall, and all the students gave me a standing ovation," she said.
"I told people that it would be my last competitive marathon, but my daughter said, 'yeah right'...I can't see myself training like I did this past winter, because I put it all out there."
"But," she added, "I'm not going to say that I'm never going to run another marathon."