From CASS: Sugarcoated & Corporate-Sponsored Street Harassment at DC’s Nike Women’s Half Marathon

Ugh.

Just ugh.

Bare Minerals encouraged "DC fraternity boys" (their phrasing) to hold signs during the Nike Women's Half Marathon that read "You look beautiful sweaty” and “Cute running shoes!"  You know, because women only run so that men can compliment us on how we look.

From Collective Action for Safe Spaces:

It’s hard enough for women to feel safe, secure and comfortable running in their own neighborhoods to train for half marathons in the first place. Street harassment is a real and scary part of many women’s daily runs, as well as their commutes to work and trips to the grocery store.  Much of the street harassment that we experience is centered around our looks, especially men’s opinions of them. Women’s bodies are the subjects of public commentary and conversations—both in the media and on the street.

The “Go Bare” campaign signs, held by Bare Escentuals’ very own team of “DC fraternity boys” (their phrasing, not mine) are tools of street harassment.

They’re simply sugarcoating and romanticizing the street harassment with pretty, professionally printed signs and free makeup at the finish line.

It's disappointing that this happened at a women's race designed to empower and provide an encouraging environment to run for women who might not otherwise do so.  It's also disappointing because this visible display of street harassment seems to normalize this kind of behavior.  Hopefully, Bare Minerals will get the message that this is not okay.

MSNBC's Mika Brzenzinski Opens Up About Exercise Bulimia

If you know me, you know that I have a huge girl crush on Mika Brzenzinski.  (Honestly, she's the only reason I watch Morning Joe.  She's brilliant, and I do love when she gives Scarborough the side eye.)

Recently, she opened up about her struggle with exercise bulimia, a compulsion to binge eat food and then overexercise to compensate.  You can check out The Frisky's coverage here and see a bit of the MORE article here.

Quoted: The Hunger Games - When Hunger Feels Like Winning (But It’s Really, Really NOT)

Let’s start with a comparison. BEFORE & NOW: My views on feeling hungry… 

BEFORE:

“I’m starving, but if I make it until 7pm I “win”. Gotta get this weight off. I’m in charge of this body, not the other way around. Don’t eat, don’t eat: as long as you’re under 1000 calories for the day, you’re cool. Have some more coffee. (reality: after 7pm, eat everything in sight and feel like an awful person)

NOW:

“If you need me, I’ll be eating the food. I might be able to lose a few pounds, but it’s not a priority. Feeding the bod is. Feeling awesome, but excuse me…nom nom nom.”

It’s been YEARS since I was hungry on purpose, and the thought of spending the day feeling victorious for not eating seems foreign to me. I was an under-the-radar yo-yo dieter and my behaviors were linked entirely to my weight. Up, don’t eat. Down, eat everything. If I’d gained weight, the punishment was not eating or eating very little. The triumph was overcoming my body’s physiological needs and ‘winning’ at not eating for a day. It was pretty addictive.

-From: The Hunger Games via Fit Villains

Let's Talk about Race Registration

Last week, registration for the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon went live and sold out in 2 hours and 27 minutes.  When I registered last year, I had to refresh my computer for a good 15 minutes before I could get in to the system.  The 2012 race sold on in 2 hours in 41 minutes.  At least last year, there weren't any computer issues. From The Washington Post:

Runners trying to secure one of the 30,000 spots in the 38th running of the marathon next fall reported that they were kicked off during the registration process or received repeated “error” messages. The marathon’s Facebook page was awash in complaints from frustrated runners. 

Michael Murray of Silver Spring said in an interview that he was booted out of the registration process twice and reached a point when the system froze on a third try.

“In the days of cloud computing, in the days of Google and Amazon, who deal with millions” of users, “there just has to be a better solution than this,” he said. Murray said he will try to enter marathons in Richmond or Baltimore instead. 

Race director Rick Nealis said the company that operates the system, Active.com, told him the demand for the $99 spots exceeded its capacity to process the requests. Nealis called the delays “an embarrassment for the Marine Corps Marathon as an organization,” which prides itself on organizational expertise.

There two issues here.

First, after Active's Chicago kerfuffle earlier this year, why on would anyone outsource race registration to Active?  Runners don't really have a choice in the matter, of course, and Go, Tracy, Go has thoughts on why race organizers use the system. Hint, hint: it's much cheaper and easier than managing your own registration system.  Of course, if race organizers did build and manage their own registration systems, I'm sure that we'd see a jump in the price of race registrations.

Second, demand for marathons is increasing -- which is silly because you'd have to be insane to voluntarily run 26.2 miles, right? (And, you'd have to be even more insane and decide that you actually like running that distance enough to do it again.)  With such high demand, I think we've reached a point at which all of the major US marathons are going to either have qualifying standards (e.g., Boston) or lotteries (e.g. New York City).  It makes it harder to plan to run a particular marathon, but it means that everyone has an equal shot at registration.

Thinking about my own running wish list, I'm debating entering the drawing for the 2013 New York City Marathon knowing that there are going to be fewer spots this year; 50 percent of 2012 runners chose to defer to the 2013, 2014, or 2015 race. I've been denied admission twice, so maybe the third time is the charm?  Also, if I'm denied again, I'll be guaranteed entry for 2014.

The thing is, the lottery opens up after April 9th (when the Run Disney Registration opens. It's probably another one of those races that sells out quickly).  The good news is that the Honolulu Marathon seems to have the normal demand for a marathon, so that's always an option if NYC doesn't work out this year.

Quoted: The Barkley Marathons

Figuring out how to enter the race is an achievement in itself.

 “There is no Web site, and I don’t publish the race date or explain how to enter,” said Cantrell, an accomplished ultrarunner who has never come close to completing his own race. “Anything that makes it more mentally stressful for the runners is good.”

(The start of the race involves a curious tradition in which participants try to refrain from letting Cantrell see them run. They will walk the first few hundred meters, until they turn a bend and begin running once they are out of his sight.)

Because so few participants are allowed, the details of how to apply are a closely guarded secret. The first step is to figure out where and when to send a required essay on why one should be allowed to compete.

“If you send it in five minutes early, he’ll delete it,” said Beverly Abbs, a 48-year-old environmental scientist from Red Bluff, Calif., who completed three loops in last year’s race. “We had to send the application at midnight on Christmas Day in Gary’s time zone, and you have to figure out which one it is on your own.”

From The Barkley Marathons: Few Know How to Enter, Fewer Finish in The New York Times

Runner Profile: Fauja Singh

Fauja Singh, whom I wrote about earlier this month, was recently profiled on ESPN's Outside the Lines.  Every time I read about him, I am so amazed and humbled.

Was it pain he felt as he approached the end, just footsteps away from redefining the limits of human endurance? No, this wasn't pain. Fauja knew pain. Pain was death -- you see plenty of that when you live 100 years. Pain was bloody limbs and overtaxed joints -- you get too much of that when you insist on completing every race you ever start. This wasn't pain but exhaustion. And Fauja could handle exhaustion, because exhaustion foreshadowed euphoria. When Fauja got tired, it often meant a record would soon fall.

He'd already broken a few. Fastest to run a marathon (male, over age 90), fastest to run 5,000 meters (male, over age 100), fastest to run 3,000 meters (male, over age 100), and on and on they went. But those records didn't roll off the tongue the way this one would. Oldest person to complete a marathon (male): Fauja Singh. The other feats had earned him recognition from the Masters Federation websites. This one would put him in the Guinness World Records. An official with the company had contacted Fauja's coach, Harmander Singh (no relation) several weeks earlier. Harmander told Fauja that Guinness would send representatives to watch Fauja run in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, and as soon as he finished, they would award him the recognition he deserved.

- From "The Runner" by Jordan Conn

 

From Adios Barbie: Eight Ways the 2013 Miss America Pageant Failed at Equality

Chelsey Anderson at Adios Barbie published an interesting look at the ways that the Miss America pageant - despite giving women opportunities to become nationally-recognized public figures, support causes of their choosing, and finance their college educations - continues to miss the mark when it comes to equality.

Operation Sub-2 (Redux) - Weekly Round-Up (7)

I'm down to the last four weeks of this training cycle.  More and more, I'm starting to feel more confident about being able to reach my time goal.  Still, I have a lot more work to do.

Here's what I have planned for Week 9:

Monday - Hill workout
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Tempo run: 7 miles
Thursday - 6 miles
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 13 miles

In other running news, the New York Times Well Blog published a piece about retiring old running shoes.  I usually go about 400 miles in my shoes or start a new pair after I run a big race.  It's a worthwhile read.

Non-Running Commentary: Never Forget the Victim

The New York Times published a short analysis of the life of Oscar Pistorius, the first double-amputee runner to compete in the Olympics -- who now stands accused of murdering Reeva Steenkamp.

This is tragic, and it's much too early to speculate what might have happened.  But, as the news broke, I couldn't help but see similarities between this event and the death of Kasandra Perkins, another woman who was killed at the hands of a high-profile figure.  As with coverage of Perkins' death, the tweets and headlines simply refer Steenkamp as Pistorius's "girlfriend."  The articles focus on how much Pistorius captivated audiences throughout his running career, his gold medals, his status as South African icon.  He gets an identity. But, what about Reeva Steenkamp?

We know that she was a model and a law student, but where are the articles about her life?
What about Kasandra Perkins?
What about the countless other women who've died at the hands of their partners?

These women have identities separate from their killers.  They had hopes, dreams, and fears.  They cared for the people in their lives, and had others care for them. 

Their lives were stolen from them. The least we can do is not forget who they are.

Quoted: Running Friendship

A good friend is a steady companion along the way, no matter what the pilgrimage brings. Elena and I have said many times to each other that we’d happily let go of some of the heartbreak and trials each of us has faced if the great puppeteer of the universe would see fit to pull a couple strings this way or that to make the path a little less bumpy.

Yet as long as we have the road, the ramblings and each other to look forward to, it’s all going to be all right. Bring it on, life — we’re laced up and ready.

-From Running Friendship via Runner's World

Will Run for Chocolate

The February issue of Runner's World has a few nifty tips to satisfy chocolate cravings.  I'm a little skeptical about substituting black beans for butter in brownies, but I'm willing to give it a shot.  I went the easy route this afternoon and picked up a these at the pharmacy:

Also - the cashier looked at the bars and mentioned that everyone that came in today seemed to be buying treats.  I was very tempted to reference Treat Yo' Self Day.  

Quoted: How to Savor Life

When you savor tea, or chocolate, or a handful of berries … you slow down. You pay close attention — the closer the attention, the more you’ll get out of the savoring. You don’t rush to the next thing, but stop and give some space to the activity. You aren’t worried about what you have to do later, you are fully enjoying the present. 

This is savoring, and it takes practice. You can do it right now, wherever you are: pause and look around you and savor this very moment. Even if it doesn’t seem to be special, because let’s face it you’ve done what you’re doing a thousand times, savor it. Fully appreciate the gift you’ve been given. 

This is a practice you can do several times a day — find a few rituals for savoring, like enjoying your morning tea or coffee (without sugar), or taking a bath, or reading to your child, or having a tea ritual in the mid-afternoon, or snuggling with a loved one. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.

From "How to Savor Life" via Zen Habits

Running Hazards

The next time I complain about running in DC, remind me that I don't have to worry about making friends with an alligator on my run.  (Unless, of course, one escapes from the zoo. ::crossing fingers that all reptiles are accounted for::)

For real: Ask Dr. Daily: Tripping Over Reptiles

The Spartathlon

Okay readers: If I ever come to you and say that I want to run the Spartathlon, you have my permission to talk me out of it.  This sounds intense!

These are the last few minutes before the start of the Spartathlon, one of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons. The 310 runners in this year’s race are doing their final stretches. Energy supplements are being taken; running belts are being checked; caps with neck flaps to protect against the sun are being adjusted. Many athletes have a crew to support them during the race; there is time for some final words of encouragement before the runners edge towards the starting line.

At 7am precisely, as dawn approaches, the race begins. The field strings round the Acropolis and past the agora, the heart of ancient Athenian life, before heading into the early-morning traffic. The pace is gentle: an average runner can keep up for the first kilometre easily. But this race is about distance, not speed. After that first kilometre, another and another and another lie ahead. Everyone in the field has completed at least a 100km (62-mile) race. For this event, they will have to run 245km (or almost six consecutive marathons) within 36 hours. Only 72 of them will end up making it all the way to historical Sparta.

 From The Spartathlon: The Lunacy of the Long-Distance Runner, via The Economist

Oh Really: Black Women Avoid Exercise to Preserve their Hair

The Huffington Post covered a study that found that two of five African-American women avoid exercise because of concerns about their hair.

"To find out if women were putting hair above their health, the researchers surveyed 103 African-American women who came to the dermatology clinic at Wake Forest University in October 2007.

They found that more than half of the women were exercising for less than 75 minutes per week, which is less than the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.

That's also less than U.S. women on average, according to a 2007 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found about half of all U.S. women were exercising close to 150 minutes per week.

More than a quarter of the women in the new study said they didn't exercise at all.

About a third of the women said they exercise less than they'd like because of their hair, and half said they have considered changing their hair for exercise.

McMichael and her colleagues found that women who avoided exercise because of their hair were almost three times less likely to meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. That finding, however, could have been due to chance."

Ignoring the survey methodology (this is hardly a representative sample) -- this can't be an actual thing, right?  There are women in this world who are more concerned about their hair than living a healthy lifestyle?  In the words of Mr. Oblaski, such an excuse is "one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard." I fail to see how this can even be considered an excuse especially when African-American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese compared to other groups in the U.S. 

I mean, to some degree, I get it.  I'm a black woman who has spent many hours (and dollars) at the salon on haircare.  But, a perfect hairdo will never be as important to me as getting exercise.  Then again, I guess it's a matter of priorities...

Quoted: Is “Fitspiration” Really Any Better Than “Thinspiration”?

Looking at rock-hard body after rock-hard body it occurred to me that fitspo may be thinspo in a sports bra. After all, the problem with thinspo is that the images represent a mostly unattainable ideal that requires great sacrifices (both physical and mental) to achieve and I daresay that most of those “perfect” female bodies, albeit muscular instead of bony, are equally as problematic. Many people will say that while it’s rare to be born with skinny genes but that muscle can be built with hard work in the gym. And I agree. But in most of these pictures, we’re not looking at your average woman who does Bodypump twice a week and can now lift her children with ease. We’re looking at a very exclusive set of dedicated athletes that train very hard and eat a very particular diet to maintain extremely lean figures. A second argument would be that super skinny is unhealthy while exercise is very healthy. Again I agree. Except that for the majority of women to look like the girls in these fitspo pictures they’d have to be young, probably not have had kids and quite possibly have an unhealthy devotion to exercise and eating. And let’s remember that women need body fat not only for spawning but also for our own health. I’m not saying every fitness model has an eating disorder. I promise! I am saying though that compulsive over exercise can be just as deadly as other eating disorders and yet it so socially sanctioned that it’s often promoted as inspiring.
 

-From "Is 'Fitspiration' Really Any Better Than 'Thinspiration'?" via The Great Fitness Experiment

Quoted: Sandied

I took it very hard. There’d be no finish line delirium of pain and happiness. Instead, there was just the awful feeling that New Yorkers hated runners—we were self-indulgent and selfish, and how dare we want to run when people needed help.

When my running buddy Terry and I decided to do the Bucks County Marathon in Pennsylvania two weeks later, it didn’t really stand a chance as a substitute. We didn’t know quite what to do with our extended taper, being complete novices. And we just assumed that one marathon could be substituted for another. We’d been told that the crowds of spectators in New York City could somehow transfer their energy to the runners to help them along. But since we’d never actually experienced this, we found it easy to discount the effect. Surely just one spouse or relative would be just as energizing. Plus, our training had gone well. We had two comfortable 20-mile runs under our belts and felt marathon-ready, even if we’d been hitting the bottle while our apartments were dark and cold post-Sandy.

Bucks County had different plans. A dirt course that included several miles covered with newly laid gravel and lacked masses of cheering spectators put paid to my hopes of a 4:20 finish. I spent the last six miles doing a whimpering run/walk, my pace bands long since ripped off in frustration as I fell further and further behind my goal. I crossed the finish line in tears. I was crying for my own shattered expectations and for the pain I was feeling. These were not the delirious tears of happiness I had imagined. I know not everyone had such a negative experience at this race—I just couldn’t get over the fact that it was so different from what I had trained for.

 From Sandied by Noirin Lucas

One Does Not Simply Walk 26.2 Miles While Watching Lord of the Rings

This is awesome!

A woman who goes by the name preservetheverve decided to walk/run 26.2 miles while watching all three of films in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.  From The Mary Sue:

Here’s what she had to say, “In honor of The Hobbit coming out in December, I decided to have an unexpected journey of my own. 26.2 miles in 9 hours and 18 minutes, a movie marathon marathon.” Before you put on your nerd monocle and fault her for not watching the extended editions, first of all, think about how long that would be, second of all, read this: “When we watch our family LOTR marathon for real we will watch all three extended edition blurays on widescreen with hobbit themed food.” Booya.

So what’s next? “Now I just have to figure out how to do a Triwizard Triathlon,” she wrote. I can see this catching on. Before you try it yourself though, read the comments on her post to hear the entire experience.

Gives new meaning to the term "runnerd," doesn't it?

Adios Barbie: Binary Thinking About Body Image Hurts Us All

Supporters of the “Black is Beautiful” campaign and several others similar to sought to redefine beauty in ways that both included and uplifted black women from what Princeton professor Imani Perry describes as the “generally degrading and unattractive, or hypersexual and less feminine” images of black women in society. The message was clear: as Bill Cosby famously put it, “It isn’t a matter of black is beautiful as much as it is white is not all that’s beautiful.” Could it be that black women ignore the dominant images of beauty and instead dance to their own tune, or have we simply flipped the coin and replaced one set of controlling images with another?

Being skinny was never a crime. Yet somewhere along the way, African American pop culture took over and a binary standard of beauty once more became dominant among black women. In a classic two-steps-forward-one-step-back scenario, the Washington Post announced what watching any rap music video will tell you: skinny is out, “thick is in,” and having some extra meat on your bones is a virtue (cue the parade of “fiercely real” women with curves, because “real” women obviously come with curves.)

From Binary Thinking About Body Image Hurts Us All via Adios Barbie

From NYT: Young Endurance Runners Draw Cheers and Concerns

The New York Times has a very interesting piece about two endurance runners - ages 10 and 12 -- who compete in multiple (challenging) events per year.

From afar, they looked like twin pixies, Tinker Bell One and Tinker Bell Two, though the   sisters were actually two years apart. Kaytlynn, 12, and Heather, 10, had long blond hair tied back with elastic, and the younger girl had a tiny stuffed animal — a raccoon — pinned to the front of her sports bra. Each of them weighed about 60 pounds. Their thighs were not much bigger than saucers, and the full loop of their hips was only 21 inches.

These children sweetened the scene with a dollop of cuteness, but curious onlookers were unsure whether to be intrigued or appalled. The trail’s ascent was an exhausting slog, and the precarious downhill required careful balance as swift feet inevitably slid on the loose and stony ground. The dry, thin air could suck the strength out of even the fittest runners.

Were these girls really capable of competing with elite athletes? And even if they were, was it a good idea for children this young to be in a race this tough?   -- From Too Fast, Too Soon

This...this seems a bit much for two girls so young.  Multiple endurance events on the weekends, without a hint that there are rest periods?  Bodies need time to recover.  Hearing your dad say "You quit on us today"? Seriously?  They're 10 and 12 and they're competing in trail marathons that challenge people who have been running longer than those girls are old.  The girls seem to enjoy what they're doing, which is great.  But, I can't imagine the toll that this is going to have on their still developing minds and bodies.