Links

Links – Runners over 50

If you’d like to read more about the experiences of other women runners over 50 have a look at my list of blogs from around the world.

The Tough Girl podcast from Sarah Williams features thoughtful interviews with female adventurers of all kinds, including several women over 50. There are interviews with Audrey McIntosh, Nicky Spinks and Miriam Diaz Gilbert who feature on my blog lists, and with Nikki Love who I’ve interviewed twice.

Dr Juliet McGrattan is a former GP who is passionate about using exercise for health and well-being and wants to get as many people up out of their chairs as possible and experiencing the joy and benefits that exercise brings. In her work Juliet is involved in promoting good health through physical activity. Her website includes information on health topics for active people, advice on keeping fit and well during perimenopause and menopause and interviews with active women from a variety of sports. She interviewed me in January 2019.

Jen Woltjen is a long-distance runner and cross country skier from New York. She is a certified running and ultrarunning coach and  has been running for more than 20 years. Her website features lots of articles about running, nutrition, fitness and longevity. It includes advice for older runners and links to other resources for women runners.

Becoming Elli is a US-based podcast and blog set up by two women, Chris Brown and Jill McCauslin, who became fit in their fifties through running and lifting weights. They cover fitness, food and health and wellbeing and aim to encourage women over 50 to stay fit and become strong as they age. They chose the name Elli because she was the Norse goddess of old age who defeated Thor in a wrestling match.

Marathon Talk was a weekly podcast all about distance running  (not just marathons) which ran for 12 years until January 2022.  The episodes are still available on podcast platforms. The archives include some great interviews with older women runners, including Joyce Smith – first female winner of the London Marathon (February 2014), Libby James (March 2013), Kathrine Switzer (April 2012) and Sister Madonna Buder (April 2011). Marathontalk was revived in 2022 with Abbott World Marathon Majors sponsorship.

henpicked.net aims to share the wisdom of women with a wide range of articles of interest to women over 40. The Health section features articles on exercising, including a couple of articles I wrote about running and cycling.

Running 101 was set up in 2019 by sport and exercise science graduate Matthew. It includes running tips, training advice and reviews of kit, books and blogs.

Links – Women’s Running History

Playing Pasts is the online magazine for sports and leisure history. It has an athletics section which includes several articles on Nineteenth Century foot races and pedestrianism. I’ve written two articles for Playing Pasts: one about  Scottish marathon runner Dale Greig and the other about the rule change in 1975 which allowed women in the UK to run long-distance races.

Women’s Running Stories is a podcast hosted by US-based long-distance runner Cherie Turner. It features documentary-style stories about female marathon and ultramarathon runners. The first season focused on women who’ve run the Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa. Episodes include interviews with women who are running now and with women who were amongst the first to run the race.

The Scottish Distance Running History website covers Scottish athletics in the twentieth century and has an A-Z of Scottish female athletes and longer profiles of several distance runners, including Dale Greig and Leslie Watson.

Starting Line 1928 is an oral history project which documents the stories of the pioneers of American women’s distance running in their own voices. The website features podcast interviews and articles about each of the women interviewed.

Ultrarunning History is a website authored by ultrarunner and independent sports historian Davy Crockett from Utah, USA.  It features dozens of historical articles mainly, but not exclusively, focused on North American ultrarunning and pedestrianism. There are podcast versions of many of the articles. Ruth Anderson, Sandra Brown, Sandra Kiddy and Marcy Schwam are some of the female ultrarunners featured. In 2020, the website became the host of the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame.

Australian Ultramarathon History is a website authored by Australian ultrarunner Phil Essam. It covers Australian pedestrianism and ultrarunning from the 1800s to 2010. There are many newspaper cuttings and results clippings for a huge range of races and events, as well as articles and race reports.