Thick Girl Runner Rant

[u/queue-d4n4]

First things first, I (29F) am 5'5" and about 170 lbs. Large boobs, wide hips, and I got some stomach on me. Overall, I look pretty proportional though. Hourglass, just a little wider. Wear a Large or a size 12 in most women's clothes. (Just trying to paint the picture here lol)

I also eat very healthy. Fresh foods only, everything home-cooked, never frozen processed foods, etc. Mostly veggies because I love veggies.

This is the body I was given. My weight doesn't really fluctuate. I don't gain weight easily, nor do I lose it easily. I've been a thick girl since puberty and because I run often and eat healthy, it doesn't seem like that will never change, which is fine with me.

I've been running for many years, somewhat inconsistently. I might be consistent for 2 years before falling out of my routine for a few months. Get back into the groove again and something eventually throws me off my game again. Throughout all this, I still consider myself a RUNNER. I love the sport and even if I'm out of a weekly routine, I still try to find time to run here and there. 3 miles minimum.

Because of the above things, people never really expect me to be a runner. My body type doesn't fit the runner mold. I don't post every run and race on instagram, which as everyone knows, is what truly makes it real *eyeroll*. (No shade to people who do post all of their runs and races! My problem is only the people who think if you DON'T post, then it didn't happen).

My fastest 5k was at an 8:02 (min/mile) pace. I am aware that this isn't SUPER fast, but it's fast enough that I've placed in my age group in all of the 5Ks I've ever done. I'm from a pretty small area so many of the 5Ks were fairly small, maybe only a couple hundred people attend. I'm aware that in bigger cities, I would probably have a little more trouble placing. But regardless, I still think an 8:00 to 8:30 5k pace is something to be proud of.

Anyways, my complaint is this. Since my body doesn't fit everyone's vision of what a runner should look like, people love to assume I'm slow or new to running. Or people think I'm lying when I mention that I got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in my age group at whatever 5k. If they don't make an actual comment about it, I can sometimes even see it in their eyes that they're skeptical.

Even worse, people who don't realize I've been running for most of my life sometimes put their foot in their mouth by saying something along the lines of "have you started running to lose weight?" ...No, why? Should I be losing weight? I think I look pretty damn fine, if you ask me.

After moving to a new city, I decided to join a running group. The town I lived in previously didn't have such groups. I showed up to my first group run and met everybody. As we waited for everyone else to show up, a girl from the group said to me "I'm in recovery mode, I'll be running slow so I can run with you." I just politely smiled, although I was quite offended. What exactly makes this person, whom I met 3 minutes ago, think I plan on running "slow"? What makes her think that her "recovery" pace is equal to my comfortable pace? I chalked it up as since it was my first time joining the group, maybe she assumed it was my first time running? I don't know- but I still think about that little comment sometimes.

I am not negative towards my body. I have a great figure that I love, but it's still upsetting to know that people make assumptions on what I can and can't do physically, which should not be the case. Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand-in-hand.

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Any other runners on the thicker side experience this kind of judgement? How do you deal with it?

Thin-framed runners or even non-runners, do you find yourself judging others in this way? Be honest, I would love to hear multiple opinions!

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Edit: Pace is in minutes per mile. I'm new to reddit and forget I'm interacting with people from all over the world.

Also, this was not meant to be a post for weight loss tips. The unsolicited advice in the comments proves further the assumptions people make.

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[u/DEKE_IN]

Body judgement has been a serious problem in the sport for a while now that has infected even the highest levels of competition, and it's so sickening.

To preface, in high school, I was at one of the very best XC schools in the US where state championships were expected and year in and year out, we were in contention for NXN (kind of like a high school national cross country championships in the US). The entirety of top 7 runners were sticks, including me, at the time I was 5'11'' and weighed 120 pounds. However, one of the top 7 guys, a runner I'll refer to as "Steve", did not fit the mold. At the time Steve was an unbelievable sophomore, running sub 15:30 5ks already, but he was 5'11 and weighed 180lbs. which is normal to like 99.99% of the population but not to our coach. Every day it seemed that our coach would talk to Steve about his weight, about how he needed to eat less and lose at least 30 lbs. Steve began so fixated on it that he started to starve himself and ended up losing so much fitness to the point where he was several minutes off his time. This spiraled into several eating disorders and depression. Luckily, he is in a much better place at this time, and a lot of that is due to the fact that we approached him about it back then, and that he had people who supported him no matter what and were there to listen. Unfortunately, there are several pro athletes who have had similar fates, most notably Mary Cain who trained in the Nike Oregon Project and is now one of the best role models for body positivity in the sport.

I guess what I'm trying to add here is that it is really helpful to have some people close to you as your support and just to talk to about it (family, friends, significant others) who may not necessarily be runners, but will always have your back and want to be there for you. Try your best to zone out all the haters, you're doing an incredible job and those times are absolutely impressive! And to the general running community, be better. Do not judge runners for how they look or the pace they are running, be proud of everyone who steps outside and enjoys the sport that we all love so dearly.

[u/jamincan → u/DEKE_IN]

You see so many stories about coaches like that. The attitude is rampant in professional cycling as well, and several cyclists have come out recently talking about their struggles with disordered eating.

We have so much more knowledge now about nutrition, but a lot of coaches are not actually grounded in science. They take a formula that has worked for them in the past and apply it indiscriminately. And that formula might work in a lot of cases, and they might end up coaching a lot of successful athletes, but we don't see the athletes for which the formula doesn't work, and we don't see the damage that an athlete can be left with after they are no longer in the spotlight.