Being a more effective ally for women runners
At a panel at Runlimited in London last month, four women discussed how to make running better.
It’s been 10 days since I returned home from London, where I hosted a series of interlinked panels at Runlimited. It’s been 10 uncomfortable days of thinking about how exactly I’m going to present what was discussed.
Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of other stuff (more on that below and next week) but, primarily, I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, you see. Not with this one. I hosted a panel on women’s running, for crying out loud! What right did I have to do that?? The funny thing is that’s a big reason why I put the event together in the first place. It was good to remember how much I encourage others to make an effort to improve things regardless of the potential cringe factor, so here I am.
This idea started because I noticed that when I’ve written about women and women’s issues is that only women engage in the discussion. I’m really no fan of an echo chamber, so I really noticed it. The goal with this panel was to bring as many men as possible into the conversation.
One of the reasons that men don’t engage is because we can prioritize personal comfort. Societal change involves thinking and evaluating years-old habits and practices, adjusting mindsets, having difficult conversations, challenging the status quo. They’re all deeply uncomfortable things to do, and it’s remarkably easy to just… not do it.
But we also want progress, don’t we? We want things to be better.
We ultimately want running spaces to be shared by all genders, don’t we? Segregation can’t be the ultimate goal. For me, the most important move towards sharing a space effectively is everyone understanding how others use that space.
The problem: Men don’t engage in conversations about women’s issues
The result: Men don’t fully understand women’s issues, how to help, or at least not be part of the problem
The solution: Bring men into the conversation, and help them be more effective allies
That fear I had (have) in getting the delivery of this wrong is a common one. Nobody likes to be singled out in public for not knowing something that might be ‘obvious’ to others, so I created a form to submit questions anonymously that I would then ask the panelists.
I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but I soon found out how steep. The vast majority of the enthusiastic allies that I sent the submission form to immediately deferred to sending it to their female contingent of their crews. I hadn’t anticipated that, but there’s that fear of having difficult conversations. There’s that echo chamber.
Regardless, I compiled a list of questions, and the panelists duly answered them. Take a read. Let’s talk about if anything made you think.
The panelists
Kimiko Ninomiya, founder of Hot Boys Athletics, a women-only performance-oriented run crew
Sarah-Isha Muhammad-Jones, founder of ASRA Club, a run community centering Muslim women
Bethan Taylor-Swaine AKA the Feminist Sports Psychologist
Isabel Sachs, founder of Sporty & Single, which hosts events for active people to meet others like them
How do you manage your safety while running?
Bethan “We need to be really careful about how we talk about it: carry an alarm, run in groups, don’t run after dark, mix up your routes. Ultimately, that’s putting responsibility on women and marginalized genders for their own safety for something that’s not of their doing. What we actually need is for the dialogue to change around safety, harassment, sexual abuse, violence against women and girls and marginalized genders in the way that we talk about it and who we put the responsibility on for it.”
“What is going to change this systemic problem is men really stepping up as allies and talking to their mates, having difficult conversations, calling each other out, and thinking about how that behavior affects other people.”
Sarah-Isha “I actually don’t feel positive about it. I can’t count how many times we’ve been running on the track and someone’s said something. Someone even tried to set their dogs on us. The reality is that we can try to create those safe spaces but I think we’re just in such a grim time right now. I would love to have conversations about reimagining spaces so that we could all feel comfortable and safe. What does that look like?”
How can brands help with their marketing?
Sarah-Isha “On the ground, we’re collectively coming together, but there’s such a divide between marketing and communities. Thinking about who’s not in this room right now, and can we make this space for them as well is how you get into understanding the different forms of accessibility. Until brands start to work more with communities, there’s always going to be that disparity.”
Bethan “The people are pretty diverse and often living lifestyles that many of us cannot relate to, but they don’t really have time to create running content so the images that we see are incredibly homogenous. You’ve got to have that balance of marketers looking for the return versus is there a social responsibility on businesses? That’s a whole other set of ethical questions.”
How important is running with women only?
Kimiko “It’s difficult to put yourself in a vulnerable position to be doing hard things, but then to be surrounded by women who relate physiologically in the ways that we deal with the world has been really meaningful for me. Running in a performance-based group specifically for women has lifted everyone up in. We have been able to achieve things that we didn’t dream about before.
Sarah-Isha “If it wasn’t for ASRA, I probably wouldn’t still be running. Just being in that community, you learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about others. You learn a lot about responsibility, you learn a lot about care. That drives how you treat yourself in running, so I’ve learned to be a lot kinder to myself with my journey.”
How important is your cycle to how you train?
Kimiko “There’s research that says that at the start of your period, it’s better to do strength work, versus later in your cycle when it’s easier to do more endurance work. I think the most important thing as a woman can be tracking your cycle, having conversations around it with other women, and understanding.”
Legendary US soccer player Megan Rapinoe said earlier this year how all three of her ACL injuries occurred when she was on her period, for instance. Soon afterwards, but unrelated directly, a new year-long study into the link between hormones and injuries in women was announced.
Are running clubs a place to find a date? What are the implications in terms of body consciousness?
Bethan “The thing about organized events is that you know what you’re getting into. The bit that I’m concerned about is the messaging – particularly on social media – of people looking at run clubs as a space to find somebody. The idea of talking to someone on Strava or the idea of going to any run club to hook up. That stuff is more concerning and for a lot of running groups, that’s outside of their control. What running groups can do is set guardrails. It’s about taking the time with your people in a very honest way to set your expectations of behavior.
Isabel “Climbing [which Sporty & Single also organizes] is very different because you’re inside a gym, and, in general, the gym is liable and everyone registers, and we have a set of rules that you have to follow. We also asked the community what they wanted and the queer community told us they would rather have some sort of sticker to indicate they are queer, so we have that as well.”
Name one change our communities can make to better support women who run.
Kimiko “Any man who runs a running group should have women in leadership positions that have a voice and are listened to in a meaningful way.”
Sahra-Isha “When we think about the rooms that we’re in or the runs that we host, who is the most vulnerable in that space and how can we ensure that they are comfortable in this space, that we are considering them. How do we think about inclusivity? How do we think about an environment that makes people feel like they can come there?”
Bethan “Having an open dialogue to start changing the culture in how we talk about ourselves, how we talk about women, how men talk about women, and creating an environment where we can be open about it, and where we’re not going to judge ourselves where we’ve maybe got it wrong, but still holding each other to account.”
Isabel “If you’re hosting a running community and you advertise easy pace, make sure you explain what that easy pace is. A lot of people come to run cubs for the easy pace, but it’s not actually an easy pace.”
A question arose as to my next steps from this evening’s in-person conversation, and it’s a great question. There were a couple of calls to discard and chastise all men, including those allies who were maybe slightly lost, not fully enlightened, or had already been discouraged, but I disagree with that approach.
We were in a shop that sells running shoes, and an analogy sprung to mind. If there’s someone in there who knows they need special shoes to run in, but don’t know the difference between a racer, a daily trainer, and a stability shoe, do you tell them to buzz off and figure it out on their own? Or do you point them in the right direction?
I really believe in this newsletter community. We’ve more than doubled in size over the past 12 months, and I’m so happy to be nestled among the ever-diminishing group of people who love to learn by reading. Over the past 20 years there has been a “significant, ongoing decrease in the number of people who read for pleasure,” from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023. We are in that 16%, and I want to celebrate and nurture that.
I’ve personally learned so much from speaking with women who are active changemakers in the running world over the past couple of years, and I thought I was an ally before that. That means that if you’re already in the room, taking the time to read this newsletter, you’re likely in the same position — you already believe in equality and equity, and want to be as effective an ally as possible.
This is not about solving the problem entirely, but if this can be another step in the right direction, that’s the kind of progress that everybody wants. I certainly do.
So if you’ve read something here that’s helped you, share it with the other men you run with. Talk about it. Let’s make effective change together.
Together, we can make the running world a shining beacon of how great society can be, and I believe that the work that we do in our little corner of the world can and will filter through into the wider world.
Further reading
Housekeeping
BOOK - Yep, I just wrapped up writing my first book. It’s about running! I told you I’d been busy. I’ll tell you more next week, but please, pretty please pre-order my book if you can.
USA - Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Bookshop
UK - Amazon / Waterstones / Bookshop
I would love it if you dropped a link in your group chats! Work Slacks. Teams. Run club Discords. Local Whatsapp groups. Anywhere and everywhere, please and thank you so much. It’ll look great on their coffee tables. Tell them!
Thanks for reading,
Raz x