Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World

Fleshman was delighted to be chosen to train with the varsity girls. She was dressed up in a silly costume by teammates one morning before school; she felt supported and celebrated by her peers and was proud rather than embarrassed.

Fleshman’s high school team won State. There was fanfare and celebration, including newspaper articles featuring pictures of the team.

She remembers seeing female athletes in the Atlanta Olympic Games coverage. Her father commented on the attractive women. Gymnast Kerri Strug was praised for pushing through a painful ankle injury; later, Fleshman sees this as typical of the standards female athletes are pushed to achieve.

Fleshman reflects that there are no developmental differences between girls and boys before 12 years old. Through and after puberty, though, young men have a biological advantage, with less fat and physiological changes that encourage musculoskeletal development. These changes also mean that men improve more rapidly with training.

Cross country appealed to Fleshman because of the essential mantra that hard work would equate to success. However, Fleshman now reflects that this creed is based on a norm of male development.