Runners tend to stick to our training plans like rice on a sushi roll. We aren’t known to be flexible in our routines; we have a goal set and we strive to keep on track to reach it, whether that means enduring nasty 20 mile per hour winds to get in our 15-miler before church or skipping out on a happy hour to head to the track for speedwork. All that is fine more » Read more
Don’t Worry Mary Cain, We’re All Headcases Until We Turn 25
Someone call Alicia Keys and tell her to change the lyrics to her smash hit because Mary Cain IS ON FIRE. The 16 year-old running sensation is a true prodigy as she has smashed three national high school indoor track records so far in 2013. There was the 4:16 1500 meters en route to breaking Debbie Heald’s 41 year-old mile record in 4:32. Then there was the 2 mile record in more » Read more
Post-Layoff Anxiety: And This Too Shall Pass … Right?
Phew! I’m back from a quick 45:00 on the treadmill. I intended to do a 50 minute walk/run (I call it a wog) where I alternate walking and running, but after a 5 minute walk I started running and didn’t stop until 40 minutes into the workout. I felt good. I would have kept going except for the anxiety that I will “overdo it.” I don’t even know what that more » Read more
The Full Girlfriend Experience
She’s a runner. Now she’s a masters runner, but in her prime she was an Olympian. She was at the top of the top. Over the years, she retired from world-class running, settled down and started a family. Now she’s the smiling face of the Disney and Rock-n-Roll races, she prides herself on helping women who struggle with depression discover the healing powers of running, she’s a successful real estate agent more » Read more
How to Help a Running Friend You Suspect is Suffering from an Eating Disorder
You’ve noticed your running buddy hasn’t wanted to go out to brunch like you used to. She also has been running even on her usual rest day. She’s dropped some pounds lately, but you thought it was because she’s at the height of marathon training. You finally get her to go out to breakfast with you after a 20 miler and she orders a side of cottage cheese and fruit more » Read more
A Slippery Slope: Running with an Eating Disorder
Are you or somebody you know a Type A+ Hard-worker+ Perfectionist+ People Pleaser+ Control Freak+ Long-Distance Runner? If so, then you or she is at high risk for running with an eating disorder. Anorexia, bulimia and compulsive exercise are way too common among women athletes, especially runners. According to research, more than 1/3 of female college athletes have some type of disordered eating and between 2-3% have a full-fledged eating more » Read more
Meet My Alter Ego, Anxiety Girl
I think everyone has a running super power. Mine happens to be planning and analyzing just about everything. Researching race reviews? Check. Figuring out my goal pace and my ideal splits? Check. Helping to plan a 5K, be in charge of making tutus for a 12 person relay team and making information packets for my spectators? Check, check and check. (I will admit that the information packet may have been a more » Read more
Choose Recovery, Choose Life: An Inside Look at Eating Disorders
Eating disorders affect more than 10 million women and 1 million men worldwide. In athletes, the presence of an eating disorder/energy deficit, loss of menstrual period (amenorrhea) and low bone density is collectively called the Female Athlete Triad. The Female Athlete Triad results from an imbalance in energy: energy in < energy out. Each of the conditions that comprise the Triad can exist alone. However, according to the Female Athlete Triad more » Read more
When Nutmeg Went Nuts
After reading Salty’s post about her father’s suicide, it really got me thinking about my own depression and anxiety. I thought about the good and the bad of it. The good being the self-discovery that came once I was being treated. The bad being, well, the depression and anxiety and the f’d up things that the mind can do. Up until May of 2003, I lived with secrets and managed to more » Read more
Got Depression? Running is Cheaper than Therapy
I know I haven’t been myself lately. I’ve been that other person, the one who doesn’t smile, doesn’t dance, doesn’t sing. I’m brooding and isolating myself, saying weird things, making jokes that are more bitter than funny and being possessive with my friends. I’ve been trying really hard to deny it, but I give up. Like 12% of American women, I’m depressed. Luckily, admitting it is usually the first sign more » Read more