Comments on: Cheryl Cannon smoked me yesterday: a note on marathoning and sexist marketing

By: bex

bex — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:16:18 +0000

Re: “For a relaxing girls’ getaway, try a marathon.” What a condescending comment.

By: mythago

mythago — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:28:30 +0000

Vegetarian restaurants in SF. I assume the guide breaks them down by which are vegan.

By: yami

yami — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:16:14 +0000

Huh. I know Herbivore has its fans, but really, by omnivore standards the food just doesn’t measure up. Um, except the blueberry corn bread. Anyway, Cha-Ya is in the same neighborhood, also all-vegan, slightly pricier than Herbivore (though nowhere near Millennium!) and OMG delicious.

By: AMG

AMG — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:10:55 +0000

Very true Jay Gee…I too found it very hard to believe that Ms. Cannon was only running 6 miles with the girls and had a sub 3:40 marathon. Unless she is the missing evolutionary link, she would never be able to run that pace and distance on such short training runs. Most of the 3-3 1/2 hour marathoners I know train about 3-4 times a week, and log somewhere around/over 75 km’s a week. You have to put the k’s in! I always get a laugh by those training plans in magazines that tell you how to run a marathon/10k/etc in 10 weeks or something. Most of them are unrealistic and look like they’re created to promote sports injuries. Many joggers who go from no/short milage a week to high milage often suffer stress fractures/IT band problems/knee problems etc. because they really don’t know how to taper a plan to fit their body/pace/lifestyle.

But it is true that in the races I enter I see more and more women running–here in Canada at some of the biggest races (Ottawa & Toronto marathons & halves had over 10,000 people) it was nearly 50/50 men & women. And just from perusing the results of some of the 10’s & 5’s I enter, I would say that although there were more elite men, there were almost more women just getting out and doing the distance, time be damned.

By: jay gee

jay gee — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:08:41 +0000

I laughed out loud when I read the “For a relaxing girls’ getaway, try a marathon.” Maybe a 10K, but not a marathon! When I did distance running, I found that more men ran together, and the serious female runners were more likely to be loners. AMG’s comments were spot on as to why women with kids, husbands and careers enjoy the solitude of the long run.

And regarding Cheryl Cannon, my guess would be that she does meet with a group of women to put in a friendly, chatty 6-miler, but she has some other components to her training in addition to that run. And I find it amazing the article suggested that “the new marathoners can make it on a much lighter workload.” Has the human body changed so much that it’s not necessary to put in long runs to prepare for a marathon? Not the last time that I checked. I know some very talented female runners, and they still have to put in their miles. One wonders if Cheryl Cannon doesn’t do over 40 miles on her “taper” weeks prior to the marathon, and that fact was conveniently left off.

But whatever — I hate to see marathons and the training that accompanies them to be portrayed as a “lite” girls-weekend-out thing. The discipline and effort that it takes to participate in a marathon deserve more dignity, as do the women and men who undertake the challenge.

By: AMG

AMG — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:15:29 +0000

Funny about those stereotypes…I run half marathons, and despite all the urging from my husband, and the great groups at my local running room (Canadian store) I prefer to run alone. And the reason, that I can only admit here anonymously, is because I am too competitive, and find running with a group of people that I’m always secretly trying to beat too mentally tiring. Being by myself on those long runs allows random thoughts, bursts of symphony, secret laughs and unkind observations to flit through my brain. It’s very theraputic for me. I occasionally meet someone running my pace and run along, or my husband leaves his (faster) group to run with me for a new distance or a speed workout. As well, many of the runners in my neighbourhood do ‘10 & 1’s’, which I personally hate and find distracting.
Glad you had a good time, and there’s no shame in being like a human metromone while running…I’m very similar in my running style.

By: The Gonzman

The Gonzman — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 12:51:13 +0000

even if our disastrous cultural rules about masculinity have robbed so many of us of the emotional skills necessary for maintaining deep and honest friendships.

The only thing that can be truly said is that these cultural norms don’t work for you.

For those of us they do work for, who do indeed have “deep and honest friendships” in spite of your experiences with that model - we’re not aberrations. And we’re not “doing it wrong.”

By: metamanda

metamanda — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:05:16 +0000

Oh, and congratulations on running a good race. I am not one of the women closing the gap, so you you seriously smoked my marathon time.

By: metamanda

metamanda — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:59:35 +0000

Ugh, a “relaxing girls’ getaway”? What a great way to belittle an accomplishment that takes a lot of hard work.

Of course, the article ignores the closing gap between men’s and women’s record marathon times, and the fact that women’s (generally) higher body fat might make us better equipped than men to run marathon distances and greater.

That’s awfully irritating.

The next time you’re in SF, check out Herbivore, on Valencia around 20th or 21st. Entirely vegan, very popular, and more affordable than Millenium (which is lovely as well). There’s also a South Indian restaurant next door which is predominantly vegetarian, and I think it would be pretty easy to get a delicious and totally vegan meal there as well. I miss both those places since moving away.