A new documentary highlights one of Maines greatest athletes [Video]

PORTLAND, Maine — Do you think you know a fair amount about Joan Benoit Samuelson? Quite likely you do.

The quick biography goes like this. She grew up in Cape Elizabeth and graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Won the Boston Marathon in 1979. Took the gold medal in 1984 in the first Olympic marathon for women. Founded the TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race, which takes place every August and has drawn tens of thousands of participants over the years.

Here are a few things you probably didn’t know about Joanie, as she’s known, courtesy of a new documentary about her produced by the Maine Historical Society:

– For many years her father ran a well-known clothing store in downtown Portland. Its name, logically enough, was Benoit’s.

– Growing up and running on the streets of Cape Elizabeth, she would sometimes stop and …