RunYoung50
Women’s running history
and the stories of older women runners
Recent articles…
Athletic Review 1947 – post-war running
My oldest athletics magazine is this copy of Athletic Review, dated November 1947. I received three copies of this magazine, this one and two from March and May 1948, when I purchased several years of Athletics Weekly magazines from a gentleman who...
Women’s History Month – marathon stories
March is Women's History Month in the UK, USA and Australia. This year, I decided to mark Women's History Month by sharing a story from women's running history on social media each day. This turned out to be a much more time-consuming task than I...
Pam Storey – the journey to my 200th marathon and beyond
** Guest post ** Pam Storey writes about almost 40 years of running and how she progressed from fun runs to marathons and ultra marathons. An enthusiastic member of the 100 Marathon Club, Pam has completed over 200 races of marathon or ultra...
Joyce Bell – becoming a runner
** Guest post ** - Joyce Bell from Kent writes about how she finally became a runner in her early sixties. Within a few years of her first parkrun, she ran a marathon and surprised herself by qualifying to represent England as a Masters athlete. I...
IAU 24 Hour Championships Milton Keynes 1990 – the greatest race yet
An ultramarathon in a shopping mall Until 1994, nearly all shops in the UK were closed on Sunday by law. Small “corner shops” and newsagents, garden centres, chemists and and garages were allowed to open but large shops were not. This meant that...
Ais North – the further I ran the happier I was
** Guest post ** I am very pleased to share this article by Ais North who started running at 64 in 2014 and soon found out that her preferred distance was ultras. Ais is one of a small number of women over 60...
Book review “Broken” by Ally Beaven
The subtitle of Ally Beaven’s book, “Broken”, is “2020: the year running records were rewritten”. 2020, our first year of living with Covid-19, was a year when plans were thrown in the bin and runners looked for new ways of motivating themselves to...
Taking a Tumble – Running Hazards
After thousands of miles, runs in the dark, runs on icy pavements, dozens of muddy, slippery cross country races, tens of thousands of kerbs and almost ten years of running, today was the day when I took a tumble. Three miles into my run, I was on...
Hell in Paradise – the 1994 Telecom Tasmania Run
“The organisers dubbed this race “Hell in Paradise”. I am sure that when they coined this phrase they never anticipated how right they would be.” This seven-day stage race lived up to its nickname in more ways than one. Eleven of the 27 starters...
Nikki Love – ultrarunning and the menopause
Earlier this year I interviewed ultrarunning adventurer Nikki Love about how the perimenopause has affected her running. Since 2016, Nikki has been undertaking ultra distance adventures, starting with the JungleUltra, a 5-day race through the...
The perfect day – Melbourne 24h track race 1989
It isn't too often that everything goes well and perhaps this is part of the attraction of the 24 hour race - the waiting for the perfect day and the perfect performance. Eleanor Adams The period from 1985 to 1990 saw top performances from Eleanor...
Dale Greig and the women’s marathon in the 1960s
Imagine a time when women did not run in road races. Imagine a time when women were told distance running would harm their health. Imagine a time when running in a marathon meant risking being jeered at or even assaulted. This time was in my...
Most Read Articles
Six popular articles on my blog recently….
Christine Oldfield – a runner with staying power
**Guest post** I'm delighted to feature this article from my friend and fellow club member Christine Oldfield. Her running story started more than 30 years ago and, now in her seventies, Christine is definitely a runner with staying power....
Running and the Menopause – Resources
There is not much research into, or information about, the impact of the perimenopause and menopause on runners. What effect might it have on women's endurance and on our performance? How can we cope with the symptoms of the menopause? Should we...
Female Ultrarunners over 50
In January I added three women to my list of running bloggers over 50. I noticed that all three of them run ultra distance races. Alene Nitzky, from Colorado USA, has been running ultras since 1991 and has run the Badwater 135 race twice. Carolin...
Running on HRT
Arriving late for my first race of the cross country season in 2017, I was already feeling hot and bothered by the time I'd dumped my bag, got my trail shoes on and made my way to the start. It was unseasonably warm weather for...
“Jeffing” the Yorkshire Marathon
This is the story of how I got to the starting line of my first marathon and what happened on the day. Getting ready for the Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday 9th October 2016 I thought about the interview I had done with Sandy Poole in January...
The first London Marathon
On a sunny day in August 1980 200 women from 27 countries lined up in Battersea Park in London to run a marathon. It was the first time the city's streets had ever been closed for a race. It was the 3rd August. Two days before the men's marathon...