Economist article on women and running

[PygmyHippoBob]

I’m not a runner but I highly commend this article from the Economist 1843 magazine:
www.1843magazine.com/features/who-runs-the-world
The references to male violence and frankness about childbirth injuries made me curious enough to look up the writer on twitter, and I was pleased and unsurprised to see she has been retweeting WPUK.

That's an excellent piece - thanks for sharing.

Thanks.
I've always restricted my running routes, I hate having to do it.

Great article, thank you for posting. Her blog is interesting too. Thanks PigmyHippo

Thanks for this OP, it covers a lot of bases. Have shared with my running group.

That’s a terrific article, thanks pygmy.

How do you calibrate fear to a small but nonetheless existent risk? What is the appropriate level of fear to feel that you probably, but not certainly, won’t be attacked? How do you make yourself less afraid anyway?

Ah, being female. Those little thoughts that men don't have to think (yes I know they get attacked too....but I bet not many men have ever wondered which photo of them would be chosen to accompany the national press articles in the event of their rape and murder whilst out for a run).

The bit about pelvic floor injury is good too.

Not only does she retweet WPUK but she also wrote a piece about when she was raped and how much women only spaces meant to her at the time. Of COURSE she got labelled a hateful bigot etc. She’s awesome.

What a woman! Thank you for sharing that, OP. I'd never have seen it.

This though:

Rules and regulations are often based on the assumption that runners have male bodies. The 106-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) is one of the most famous and popular trail races in the world. Runners who achieve a rare, hard-won place and then develop an injury can defer to a later year. But female competitors who become pregnant or give birth are not offered a deferral and can obtain a refund only if the race occurs within 15 days of giving birth, after which women are considered to have returned to race form.

FFS!

Brilliant article - many thanks, op

Pota Thanks for flagging that, I think this is the article you are referring to, from 2015:

www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/when-i-was-raped-it-was-female-only-spaces-helped-me-recover

Looks like Rachel Hewitt has been an important GC voice for some time.

Wonderful article, I have learned to run only in the last 9 months. I only do 5k at a time, and therefore don’t really have to go much outside of the town boundaries, which thankfully includes several nature reserves and two large parks.

I spoke to someone who is a personal trainer and runner, a man, who couldn’t believe that I run in the town, was totally incredulous that I don’t go out to our local huge forest area, an ex royal hunting ground. He urged me to go out there, I felt quite crushed when I realised that there is no way I would feel comfortable running out there.

Ugh. I tried my husband's favourite running route the other day, and I was loving it until suddenly it turned into a very quiet country lane and I felt very fearful all of a sudden and then I was so sad that I thought I might not be able to run that way again out of fear

It is awful how women are the ones constrained by the threat of violent men so much that it affects our ability to exercise and find time to ourselves.

I hadn’t really twigged re those longer races and the difficulties women face trying to be involved. I have only pottered about with a 10 km run and that was before DS/4th degree tear etc. I am lucky enough to still be able to run without too many problems but it is unbelievable that these men won’t see further than the ends of their noses to arrange things to include women better

Thanks for sharing, very interesting article!

I've had this with cycling too. Not many good routes to work, and the choice is mainly between the more direct route, which however is on busy roads which feel quite dangerous in places (40mph limits, no cycle lanes and not much space for cars to overtake safely) - or some offroad tracks which are quite nice in places (although quite a lot longer) but can feel VERY isolated at times!

Add to this, that on the quiet tracks I have come across dodgy blokes at least once (luckily that time I was with DH, but they still stared and made pointed "nice bike" comments which felt quite threatening even to him!), but on the roads I have had people yelling in my ear from car windows on purpose to make me jump (it worked, especially as they also passed very close at the same time) so it's really not much of an encouragement to cycle!

Rachel Hewitt is a fantastic writer. I loved what she said in that article, it all really resonated, but her writing is also brilliant too.

Pygmy thank you, that is another brilliant article. Nice to discover another GC voice: www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/when-i-was-raped-it-was-female-only-spaces-helped-me-recover

What a good article that is. clearly articulates many issues that face women runners.

I bloody love the Economist. It's fantastic

I run, and have a lot of female friends that run.
It's so freeing and individual. You can just open the door and go.
The clothing and footwear choices are vast these days for women, so I don't really recognise that from the article.
DH has just started to run parkruns and he was surprised that he finishes ahead of all but 2 or 3 of the women despite him being a beginner. Just goes to show how much of an advantage men have.

I did couch to 5K over the summer after my DS2 was born, but stopped when the clocks went back. I just did not feel comfortable running in the dark. I switched to being beasted round my sitting room by Jillian Michaels.

I do enjoy Jillian's workout, and it's better for my whole body than running was, but I do miss that feeling of freedom.

What a great article

And interesting to see that underneath was a link to an article about a female to male detransitioner.

Oh yes the men in cars who think it's funny to shout very loudly at a female cyclist as they go past her
that's happened to me lots of times

And the men who wind their car windows down and throw their half eaten macdonalds and coke bottles at you, shouting abuse. We have a lovely park and forest near us but if I'm on my own and it's after 6pm or dark then I keep to well lit streets.

Good article OP, thanks, I enjoyed reading that.

I'm in a fairly urban area and have 3/4 routes I do regularly but am careful not to fall into too obvious a routine. Some days I go early so I can be up and back before DP leaves for work and I always leave my "route" pinned to the fridge. Just in case. Agree it's crap we have to think like that.

Men In Cars are even a problem when I'm just out jogging slowly with the dog. In our (quiet, pleasant) area I've had eggs and coffee thrown at me from car windows, random swearing, told 'Ya look old yer fucker', and a driver who did a U-turn and followed me back up the road shouting.

Police informed each time but say there is nothing they can do.

Jesus, some of the crap you lot have had. It's really appalling.

I'm sure that if suddenly men out exercising were subject to the same you can bet something would be done about it.