She was once a runner

Rosy Palmer wrote:

hey retard, thats because of title 9. without title 9, the men and women would have equal scholarships. its not because ppl care about womens xc and not mens xc. there is federal legislation that requires this. and the federal legislation is not because ppl care, but because in the 60s women werent allowed to play collegiate sports; the legislation is outdated. stop being stupid now.

And just because male runners feel so self-important that they discuss themselves on the internet relentlessly, doesn't mean the women's race isn't just as interesting to most people. Don't fool yourself.[/quote]

100% correct.

wow that blog makes me SO happy i run for a D1 team that doesn't award athletic scholarship.

i cannot imagine our coach EVER putting monetary value on a runner like that.

i also cannot imagine our coach showing anything but concern and compassion for one of my teammates when they have eating disorders. we've had a couple girls come to the school with eating disorders, but thanks to the coaches, the girls get it figured out, get healthy, and become good (HEALTHY) runners.

wow i am so grateful.

rsbones wrote:

Nobody "deserves" anything for free. We earn it. If women want to participate in sports and have leagues and charge admission and sell team merch and put that money into scholarships so some athletes can get free educations, then they are certainly free to do so. Go for it.

Do they need anyone's help to do this? Men didn't. In other words, it violates the main claim of feminism (that women are as capable as men) when women demand to be included in something men have created, instead of getting to work and creating their own viable, sustainable system.

Pretty sure the majority of football programs lose money. The lower D1 schools, and then probably pretty much all D1aa and D2 schools lose i assume huge amounts, more than any women's sports do.

This blog rings very true to my collegiate experience in many ways. Our coach gave us mixed messages from noticing we put on the freshman weight, to then being 'concerned' about girls eating eating disorders. Of course, the most of the concern only surfaced when they were injured or still not that fast. If they were fast, then they were just fit and doing everything they were supposed to. I honestly think he had good intentions but just did not understand the psyche of eating disorders AT ALL and inadvertently contributed to the problem.

As for team dynamics we were all great friends but still completely messed up. Team dinners were soup and salad and everyone watching what and how much everyone else ate. Breakfast after a 16 mile was plain oatmeal or dry rice krispies.

And to the people who said this girl was not concerned for her bulimic teammate because she wanted to move out: Have you ever lived with a bulimic? Because let me tell you, I have. Twice. And its not fun. And a lot of that is because between hearing the vomit, seeing the vomit, having clogged toilets and a stinky house, and seeing food disappear you are constantly reminded of that person's problem and it is stressful and exhausting worrying about them. Not to mention, if you are 'lucky' enough to be in a sick team environment like this blogger was, and like mine was, then you probably are halfway to an eating disorder yourself (like this blogger seems to be) and when you are fighting that, the last thing you want to do is be around a person with a raging ED that is succeeding with it while you are trying to be healthy and your running is sucking. It's a matter of self preservation so give this girl a break.

I'm glad to see some females responding and saying their team wasn't like that at all. Nice to know. But to the people out there saying this is bull, or fake or exaggerated, let me tell you it is CERTAINLY the truth at some schools.

the idea that some women develop eating disorders to get attention is the most disturbing thing I have heard in a while.

who are these people and how do they become mothers?

They are probably males that are making this statement.

this blog post is actually the same thing that happened to my during my summer build up this year, only difference being im not a college runner and all of the stress was coming from myself and not parents/coaches. i thought that by losing weight it would help improve my performances but you can guess what happened. long story short, lost so much weight that in order to function my body sapped what it needed from itself and just destroyed my entire year. xc was a disaster, winter track was done all on a stationary bike and pool (managed to do well though by the end half of the season) and spring track, well we'll see once states come around but other than that havent been able to run nearly as much as i want or need to.

i think though, the worst culprits in these posts were the parents. whereas most parents would be concerned for their kid to lose an unneccesary 10 pounds, hers were just pushing it on her. i dont care if the whole athletic scholarship was a motivator for them to pressure their daughter, no parent should risk their child's health just for money to some school that see's them as just a body rather than a person. if a coach were to say that to my parents, my parents would never agree with them no matter whats at stake (money, all american honors, national title). parents main priority for their kid, athlete or not, should be their health and well being, not some stupid scholarship that might just put the kid in the same mess as so many other people like the poster.

Sounds like some women I have to work with.

I recall when 3 women in a former office of mine were pregnant at the same time. (NO not by me)

The spite & bitchiness that flew around the office was appalling.

Distance runners are very rarely bulimic as far as purging goes. they are bulimic in athletic work. Most of the time when eating is involved, it is very much anorexic.

Dry rice crispies? Yeesh, talk about draining all the joy out of life.

goggles wrote:

I was sad to see that some things haven't really changed in the sport of division I running since I competed in the mid nineties.

Here is the problem:

"You need to realize that I focus on your performances during practice and at races, and I don’t spend much time thinking about your lives outside of that realm. I’m coaching at a Division 1 level, and it’s my job to produce successful student-athletes that can compete at a Division 1 level."

You can't ignore the mental and emotional condition of the athlete, unless of course you are a bad coach.

I could write a book on the things my team and I went through in college, but then I'd just be accused of "blaming" others for my/our problems. It's nice that a coach gets credit for good performances though. It's really not about who is to blame. A team should work together to create a positive, supportive environment.

This was also disgusting:

"'There’s a lot of money in this room,' Coach continued. 'A million dollars worth, in fact, over the course of four years.' Coach’s focus turned to the right side of the room. 'You are all getting paid to be student-athletes. This is your job: to run fast, pass your classes, and represent your school on a national level. You are not getting paid to throw parties, slack off on your training, and worry about eating disorders.'”

What do you think you're being paid for, coach?

are you implying the coach has some other job other than simply improving the athletic performance of the athletes? i don't think many male athletes would think so.

Yeah, at least put some water on those rice krispies!

This blog is making me want to be bulimic. I need to lose about 5-10 pounds and I cannot seem to do it through training or diet.

Honestly, are there any girls out there who are bulimic and would recommend it? We are all anonymous here and I would like to know some of the pros and cons.

I might start a new thread about it.

rsbones wrote:

are you implying the coach has some other job other than simply improving the athletic performance of the athletes? i don't think many male athletes would think so.

I don't just mean for female athletes. Are you implying that there's no mental aspect involved in competing?

a guys take on this wrote:

i think though, the worst culprits in these posts were the parents. whereas most parents would be concerned for their kid to lose an unneccesary 10 pounds, hers were just pushing it on her.

The thought that any parent -especially a father- would put that sort of pressure on his/her daughter is the most unbelievable thing about the posts.

I'm not prone to violence, but if some ____ thinks that messing with my daughter's head is the way to improve his team, he's got another thing coming.

I can't imagine it being any different for any other father...

4runner wrote:

The thought that any parent -especially a father- would put that sort of pressure on his/her daughter is the most unbelievable thing about the posts.

I'm not prone to violence, but if some ____ thinks that messing with my daughter's head is the way to improve his team, he's got another thing coming.

I can't imagine it being any different for any other father...

Agreed. The parents are totally unbelievable. If I were the father, the coach would be dead and my daughter would be at a better school.

If anyone had parents like this, I feel very sorry for you. This juts makes me want to be a better dad.

One Interested Person wrote:

This blog is making me want to be bulimic. I need to lose about 5-10 pounds and I cannot seem to do it through training or diet.

Honestly, are there any girls out there who are bulimic and would recommend it? We are all anonymous here and I would like to know some of the pros and cons.

I might start a new thread about it.

I hope this is trolling, but if not: I would never recommend it. I don't have an eating disorder, but I've gone through periods of really disordered eating for years (as I'm sure a lot of people on this board have). Sometimes I'm completely normal and relaxed about food, sometimes I'm extremely restrictive, a few months ago I went through a period where I actually did start purging for the first time in my life, which lasted for about three weeks until I realized it was doing absolutely nothing besides give me "permission" to eat unhealthy foods and feel like more shit about myself. And I'm definitely not fast. I'm also not overly thin or anything.

EDs are MENTAL DISORDERS. You don't just 'pick up' anorexia or bulimia like a diet or something. Adopting behaviours like restricting or purging can certainly trigger you into developing an ED, but that's a slope you realllly don't want to go on. It will not help your running. However, I definitely agree with an earlier poster who said that for girl runners, their EDs or adopting of disordered behaviours usually has very little with actually wanting to improve as a runner.

And I hope this doesn't sound enabling or encouraging, but generally the only bulimics you see that are actually very thin are also restricting their food, not going on crazy binges and eating normally the rest of the time. Maybe the girl (Jessica?) in the story stays extremely thin through her training, but if she's bingeing that much, I dunno.

I'm thinking that if you don't lose weight through heavy training and proper diet, it's not really there to lose in the first place (even though you'd like to, which I understand).

I agree that the parents sound unbelievable -- it makes me think this is (at least a large part) fictionalized (plus, all these conversations recorded verbatim... creative license I know, but...). The scenarios she lays out obviously ring true to a lot of people though, and this stuff definitely goes on. But her parents are MESSED, if they are actually behaving like that.