Here is my advice for doing something that seems so straightforward but is not–women running for fitness, mental relief, and enjoyment. Safety needs to come first.
When 2020 arrived, no one knew what would befall the world. Mundane lockdowns replaced the hustle. With movement curtailed and activities restricted, it wasn’t easy to stick to pre-pandemic workout routines. The ones who were used to playing outdoors found respite in YouTube workout videos to keep themselves active and healthy after sitting for hours attending meetings and classes over Zoom.
Courtesy Dissolve.com
By the time the first opportunity of heading outdoors to breathe in a different air came, even if through N95s, we had yearned for a change in our routines. With ample time spent in the lockdowns reminiscing the good old school days when running was an everyday activity, it rekindled my passion for running. This also meant preparing for the runs–the time, place, route–and other things.
I am sure you can relate to this story, but relatability ends with gender. Consider this. Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old mother of two, was kidnapped and murdered while running near her home in Tennessee.
Being a woman runner entails anticipating discomforting events during runs. Stares and glares are commonplace. A friend was once ogled by a man on one of her morning runs. Another could not gather the courage to go on a walk which was her cherished “me-time” after a long day at work after being followed by a man in the neighbourhood. Women tend to dress vigilantly to avoid the gazes mentioned above. Shorts are one of the most comfortable pieces of fabric for any runner, but how many women in your circle run in them on a regular basis? Numerous women break their run routines mid-way to avoid constant annoyance.
Unlike working out in closed spaces, running outdoors offers the luxury of letting the mind wander, focus, and eventually arrive at a refreshing clarity, dawn or dusk. Adult women–and more so working and married women–have multiple mental tabs open. The joy of running is robbed when mental and physical defense mechanisms are required. That is true irrespective of the town/city/country.
While the immediate reactions might be to suggest solutions in the form of do’s or dont’s, there are no straitjacket solutions on offer; and no matter what you do, there are riders and consequences. For example, you can run/walk during the day or before the daylight dims. But many women wake up to household chores, leaving little time to run in the morning. Evenings are no different.
Another piece of advice is to run in groups. While this is relatively productive, building a group of women who can head out at similar times is not as easily accomplished because of scheduling conflicts. And you can learn how to defend yourself, like carrying pepper spray. But even that is no specific solution; it takes skills and time to learn.
Here is what I have learned from women runners who have been at it for a while.
Courtesy Joyful Miles
1) Leveraging technology. A smartphone holder can use various apps, like Strava, RunTracker, and Runtastic, to record runs. Use live tracking features and share your run with close contacts. You can activate the Beacon feature of Strava to share your location during the activity with three safety contacts. Whatsapp live location can be turned on for the duration of the run and shared with close contact.
2) Place of the run. Choose a place to run that is frequented by other runners. One option is public parks with convenient tracks.
3) Finding a run buddy. Coax, cajole, and persuade that girl/woman friend who has been looking forward to starting her fitness regime. While finding even one buddy can be difficult, it is much easier than building a group of runners. There is also the option of running with a male counterpart if you live in an area where running is a principal activity.
4) Keeping handy numbers of police control room/SHE TEAMS/Patrolling teams to reach out.
5) Click pictures of the person with the potential threat to scare them of consequences.
6) Community-based solutions work. Arthur Shirley Cripps said, “Educate a man, and you educate an individual. Educate a woman, and you educate a family.” It is to be understood that the same applies to women’s fitness. Sights of women running regularly have attracted numerous others to take to the sport and pushed them to run.
Courtesy Outside Magazine
The presence of a healthy, active woman is an inspiring image. As caregivers, women must take care of their health to perform to the best of their abilities in all aspects of life. In such a scenario, what role can communities play? The most important part is to build groups of women runners which will ensure that the sight of a woman running shall not remain a taboo or a rarity. Here are some steps to consider taking.
—Advertise the presence of running groups in the neighbourhood to bring more women into the fold.
—Hold run-events for girls/women multiple times a year to accord the importance of fitness and to keep the spirit of competition high.
—Experiment with innovative approaches, such as designating particular days of the week when men runners must bring spouses along and kids. This approach builds camaraderie and encourages people to run.
—Organise night runs/walks. Women where I live in Hyderabad, India, have shared experiences of feeling relatively safe owing to the community of their running counterparts. Offers to run together, pick and drop from home and back, ensuring no runner is left behind during scheduled long runs, amongst other gestures, have confirmed that the existing runners don’t shy away from pursuing running actively.
To conclude, the antidote to unsafe spaces isn’t women breaking their run routines. It is doing just the opposite. I encourage women to run in each other’s company and in mixed groups and build innovative approaches to involve more women at a community level. You’ll need to voice concerns whenever they arise and seek help to break the glass ceiling. After all, women hold up half the sky.
