SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., January 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Nearly 20 years ago, Jean Benoit won the first ever women's marathon in Los Angeles. The hardships that women like her endured was more than just the rigorous training. Female marathon running pioneer Lynn Petronella highlights the great obstacles in her life and offers inspiration for all women in her new book, Know Where to Run: An American Odyssey (now available through 1stBooks).
Know Where to Run: An American Odyssey takes readers on a marathon through life and how people value and live it. Petronella is a former world class runner and 1980 Olympic contender. She traces the roots of her history and interest in running, offering a behind the scenes look at the quest to become the first gold medal winner in the first women's Olympic marathon in Los Angeles in 1984. Petronella details her long race through life including her Italian and Irish ancestry, her first road race in the Rocky Mountains of Aspen, Colo., the Olympics and the later glory of becoming the national spokeswoman for Pepsi and a role model for American women runners in her national program, Run America Run.
Petronella describes the growth she experienced along her journey with each obstacle. Her book serves as an inspiration to all women trying to succeed in a "man's world" and a testament to courage and the American spirit. Throughout her years trying to win a gold medal and live up to her potential in the competitive world, she realized the most profound, athletic act a woman can do is give birth.
Know Where to Run: An American Odyssey is a marathon race through life by a dedicated and determined female athlete and an Olympic story of the greatness of women.
Petronella now heads The Athlettes Foundation, an organization dedicated to assisting women and children achieve their dreams. She plans to donate 50 percent of all the proceeds from Know Where to Run: An American Odyssey, her first book, to "make America a better place to live."
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