I was running on the treadmill to escape the heat today.
As one does on the treadmill, I was thinking too much and watching my legs move in the mirror on the gym wall. In college, I was one of the top runners in my division. Never a champion, but I was a competitor at national meets. And I was thinking about how grateful I am that I had that opportunity.
I know that women’s sports have a long way to go. I also know that thirty years ago, my coach would never have run me in the 5k and the 10k and the 1500 all at one conference track meet. I thought about how incredible it was, how empowering, to be asked of so much because the team needed the points. To know that I tripped and fell during the 1500, and dragged myself back up on tired legs and finished fourth and we won that meet by half a point. An entire team of women said “yes,” said “I can,” and gave it everything because our coach said, “I coach strong women.” I was so lucky to have that.
Sometimes I get so angry about my athletic history, about the five years I went without menstruating because I was overtraining and undereating, about the times that I had a coach tell me to my face that he treated his men’s and women’s teams differently. I get furious watching professional athletes get belittled and dismissed because they are women. My rage is bone deep. My jealousy, too, ugly as that is.
But nevertheless! There is a larger than life picture of me on the wall in my alma mater’s weight room. Sometimes I go to a wedding in Ohio and a random old man introduces himself and tells me what a fierce competitor I was; he says he had to text his athletes to let them know I was two tables over, because he remembered me from my competitive collegiate days. As I watch the men’s World Cup, I keep seeing content about women’s sports and their lack of visibility in comparison. Despite it all, women’s sports are making progress. There are many flaws and failures, but I do believe that more and more girls are encouraged to compete and see women competing at the highest level, and that is so very important.
