I have a couple of new heroes
I feel horribly ignorant, but I must admit that it never even occurred to me that there was a time when women couldn't run. I mean, it sounds ridiculous doesn't it? But within my own lifetime, I've found out that women were simply not allowed to run more than 1500 metres at the Olympics. I still can't quite wrap my head around it. And that seriously - seriously - women were told that too much strenuous exercise and running could make their uterus fall out!
http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/fitness-coach/The-Myth-of-the-Falling-Uterus.html
But then, thank fuck for women like Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer. Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the Boston marathon, albeit unofficially because women weren't allowed. I mean, she had to hide in some bushes just to be able to start. This is Bobbi Gibb and she's a fricking badass:
http://www.runningpast.com/gibb_story.htm
Then there's kathrine Switzer, who completed the Boston marathon in 1967, five years before women were officially allowed to enter. Five years! Women weren't allowed to run the fricking Boston marathon until 1972!!!! And to do it, she had to endure being physically assaulted by people (men) who wanted her off the road:
You'd think that things would be better now, wouldn't you? And they are. But Paula Radcliffe still had her outstanding world record marathon time of 2:15:25 relegated to a "world's best" because she had a male pacer. I honestly don't understand that. She ran that time, whether the person pacing her was man, woman, child or beast.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/25/paula-radcliffe-sins-good-woman
I feel ashamed of my ignorance about all of this up to this point, but from now on whenever I go out running, I'll be so conscious that I'm doing it because I can, and because these women all had to fight for something that I just took for granted.
http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/fitness-coach/The-Myth-of-the-Falling-Uterus.html
But then, thank fuck for women like Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer. Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to run the Boston marathon, albeit unofficially because women weren't allowed. I mean, she had to hide in some bushes just to be able to start. This is Bobbi Gibb and she's a fricking badass:
http://www.runningpast.com/gibb_story.htm
Then there's kathrine Switzer, who completed the Boston marathon in 1967, five years before women were officially allowed to enter. Five years! Women weren't allowed to run the fricking Boston marathon until 1972!!!! And to do it, she had to endure being physically assaulted by people (men) who wanted her off the road:
You'd think that things would be better now, wouldn't you? And they are. But Paula Radcliffe still had her outstanding world record marathon time of 2:15:25 relegated to a "world's best" because she had a male pacer. I honestly don't understand that. She ran that time, whether the person pacing her was man, woman, child or beast.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/25/paula-radcliffe-sins-good-woman
I feel ashamed of my ignorance about all of this up to this point, but from now on whenever I go out running, I'll be so conscious that I'm doing it because I can, and because these women all had to fight for something that I just took for granted.