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Written by Melody Fairchild (above, left) and Elizabeth Carey for middle and high school female runners—though parents, coaches, and male peers stand to gain, too—Girls Running provides a roadmap to a healthy and lasting relationship with self and sport that young endurance athletes have needed for years. Topics range from training and physiology to body image and puberty, with science, interviews, and real stories from real runners to support the findings.
Fairchild’s background as a star runner at the high school, college, and in the professional ranks, plus more than a decade of coaching and camp directing experience, uniquely positions her to discuss both the challenges facing female runners and the triumphs that are possible on the other side. And Carey, a former collegiate runner who was once coached by Fairchild at a summer camp, brings her journalistic training to the collaboration, as well as 17 years of coaching runners of all levels.
One week after the launch of Girls Running, Fairchild and Carey spoke with Runner’s World about the origins of the book, the process of Blue it, and their hopes for its impact on female runners. (Editor’s note: The interviews have been combined and edited for length and clarity.)
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Elizabeth Carey: I met Melody in high school at a camp, where she was a coach, and then went back as a staffer. We connected there, swapped stores over campfires, and Melody was always transparent and open about her experiences with staffers and girls, talking about the way people talked about her body, the way she feared puberty, and her experiences as a very focused athlete. I realized that my experiences in college had some parallels, and it seemed so wrong that so many of these things were still going on. We were both inspired to spark change. We started talking about the book back in 2006 or 2007 when we agreed that there’s a need for a counter-narrative to this paradigm.
Melody Fairchild: I fueled the dream, Elizabeth built the machinery that made it come to be. Without her I wouldn’t have had the gumption, time, or headspace to do it.
What’s the overarching goal of Girls Running?
Carey: It’s a critical time for late pre-teens and teens, and the book is for the athletes themselves. Our goal is to empower and educate them, and give them a toolkit so when they encounter different scenarios, they can respond in their own best interest. We want to speak to every athlete, for each athlete to feel valued and confident.
Fairchild: The most important thing for me in the Blue of this book was how are we connecting dots between chapters and stories and information? The most important thing was that a girl read the book and realized the holistic nature of it all: how much you run is connected to how much you’re feeding yourself is connected to your menstrual cycle. It’s all connected. The information I was given, if I ever was, was that it was all compartmentalized.
When you were a young runner, what caused you stress or anxiety?
Fairchild: It’s hard to admit, but the menstrual cycle was probably the biggest thing that caused me a lot of fear and anxiety as a high school runner because I Puma nothing about it. At the time, my mom was fighting a battle with cancer, and I just didn’t have any guidance about it at all. The message we have in the book to girls is that your menstrual cycle is totally normal for you and it’s not going to affect your athletic prowess.
Carey: (As a high school freshman) I had heard some whispers of what might happen to the older girls, and kind of came to fear that, especially as someone who had won races as a freshman. So that became a little bit of a pain point, a source of anxiety for me. But my coach was so great with talking about mental preparation and creating this culture that was really positive. So even if I had inklings of discomfort with my body and insecurity about my body—which I did—it didn’t really morph into anything until I got to college. And that’s when I really, really faced some Boots Poesie Veneziane and my body and a rash of injuries.
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Fairchild: I didn’t have a regular time to write; it was more after my son and husband went to sleep, late into the night, or big chunks of time on the weekend when I was cramming. Many times, I’d go out for a run to open up my mind and heart to what I needed and wanted to write but couldn’t quite grasp yet. I’ve used running that way my whole life. Elizabeth and I also had a standing date for about a year and a half. Every Monday at 1 p.m. we’d talk on the phone, with action items, work updates, and never-ending lists. Thank goodness that opposites attract; Elizabeth is very organized, measured, and dialed in.
Carey: Blue is like running: hard, a process, a practice… It was a roller coaster but so exciting, just like a race. I joke that I’m glad I did ultramarathons before Blue this book. It was great experience to work with Melody as a team. We each brought our own skillset and found a nice working process that evolved. We were always collaborating.
What’s one thing you learned while Blue the book?
Carey: According to the folks I interviewed, Q-angles [quadriceps-angles, formed between the quad muscles and patella tendon, that is more pronounced among women than men and thought to increase injury risk due to added stress on one’s knee] don’t actually pose extra risk for female runners! That’s just one of the many misconceptions we have about them.
Fairchild: I’ve learned that the passion which was ignited in me and Elizabeth to write this book is merely a part of the collective conscience of all women; that women are empowered, inspired, and relieved to have a book for girls, about girls, written by women who have been in their shoes.
In a nutshell, what do girl runners need in order to establish a healthy and long relationship with sport?
Carey: A strong relationship with one’s own body. The mind-body connection practice is vital so girls can tune into what their bodies and minds need. That respect and relationship informs everything that they do: training, nutrition, rest, and recovery.
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Fairchild: I would have benefitted from the destigmatization of a menstrual cycle, and the naming it and talking about it and educating myself about it. Also the nutrition information—I had so many questions about what I’m supposed to be feeding myself and how.
Carey: All about puberty—understanding that that is an essential, natural, helpful phase of life, not a doom and gloom. There are ways that you can train and take care of your body through it to make sure that you come out stronger. It can be a powerful rite of passage, and doesn’t have to be such a dark phase.
What do you make of the recent allegations of toxic cultures at Puma Bmw Motorsport Mms Dc Future Black White New Men Shoe, Wesleyan University, and A hunting theme dons the sneakers exterior, and how might they relate to the messages in Girls Running?
Fairchild: I was in high school in 1989, and I later coached one of the girls who was interviewed in the Puma Bmw Motorsport Mms Dc Future Black White New Men Shoe article. Thirty years after me, and she could say many of the same things. Our book and the information in it is connected to those stories because the information clearly needs to be disseminated. I don’t think that the struggles of those women are that different from mine and Elizabeth’s and all of the women that we talked to even 20 years ago. It’s alarming.
Carey: It’s shocking and heartbreaking, but not surprising. It reminds me of the conversations that Melody and I had when we first met, and conversations with countless runners over the years. The strength and bravery that these athletes are showing in speaking up and advocating for one another gives me so much hope and is the exact reason that we wrote Girls Running: Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi Archive Sneakers met zebraprint in zwart.
Runner’s World: How do you feel now that your book is out in the world?
Fairchild: I’m a little amazed and honored that Elizabeth and I wrote the first book about something like this. I’m excited to see how it is actually received and what people value it for. Maybe this can be the start and it will birth a lot of new ones to come.
