Women's Running February 2021

I think first it was shin splints. Then there was a bursitis thing. And a bit of tendonitis. Then a stress fracture just before a half marathon. Then a calf strain, perhaps. A bit later there was a weird ankle thing, then calf strain followed by calf strain followed by calf strain. A slipped disc. Another stress fracture. A full-on pavement smackdown. An ongoing hip thing. Another stress fracture. An achilles thing. That might be all of them, but it probably isn’t. The thing about injuries is that in writing them down, they sound painful, don’t they? But the thing I remember when I look at my list is not the pain, but the associated and very real depression that accompanied each and every one of them. When I think back…

Juliet McGrattan Juliet is a former GP turned health writer and author. Her latest book Run Well: Essential Health Questions and Answers for Runners is available on 18 March, and truly is an essential health guide for all of us. She is the Women’s Health Lead for 261 Fearless and the founder and Director of 261 Fearless Club UK. This issue she looked at our bones, how we can keep them healthy, and how to spot any issues we have with them on page 72. Rachel Ifans Rachel had eye surgery in autumn 2020, which meant she had to stop running for a while (see her feature on coping with layoffs on page 30). She’s now building back up is determined to squeeze every drop out of 2021 in terms of running. She…

&MOTHER USA commits to offering childcare and lactation stations at track meets Alysia Montaño made international headlines when she competed at the 2014 USATF Outdoor Championships while 34 weeks pregnant with her first child. One year later, she claimed her sixth 800-metre national title at the USA outdoor championships while still breastfeeding. Pregnancy and motherhood meant securing sponsorship was more difficult for Montaño, now a mum of three. Initially she called out Nike, for its lack of maternity protection for female athletes, then continued to advocate for more rights for athletes who are mothers. Montaño set up the #DreamMaternity campaign to highlight the struggles of female professional sportswomen entering motherhood. This lead to her setting up &Mother, a non-profit organisation for female athletes, to show that motherhood and a career can work. When competitions…

Jo Gennari was one of the deserving 2020 winners of the Spirit of London Marathon Award. Jo, a member of the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, started running in 2012 as a novice and has gone on to run the Virgin Money London Marathon three times. As part of her work at the trust, she’s inspired hundreds of her colleagues, as well as friends and family, to get active, culminating in more than 250 runners taking part in the Vitality Big Half, the London Marathon’s sister event. Gennari said: “I’m absolutely gobsmacked [to win]; it just doesn’t happen to people like me so I’m thrilled. I started running eight years ago, and in 2017 we started a wellbeing project at the trust to coach beginner runners. Since then, we’ve been working…

With the Tokyo Olympics still scheduled to go ahead in 2021, despite a current emergency status in the city due to a rise in Covid-19 cases, elite athletes are hoping their vaccine will become available before the summer. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is working to support countries that don’t have a full vaccination programme and, while the IOC president, Thomas Bach, has encouraged athletes to have a Covid-19 vaccination before Tokyo, he’s insisted it isn’t an entry requirement. This is important because some athletes won’t take a vaccine that contains pork-derived gelatine – which is widely used as a stabiliser during the storage and transport of vaccines – because of their faith. “Together with the National Olympic Committees, we will make all the efforts so that the NOCs encourage and assist their…

Strava, the fitness app, revealed in its annual Year In Sport report that, after a relentlessly tough year in 2020, women have sought solace in exercise. Exercise became therapy for so many of us, as we all shared the common goal of keeping fit, active and safe. More than 1.1bn activities were uploaded by Strava’s 73 million users over the past year. the number of uploaded runs and cycle rides nearly doubled compared with 2019, while the number of walks recorded tripled year on year. Many of us needed the release exercise gives us, but others kept chasing goals without the races. In the 5K, 10K, half and full marathon distance, 55 per cent of runners hit a new PB, and solo marathons became the norm. there was also a huge increase…