Latest news with #womeninrunning
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Stephanie Case breastfed her baby during a 100 km race — and won. But don't call it a comeback.
Ultra-runner Stephanie Case made headlines last month after completing the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia run, a grueling 100-kilometer race through Wales's craggiest trails. It's not because it was her first competitive race in three years, or because she ran it six months after having a baby or even because she won the race by finishing in 17 hours, ahead of any other female competitor. It's because Case did all those things while also stopping to breastfeed her baby multiple times along the way. But as a new mom, what else was she going to do? The 43-year-old Canadian athlete, human rights lawyer and founder of women's running advocacy organization Free to Run, says she wasn't aiming to do anything remarkable. She was simply participating in the sport that she loves while, you know, doing all the stuff postpartum moms have to do, like feeding the baby. '[I was] doing what I'd like to do while also being a mom — and those two things aren't competing,' she tells me during a conversation for Yahoo Life's OT Diaries. 'Still, in 2025, we have very ingrained ideas about what a new mom should look like and what being a good mom means. And I think we are still expected somehow to give up ourselves … to forget about everything that existed as part of our identities before then.' But she hasn't let that happen. Here, she talks more about her viral moment (not to mention the 'misogynistic' comments she's gotten alongside the accolades) and why her post-baby return to racing isn't a comeback; it's an upgrade. Both me and my daughter had to get used to this idea of breastfeeding during training or racing. [My daughter] Pepper didn't take a bottle until quite recently, so for weeks and months leading up to my recent race, I would have to make sure that I didn't time out on a run. Oftentimes, I would go for a couple hours of running, I would come back to feed my daughter and then I would go out and finish with a couple more hours on my training run. She got used to feeding mid-run, I got used to feeding her mid-run, and that set us up pretty well for the Ultra-Trail Snowdonia race. I didn't know actually how long [the race] would take me. It could have taken me 17 hours, like it did, or could have taken me 30 hours. But I knew that I would be out there for a really long time and I would need to feed Pepper during the course. Runners were allowed to receive assistance at the 20-kilometer and 80-kilometer checkpoints, but that left quite a long 60-kilometer gap in the middle. And so I got special permission from the race organizers not to receive assistance, but to provide assistance to my daughter at the 50K checkpoint. And honestly, I didn't really think much of it. It was just kind of a normal occurrence in our lives during my training. So we just arranged for my partner, John, to bring Pepper to the aid stations and I would feed her as normal. One of the great things about ultra-running is, you really can't get enough food. So I try not to be too strict about it because ultimately this is supposed to be fun. And as long as I'm just taking a balanced approach, it seems to be alright for me. … But now, I am a lot more focused on how many calories I'm taking while I'm out on the trails, whether in training or in racing, because I am feeding not just myself but also making sure that I have enough nutrition to feed my daughter while she's still breastfeeding. I have become an advocate of high-carb fueling during racing. I had always avoided taking gels when I'm running and I just relied on solid food, pizza, potato chips, chicken McNuggets. … I would much rather have a piece of pizza than down a few sugary gels, but they do work. In training for ultramarathons, I'm used to pushing my body to extremes, pushing myself to the limit. But after having a baby, I knew I needed to be smart, I needed to be careful. I knew that I wasn't this completely fragile being, as we sometimes think of new moms and we tell them, you should just rest and relax. No, I knew I could push it, but in a smart way. So I got a coach, Dr. Megan Roche, who has helped to guide me. She's a new mom herself, so I could really trust her in providing me the guidance that I needed to be able to come back to this sport in a safe and healthy way while still pushing the boundaries as a new mom. So it's been a great experience. It's gone a lot better than I thought it would. And I feel quite lucky because we really don't know how long it will take or if we will be able to come back to the sport in the same way. That's why I'm quite clear that I don't like to talk about a comeback. … I'm not trying to regain any kind of pre-baby fitness or pre-baby body. I think we need to get rid of all of those ideas because it sets some standard that we might not be able to reach. And I actually think that in my return to the sport, I'm better now than I was before. So if I had thought about this as a comeback, then I would have set a ceiling on where I could have reached in the sport. I have come back better. So that's why I like to just think of this as a new phase in my athletic career and in my relationship with running and the trails rather than as a return to anything. I think some of the best athletes out there are multi-dimensional athletes who like to stretch and do strength work and they can bike ride and run and ski. I can do other sports, but I have to admit that that uncoordinated, clumsy, non-athlete kid in me is still there and all that I'm really good at is running and I love it. I absolutely love it. I run six days a week. There's no cross training for me. It's, I just like to kind of get lost in the woods and let my brain unwind. In ultra-running and ultramarathons, the mental aspect is just as important, if not more important, than the physical aspect. As a human rights lawyer, I have lived in some of the most inhospitable, crazy places on Earth, where training has been less than ideal. … It has made my brain and my mind really strong. So I know that when I come into a competition, even if my training is subpar on the physical side, I might be able to make up for it on the mental side. It's in these really low moments — when you are in a valley or top of a climb or 60 kilometers into a 100-kilometer race or 100 miles into a 200-mile race — when you can hit these really dark moments, and it isn't going to be muscle strength that gets you through those. It's your brain, it's your mind that tells you that you do have more left in the tank, that you are lucky to be out there moving and that the only person that's really going to get you to the finish line is you. Being able to do that self-talk and prove to myself that I can get through those hard things. Each one reinforces the belief that I actually don't know how much I'm capable of until I try, until I push. And that's what I love about this sport. My meditation is really my running. … I'm busy. I have a job. I'm a mom. I know there's a lot of moms out there who would love to have half an hour to themselves to journal or to sit in the hot bath or to do yoga. And there just doesn't seem to be that time in my day. So I find it with my training time. I use my time out on the trails to do that meditation. It's a moving meditation. So it's just another part of multitasking. I think people look at something like a 100-kilometer race and they think it's impossible and they would never be able to do it. But I am telling you, I have done 100-kilometer races and I've done childbirth, and childbirth is harder. So any mom who is sitting there at home thinking that there is no way that they could do it, they have all of the strength they need in them to accomplish something like a 100-kilometer race — because childbirth is wild. So I know when I am out on the course and I'm having a pity party, if I feel like it's a hard thing, I remember back to what it was like actually having Pepper and it gets me right out of that slump and focused on hitting the finish line. I had a lot of support to be able to get me there. Not everyone is able to do things like that, but we need to be opening up the space for more moms to be able to pursue their dreams if that's something that they want to do. We need to be providing a lot more support to moms, and we need to reduce the scrutiny and the judgment around how new moms prioritize their time. Doing things that make me happy and whole, I know, will make me a better mom. And it doesn't mean that I'm not prioritizing my daughter. In fact, I think it means that I am. I would never force her into any sports, but the fact that she's growing up in the middle of the mountains in the French Alps [where Case's family currently lives] bodes well for her future athletic career. I personally cannot wait for the day when she kicks my butt in a race. And I don't know when that's going to be, but it's probably going to be sooner than I think. My partner, John. Next would be my mom. My comfort watch to really help me relax is actually reality TV. I am a huge fan of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. That's a hard one because there are things that I really like, but I don't feel guilty about it. I love ice cream. I love cheesecake. I wouldn't call them guilty pleasures. I just call them pleasures. My biggest fear has always been failing. I've had to really teach myself to embrace the idea of failing. Because when we fail, it's just a sign that we have pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zone, and then we find out what our limit is. And that allows us to figure out how to surpass it. I have been getting the ick from some of the online trolls lately. While the response to my race in Wales has been overwhelmingly positive, there have been some people making quite misogynistic comments, telling me that I've been selfish to do a race as a new mom, that I should be sitting at home with my baby, and they're questioning whether I even care about my baby at all. That gives me the ick because I think those are really outdated opinions about what new moms should be doing. And those questions and comments never would have been made of a new dad had they gone out and run six months after having a baby. Diet Coke. I currently have a few on my desk in front of me. This is how I survive. This is my nutrition plan and I won't apologize for it. I am not a coffee drinker. I don't have energy drinks. I live on this elixir, unfortunately. Well, now as a new mom, it's looking at Instagram reels of little babies doing just hilarious things or moms and dads doing little dances with their babies. I find them hysterical. I think it's important to bring a sense of humor to motherhood, so keep the reels coming. My running shoes. Whenever I travel, I make sure that they're in my carry-on so that even if my luggage gets lost, I still have the ability to get outside and run in the wild. There's one song that I'm listening to non-stop, but it's not for me. It's because it helps put my daughter to sleep. It's called 'Soulmates' and I know it by heart. … But my personal soundtrack when I'm on the trails really changes. It switches up a lot, and I often listen to podcasts. I don't think I have any wellness trends that I swear by because a trend is something that kind of comes in and out of favor, and those can be dangerous. I think we just need to do the things that keep us healthy and sustainable long-term. And if it works, keep doing it. If it doesn't, try something else. I am the best mom to Pepper that I can be. I suppose I am trying to get better at relaxing — and that is a skill. It's something that some of us have to learn, particularly if we're used to [being] go, go, go all the time. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From TikTok to the track: Gen Z are driving running's third great boom
Hear that sound? It is the fingertaps of Gen Z scrolling through Instagram reels and TikToks. The pings of card readers as more stylish gear leaves the shelves. The drumbeat of cushioned soles on pavements up and down the country. But, most of all, it is the noise of the jaws of the smartest people in sport crashing to the floor. Because, suddenly and entirely unexpectedly, we are in the third great running boom, one that almost nobody saw coming and powered almost entirely by Gen Z, particularly women. 'You go back to the first boom in the 1970s and 80s and there was no real diversity: it was all thin, skinny, white guys in very tight shorts,' says Hugh Brasher, the event director of the London Marathon. The second boom? That, he says, came after Paula Radcliffe broke the world marathon record in 2003, leading to a big jump in women taking up running, before parkrun grew the numbers again. 'You look now and it really is all ethnicities and demographics,' Brasher says. 'This explosion – and it really is an explosion – has been brilliant to see. I wish that any of us could say we created it, like Netflix and Drive to Survive, or even saw it coming. But we didn't. It's been an organic explosion.' The numbers are staggering. More than 1.1 million have entered the ballot for the 2026 London Marathon – not only a world record but nearly double the figure from two years ago. Strikingly, for the first time, the male/female split is almost 50/50. The race is also getting younger: more than a third of UK entries are aged from 18 to 29 years old. So what is going on? Part of it is a happy confluence of circumstances. Running has always been cheap and accessible. Now it is also fashionable. But dig a little deeper, and there are some interesting things going on. Last month, for instance, Sport England found that while there were 349,000 more runners in England in 2024 compared to 2023 that rise was almost entirely fuelled by women. 'Part of the rise is because brands have cottoned on to the fact that women are willing to spend a lot of money on products that work better and look nicer,' says Lee Glandorf, a marketer who works with sports brands on their editorial strategy and writes a Substack on sport and fashion. 'Lululemon, in particular, led the way and did a lot of the work to make running fashionable. 'But I also know that for a long time, Hoka's internal motto was 'win with women'. They put a lot of energy into making running shoes fashionable and comfortable for women. They seeded a lot of influencers and they did a lot of messaging around soft wins, the idea it is OK to run slowly and that winning can be achieved in different ways.' While the traditional running world may sneer, Glandorf says influencers have played a significant part. 'This huge ecosystem of female creators definitely brings in younger women,' she says. 'Mostly they are not pro athletes. Instead the younger generation is being inspired by people who look like them or have a similar background.' There is one myth worth shattering, however. It was not the pandemic that led to the spike in running. That, says Brasher, only came in 2023. But Covid‑19 did play a part. 'We used to have to go into the office five days a week,' he says. And we socialised through work. A lot of that cohesion has gone and therefore it needs to be replaced. People want to be together in a community they enjoy and running has myriad diverse communities.' That is particularly true of Gen Z, which has been hit harder than most. Research also shows Gen Z drinks much less than previous generations and is more aware of mental health. 'The research is now showing that running is better than taking a pill to help with depression,' Brasher says. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Another factor behind the boom is the explosion in a new breed of running clubs or 'crews', bringing people together in a more communal way. In the buildup to the London Marathon, the sports brand Tracksmith had up to 400 runners gather outside its shop for its Sunday morning long runs with pacers running between 6.45 minute- and 12-minute miles. 'The growth over the past two years has been crazy,' says Tracksmith's community leader, Amrit Ghatora. 'But there are so many crews now, from black trail runners to Asian running groups, so there really is something for everyone. If you come to a run club for the first time, it can be an intimidating experience. But we do everything to ensure that no one feels left out and it is a really enjoyable experience.' This latest running boom has not yet had an impact on elite track and field. Nick Pearson, who was formerly in charge of parkrun and now is chief executive of the talent agency Forte management, says that does not matter. 'There are some people who say this boom won't last, but I disagree. The direction of travel is upwards and you've still got some really significant pockets, particularly in some cultural female groups, that can be unlocked into running. 'And why would it go away? It's free. It's unbelievably accessible. It's cheap. Anyone can do it. And the super boost behind this latest boom is Gen Z. They socialise differently. They look for experiences differently and right now, we've just got this perfect storm going on.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
The first woman to complete the Boston Marathon is now 78 and runs most days. She shared 3 tips for getting fit at any age.
The first woman officially ran the Boston Marathon in 1967, despite an official trying to stop her. Kathrine Switzer has dedicated her life to making running more accessible to women. She thinks anyone can get fit at any age and shared her tips for doing just that. Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an official competitor, despite a race official trying to physically stop her. Since that day in 1967, she has dedicated her life to other women experiencing the same feeling of empowerment from running, regardless of their age or ability. In the run-up to the race, Switzer, at the time a 20-year-old journalism student at Syracuse University, trained with her college's cross-country team for a year (it was against collegiate rules for a woman to compete in the sport). She couldn't keep up with most of the men on the team, so the assistant coach, Arnie Briggs, began training with her separately as he recovered from a knee injury. "We got better and stronger," Switzer told Business Insider. "We got up to five miles and then seven and then 11. The guys on the cross country team wouldn't come out with us after 20 kilometers, but that's when I could keep up with them because they didn't have the endurance I had." On their runs, Switzer and Briggs discussed marathons — Briggs had run the Boston Marathon 15 times but didn't believe that a woman could run that far. "But then he said, 'Look, if any woman could, I would believe it was you. But you would have to prove it to me, and then I'd take you to Boston.' I said, 'Hot damn, you're on,'" Switzer said. They did a trial marathon and ended up running an extra five miles at the end because Switzer suspected the course was shorter than the required 26.2 miles and still had energy. She and Briggs paid the $2 entry fee and signed up for the 1967 Boston Marathon. (The entry fee was $250 for the 2025 race.) About two miles into the race, things went awry. The race manager pulled up in a bus and ran after Switzer. "He grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me back. He tried to pull off my number bib and screamed, 'Get the hell out of my race and give me those numbers,'" she said. When the official grabbed Switzer by the shirt, her boyfriend at the time, who was training to compete in hammer throw at the Olympics, charged at him and sent him flying off to the side of the road, she said. As she kept running, the press hounded her, asking if she was a suffragette and what she was trying to prove. "I wasn't trying to prove anything, I was just trying to run," she said. "But they stayed with me a long time and really hassled me, asking me, 'When are you going to quit?' Finally, I said, 'I'm going to finish this race on my hands and my knees if I have to.'" She did finish (and stayed upright). She said she felt empowered, and in 1972 organized the first women-only road race, which was 10-kilometer-long, and lobbied for the inclusion of a women's marathon event in the Olympics, which eventually happened in 1984. In 2024, she worked with Every Woman's Marathon to hold a women's-only marathon, which had 7,000 participants. Now 78, Switzer still runs six times a week, including one day where she focuses on 800-meter sprints and a day for a longer run that takes at least 1.5 hours. She ramps up her training when she's approaching a marathon. Switzer set her personal best at the 1975 Boston Marathon with a time of two hours and fifty-one minutes. It now takes her four to five hours, but it isn't about the time, she said. She's happy that she can run a marathon alongside other women, of every age, size, ethnicity, and religion, thanks to her efforts and those of other women who paved the way. "I believe you can start a fitness program at any age," she said, giving the example of a woman she knows who took up running at 72 and ran her first marathon at 81. Switzer shared her tips for getting fit, whether you can run for one minute or three hours. "Consistency is everything. You just need to keep running every day and build it up," she said. She started by running a mile a day around her garden at age 12 and gradually increased the number of laps over time. But it wasn't easy, she said. "I struggled through that summer, running that mile every single day. Pretty soon, this amazing sense of empowerment came over me," she said. "For some people, this process is going to be faster; for other people, it's going to be slower." Having a goal provides focus and will motivate you to "put the work in," Switzer said. Her motivation was to prove Briggs wrong and show that women could run marathons, but your goal doesn't have to be as big, she said. "There's going to be plenty of days when you don't want to go out," she said. She still has days when she doesn't want to run after almost 60 years of doing the sport. But having something to aim for means you're less likely to skip a workout. Switzer's final tip is to find a way to hold yourself accountable. You could get a training partner or keep a diary of your workouts, she said. "People should write their workout down every day because when you write it down, it keeps you honest," she said. "But a buddy is really a nice thing to have. I don't think I ever would have been a runner if it hadn't been for Arnie, my coach," she added. "And for a lot of women, safety is a really big factor. So run with other women — it also creates a really good community." Read the original article on Business Insider
