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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
I saw this pop up on the Instagram feed of runners I follow, and I’m so glad I read it. It’s for anyone who was a an athlete or might raise one (or coach one or mentor one). So everyone, really. Fleshman breaks down how problematic the athletics system is for female athletes (and all kids)—but also how it can be changed and is changing. I wish she had talked about the intersection of race, gender, and class earlier in the story, but she seems to come to terms with race more later in the book when she was also doing so later in her life as a runner. It’s well written and a good read (I listened to the audiobook).
I listened to this book while running in my Oiselle bras and eating picky bars. So motivating and relatable. While I am far from elite the retelling of Olympic trial nerves was relatable to Ironman starting corrals and ultra marathon starting lines. I think even new runners toeing a 5k line could relate. I appreciate the focus on women's health and eating disorders, and the unhealthy relationship between eating, fueling, and running and race weight.
Shed some tears, laughed, and felt really connected to this one. An eye opening look at the damage running does to a lot of girls, and the long way the sport has to go in making it safe for professional athletes.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I’ve been a fan of Lauren Fleshman’s writing for years and I’ve always appreciated her unflinching honesty. Her memoir doesn’t shy away as it takes us through the highs and lows of her journey as a runner, while simultaneously examining the treatment of women in sport as they navigate a system built by and for men. Parts of it enraged me, parts of it made me cry and parts of it made me cheer. This is a well researched book that highlights topics such as female physiology, body image, and pay disparity. She also briefly acknowledges that it is focused on white feminism. With that said, with so much packed into under 300 pages, I felt the book lacked some of the intimacy that some of the other running memoirs I’ve read had, in that I didn’t feel like I knew her much better when I finished (though to be fair, maybe I knew more about her to start due to her blog and Runner’s World column).
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Self harm, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Pandemic/Epidemic
I really, really liked this book. Of course, there are always critiques of white women having their "intersectional feminism" aha moments, and yet, she was vulnerable, putting herself out there, and admitting and learning from her mistakes. I have recommended this book to several of my friends who have athletic daughters. There is so much here I did not know about performance as it connects with biological development in women, and she does not shy away from a overt critique of sexism in athletics - at all levels. I wish the NCAA and university athletic departments weren't so impossible to change. She talks about the ways that competition disconnected her from her peers AND herself, making authentic relationships challenging. this is a powerful recognition and likely impacts student (and grown!) athletes for much, much longer than they know. I see and feel it all the time and it is so difficult to really interrupt.
This book was a great read, and I found it really powerful. I would highly recommend to anyone who ran competitively—I saw many of my own, similar experiences (and those of my teammates) reflected in here.
Covers so many important issues within the world of running that girls and women face. The almost universal experience of a girl plateauing at some point in her running career and not knowing that it is normal (which I experienced when I turned 16) is something that we have the power to change. It was also comforting to hear how Lauren Fleshman bounced back from disappointment and defeat, and found her niche in the running community.