Friday Thrive

Happy Friday! Each week, Friday Thrive rounds up some of my favorite reads, podcasts, and more. Here’s what I enjoyed this week! 

The Rise of the Running Tutu

As the number of women participating in races has skyrocketed, running gear has taken a traditionally feminine turn. “How Tutus took over Runner’s Wardrobes” from the Atlantic examines how the running tutus went from an infrequent sartorial choice to a staple at Disney races to a common piece of running gear and what the tutu symbolizes. Personally, I wouldn’t wear a tutu at a race, but I also don’t wear traditionally feminine clothes in everyday life either.* What do you think of running tutus?

Why Women Don’t Quit

“Women are often discouraged from being athletic and competitive, so the female runners who made it to Boston had already overcome more social obstacles than men. They may simply be tougher, and this was a year when toughness worked,” 3:03 marathoner Lindsey Crouse writes in “Why Men Quit and Women Don’t” for The New York Times. She examines the physiological and psychological reasons why female runners are less likely to drop of the Boston Marathon than men in this fascinating article – definitely worth a read! 

The Flying Housewife, 70 Years Later

I opened Google’s homepage yesterday and saw a woman on a track represented in their daily doodle. This naturally piqued my curiosity, so I clicked through to learn about Fanny Blankers-Koen, a Dutch mother of two who won four gold medals at the 1948 Olympics – the first woman to do so. At the time of the 1948 Olympics, people questioned Fanny’s participation due to her age. She also set the largest gap between first and second place in the 200m, a record untouched since. Quartz shares Fanny’s story in “In 1948, a 30-Year-Old Dutch Mother of Two Shattered Age and Gender Barriers at the Olympics.” 

Running is about People’s Stories

A few years ago, at my first half marathon, I ran along with a man about my age for the entire race. After the race, I found out he was a friend of my husband’s from our alma mater – because the running world can be a surprisingly small world! We still follow each other on Strava and other social media, and this week I found his story in Runner’s World Runner’s Stories column. (He is far faster than I am now and ran a 19-minute 5K last year!)

Boston’s Winner, in Her Own Words

After Desi’s victory at the Boston Marathon last week, I listened to her interview with Mario Fraioli on The Morning Shakeout podcast. This interview gave me chills listening to it after Desi won, since the interview was recorded and released before Boston. Listen to it yourself – I promise you will feel inspired! 

What do you think of running tutus?
What podcasts are you enjoying?
What do you think of the NYT article?