Hi there!
Some housekeeping news: this newsletter has a new logo, thanks to illustrator Laurène Boglio. You’ll recognize her style from some of the wonderful GIFs in previous issues. (And don’t worry, there will still be GIFs in the future!) In personal training news: we pushed through New York’s version of the polar vortex this week (Midwestern readers: don’t send me hate mail—I know you had it worse), and we were rewarded with seriously perfect long run weather this Sunday. For the real running news, keep reading.
Shelby Houlihan’s kick has range
The U.S. cross-country champs were on Saturday, and the women’s field was absolutely stacked with big names. Molly Huddle took the lead early, and a tight pack hung with her for the first half of the race. (It was really exciting to watch the women in the lead pack, who come from a wide range of distance specialities across track and road events, going head-to-head in an XC 10k.) But with about 600 meters to go, Shelby Houlihan whipped out her signature kick and took home the win. Shelby’s finish aside, it was a great race all around—it made me wish that a stellar XC field like this one were more common. Among the other highlights: the Bowerman women had an amazing showing, taking 1st, 3rd (Marielle Hall), 5th (Amy Cragg), 6th (Courtney Frerichs), and 7th (Karissa Schweizer); and Hoka’s Steph Bruce finished 8th, making the Worlds team at age 35. (Molly Huddle finished second, but confirmed she won’t take her spot at Worlds, along with 4th place finisher Aliphine Tuliamuk.)
Are women closing in on men at Boston?
I recently edited this piece by Alex Hutchinson for Outside about a detailed analysis of men’s and women’s results at the Boston Marathon. He explores the idea that women are starting to close the gap on men in endurance events, and concludes that for the Boston data specifically, it depends on where in the field you look. His observations about sub-elite runners were the most compelling to me: “It may be the “near-elite” athletes that offer the most interesting snapshot. Here, the men are getting slower and the women are getting faster, resulting in curves that make you wonder if the gap really will shrink to nothing at some point.” Anecdotally, it’s been really exciting to watch the rise of sub-elite female runners in recent years, and it was interesting to see that reflected in the data.
A new policy for transgender ultrarunners
The Western States Endurance Run, one of the most iconic ultramarathons in the country, has announced a new policy regarding transgender athletes and the race. (The specific rules vary depending on the athlete’s gender, but you can read more here.) As ultrarunner Stephanie Case pointed out on Twitter, this policy is likely the first one of its kind in ultrarunning. As WSER puts it on their website: “A runner’s self-declared gender at registration will be accepted at face value. The sole reason for this policy is to ensure fairness regarding competition for awards and records. Therefore, there shall be no basis for, or tolerance of, any challenge to a runner’s self-declared gender unless a top 10 finish or age group award is at stake.” It’s encouraging to see the running world begin to develop policies in this area—I’m curious how transgender runners (and the broader running community) will respond to the specifics of the new policy, and it will certainly be interesting to see if other races follow suit.
Let’s learn from Emily Sisson
I wrote last time about Emily Sisson’s killer half marathon performance in Houston. Since then, I edited Fritz Huber’s interview with her for Outside. Obviously Emily is an extremely talented athlete, but what amazed me more than anything in this conversation is that she didn’t even own a GPS watch until last year, and she wasn’t wearing one when she nearly broke the half marathon American record last month. There’s a lesson for the rest of us in there somewhere...
Quick ones
In other news: Katelyn Tuohy is still breaking records, and her latest is the high school national record in the 3k. Ultrarunner Camille Herron survived a car crash without any serious injuries. Emily Infeld is now recovering from hip surgery that she hopes will help end her injury streak. Fred Thompson, a coach who championed women in track, has died at 85.
Called out
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I want to hear from you! Tell me about what you like here, what I missed, and what’s going on in your running life. (You can also follow the Kick on Twitter, and on Instagram.) Thanks for reading, and enjoy your miles.
Molly