Career
In the early 1960s, Lepper trained with Lyn Carman (also from California)and the pair began to run unofficially in road races. At the 1963 Western Hemisphere Marathon, the two women hid along the sidelines then joined the men just after the start. A race official attempted to remove them from the course and Carman reportedly yelled, "I have the right to use public streets for running!" The women were timed by a sympathetic Amateur Athletic Union official
Carman eventually dropped out around the 20 mile mark, but Lepper finished with a time of 3:37:07.
The book "Marathon Crasher: The Life and Times of Merry Lepper, the First American Woman to Run a Marathon" (2012), by Los Angeles-based sports journalist David Davis, tells of Merry Lepper"s 1963 marathon. However, in 1959, Arlene Pieper (also an American) became the first woman to officially finish a marathon in America when she finished the Pikes Peak Marathon.
In 2013, Lepper received a commendation from Culver City. The commendation reads in part: "Now, therefore, the City Council of the City of Culver City, California, hereby congratulates and commends Merry Lepper, a shining example of how one person can overcome tremendous hurdles to fulfill a dream and, in the process, pave the way for generations to come.".