Doris Brown Heritage has always had a need to run.  During a career that spanned roughly twenty years, Brown Heritage held every woman's national and world record from the 440 yards to the marathon. In 1966 she became the first woman to run an indoor sub-five-minute mile in 4:52 . Ten years later, on a lark with little training, she won her first marathon, the 1976 Vancouver International Marathon in 2:47:35 at the age of 34. 

She is a two-time Olympian (1968, 800m, 1972 1500m) and is a living legend in her home state where she was named Seattle's 1971 Man of the Year in Sports. She found that hilarious. Her most acclaimed accomplishment was winning five consecutive International World Cross-Country Championships from 1967 through 1971. "She is a remarkable woman who should have the name recognition of Jim Ryan," claims Charlotte Lettis Richardson who included Brown Heritage in her documentary Run Like a Girl.