Mary Etta Boitano (born March 4, 1963) is a former child road running star who achieved some spectacular results in the 1970s, chasing world age group marathon records in the late 1960s and early 1970s with her brother, Mike.
John was instrumental in starting the Dolphin South End Runners with Walt Stack as well as the Pamakids with Grant Newland in San Francisco.
The Pamakids name standing for Pa, Ma Kids, which evolved from so many people seeing the family running around Lake Merced.
[1] Mary Etta earned an appearance in the Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd as the first female finisher in the 6.8 mile Dipsea Race at the age of 5.
Still at the age of 10, she ran a 3:01.15 marathon which ranked her #13 in the world and 4th in the nation for the year 1974[8] ahead of Kathrine Switzer and Gabriela Andersen-Schiess who were decades her senior.
She later ran cross country and track for San Francisco State University[12] and graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing.
Hal Higdon wrote a "Where are they now" article for Runners World in 2002, locating Mary Etta, now married and working as a computer technician in Sonoma, California where she continues to run for fun.