As I run I almost always think about how wonderful it is that women are ‘allowed’ to run today. I bet the majority of women runners don’t even know that in the last 100 years women were not ALLOWED to officially run because of a mistaken belief that they were too fragile, that it would de-feminize them and hurt them physically. (Specifically, that their uteruses might fall out!)
At the turn of the 20th century, the Olympics only had short races (e.g., 440s) that women could compete in. It wasn’t until the 1984 Olympics did they FINALLY add the first marathon for women. Are you kidding me??? Less than 30 years ago women were not allowed to run a marathon in the Olympics! Crazy!
So I appreciate every run I do because I know I can do so freely, without criticism and with as many of my running sisters who care to get out there too. (I think my husband thinks it’s a little sexy that I run. Though he doesn’t talk about those things because he’s a gentleman).
So while I was running MY first marathon, I was tickled when the gal running in front of me opened her pack to get a gel and several tampons fell out!
They bounced around on the ground in front of me before rolling away to who knows where. I just grinned. She grinned, shrugged her shoulders and kept running.
I’m against littering. But I was cheered to know that hard evidence was left behind that we women were here. Some of us were running on her period, some were running pregnant. It didn’t matter. We were running. Free. And we would all live to run another day. With every one of our uteruses in tact.
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