Maybe you think you’re too slow to be a runner. Or too fat. Or your legs are too short. Well, forget all that. As these runners prove, there is no such thing as a “real” runner’s body — nor is there a certain speed or distance requirement for joining the tribe. As a sport, running has a reputation for requiring a certain tolerance for intensity, even masochism. But despite its exclusionary past (did you know that the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 was almost pushed off the road mid-race?), running is truly one of the most accessible forms of exercise in existence and the community of runners are far more welcoming than they might seem.
Don't quite believe us? These nine badass women prove that running can be whatever you want it to be, and there’s not just one "type"of person that sums up this sport. Whether you’re thinking of running your first mile or training for your 10th marathon, get to know these women offering a major boost of inspiration across the internet.
Alexandra Heminsley
Anyone who has read Alexandra Heminsley’s laugh out loud memoir Running Like a Girl knows this lady doesn’t hold back when it comes to telling the truth about training — or pretty much anything else. She says, “Before I started running, I wish someone had told me that most advertisements featuring 'runners' actually featured models, and that all kinds of people, of all ages, genders and beyond run. Every day. And we're all invited.”
Heminsley dove into the deep end by picking it up with the aim of running a marathon — and she did it. “I would like to let potential runners know that the most important thing they will develop from running is not what they look like but what they see,” she says. “Think less about the Instagram photograph that others will see of you, and more about the views you ran past fast, enjoying the wind in your face too much to stop and snap.”
Toni Carey
After college, Toni Carey started running to drop a few pounds and become more active and healthy. But she soon realized that there weren’t a lot of other runners out there that looked like her. “Ashley Hicks and I decided to start Black Girls RUN! to help change what a ‘runner’ looks like,” Carey says. “After participating in several races, we saw that there were not many African-American women there. So, we wanted to launch a community that accepted anyone regardless of their pace or background. We want to motivate women to run and be active and adopt a healthy lifestyle.” Now the community has thousands of members across the country and 70 running groups.
“When I hear ‘runner’s body, I think of any person, no matter their background, race, shoe or pants size,” Carey says. “One mile or full marathon, you are a runner.”
Erica Schenk
Does this face look familiar? You might remember Erica Schenk from that time she became the first plus-size model to appear on the cover of Women's Running.
Schenk, who started running when she was younger because her volleyball coaches required it, never imagined she’d end up on a magazine cover for her love of the sport, but last year she did just that.
“I loved representing a group of women that hadn't had that much publicity before,” Schenk says. “Showing the world that being curvy and healthy can go hand in hand was just an honor.” Now the plus-size model hits the trails for a self-esteem boost and the post-workout feeling of accomplishment. “When I was younger, I thought of a very trim, petite person as a runner,” she says. “Now I know that I may never be the fastest or the leanest, but that doesn't mean I should stop trying to be my best. After doing the cover I can say confidently if you run, you're a runner!”
Amelia Gapin
"Trans as heck runner” is the tagline for Amelia Gapin’s blog, entirelyamelia.com. But that’s not what defines her as a runner, or a person. “My body is a runner's body,” Gapin says. “Not because it's slender or athletic — it's not — but because it's mine and I run. Any body can be a runner's body; just add running.”
“It really bums me out when I hear people equating runner's bodies with being thin and athletic looking,” she continues. “Runners’ bodies come in all shapes and sizes and they're all amazing.”
Gapin initially laced up her sneakers because a girl she was dating at the time kept pressuring her to run with her. Initially, she thought it would be a good way to get in shape, but then it became something more: a way for her to escape. “As a woman with mental health issues, depression and anxiety, nothing can bring me back to center like a good run,” Gapin says. “After a bad day or when I'm in a deep depressive state, a run brings me right back to life again. I can let the bad day go and see the good in the world again. There's just something about being out there in my own world, alone and cut off from the constant dinging of texts, tweets, Tumblr, and Facebook. It's true peace."
Michele King Gonzalez
“At some point, running became a part of me,” says Michele King Gonzalez, the blogger behind NYC Running Mama.
Gonzalez started clocking miles when she was a young girl. She continued running as a basketball player growing up, and then when she went to West Point. But “it wasn't until years later, during my deployments to Iraq, when running was something I chose to do for myself,” she says. “It was the one thing I could control while deployed — and helped me clear my mind and find happiness during those years.”
She’s currently training for the Boston Marathon in April and aims to beat her impressive personal record of 3:10. “These days, it's easy to get caught up in wanting everything right now. In so many aspects of life, we are used to getting what we want immediately. But it doesn't work that way in running. Running certain times or a specific mileage all take time and a great amount of patience.”
Sarah Reinertsen
Sarah Reinertsen, a Paralympian, Ironman athlete, 13X marathon runner and world record holder had her left leg amputated above the knee when she was 7. All it took to get her into running was meeting another kid with a prosthetic like hers.
“Since I was a kid with a prosthetic leg, I wasn’t sure that I could be a runner,” she explains. "That all changed when, at the age of 11, I met another amputee runner at the Aspire 10K and that’s what planted the seed of belief that I could do it, too. The next challenge was how to run on the prosthetic leg; it wasn’t something I had learned after my amputation. At this very same 10K race I met a physical therapist who volunteered his time to teach me how to run, so once I learned how to balance and move on this prosthetic, I was hooked!”
As the only kid in her school that wore a prosthetic leg, she struggled to keep up in many other sports, but in running, she realized she could “run my own race,” she says. “I would focus on the clock and see if I could improve my time. I didn’t worry about keeping up with the two-legged kids; I just focused on improving my own performance.” That lesson has lasted her entire life.
Stacy Tarver
Most runners cite beating a personal record or participating in a particular race as their goals. But not Stacy Tarver. Instead, her target was to take the subway less and pay for fewer Uber rides. And she’s succeeded by running to work every day for the last nine months, sharing awesome snapshots on Instagram along the way. (She also happens to have some pretty great tattoos.)
“Training plus travel minus subway stress makes for one happily efficient Stacy,” she says. “As a bonus, starting out the morning by taking in those sights of the city that only runners can see fills me with gratitude, creativity, and a sense of control. On the really hectic days I can always think to myself ‘at least you got it in this morning.’ Running for me is all about exploration, follow through, ritual, making space for creativity, and… Oreos. It’s how I keep sane, how I get in touch with myself, and how I remain connected with the city or place that I’m in. Running has this way of making me feel the awe of a tourist and the ownership of a native in the exact same moment, which is really cool, especially in a city like New York."
Jen Correa
From the little things — a fight with a friend — to life’s major obstacles, such as losing her home in Hurricane Sandy, Jen Correa turns to running when she needs time to focus and figure it all out.
“While sometimes it’s tough to get out there, I know that once I start running I’ll feel better. As a working mother and wife, life always presents obstacles,” Correa says. “Somewhere after mile two all of my worries and problems seem manageable. Running cannot make my problems disappear, but it can help you work through the biggest and the smallest of issues. I feel stronger and more in charge during and after a run, as though I’m ready to face the world.”
Correa muses on running, motherhood, and life on her popular blog, Mom’s Gotta Run, shelling out workout advice. She first hit the track at 22 when a friend asked her to do a race with her for fun. “That 3.5 miles through Central Park felt like a lifetime, but when I crossed the finish line, I felt like I had conquered the world,” she recalls. “For a young woman who had never played sports or excelled in any one field, it was amazing to feel like I had truly accomplished something. My life was forever changed after that day.”
Mirna Valerio
As the founder of the Fat Girl Running blog, Mirna Valerio knows she's shattering stereotypes, but her love of running is uncomplicated. “Running is my preferred method of exercise,” she says simply. “It's what helps to set the tone of my day, keeps me outdoors, allows me to test and go beyond what I perceive are my physical and mental limits, and maybe most importantly, gives me much needed uninterrupted me time. Also, running is the best, most accessible sport ever!”
Up next, Valerio aims to run another 100K, come in under 5:30 for her first New York City marathon in November, and to run more ultras (that is, races longer than marathon-length). “The only thing you have to be afraid of in running is yourself,” she says. “Practice shutting out the negative, doubting voices in your head. Then, lace up and run.”
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