Early Life and Career
Wittenberg was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in a large and athletic Irish Catholic family. She was the oldest of seven children, and played softball, baseball and basketball—sports that her father coached. In high school, she focused on cheerleading, and also starred on a champion West Side Rowing Club team. Wittenberg went on to attend Canisius College, and was a coxswain for the men's crew team that won a championship for small colleges.
During her senior year in College, Wittenberg took up running. She won a few local races and trained with Canisius' men's cross country team. Wittenberg also trained with the men's cross country team while attending law school at University of Notre Dame. While training with this group, she finished 16th at the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:46.
After law school, Wittenberg moved to Richmond, Virginia to work for the Hunton & Williams law firm. She would spend busy days working in the office, marathon training with the University of Richmond cross country team, and studying to pass the bar. In 1987, she won the Marine Corps Marathon in a time of 2:44:34. Wittenberg used a late surge to overtake the leaders in the second half of the race.
Wittenberg's strong performance at the Marine Corps Marathon qualified her for the 1988 Olympic marathon trials. However, she soon required surgery for a knee injury, and a back ailment forced her to drop out of the qualifying race. Wittenberg ran in only two more marathons due to injuries and a focus on her law career.
Read more about this topic: Mary Wittenberg
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