She was once a runner

I went on a recruiting trip to BC in the mid-early 2000's. An assistant picked me up at the airport. We went straight to the athletic offices to meet the head coach - RT. When I arrived he had a girl in his office. I could hear him yelling at her and she left in tears. The assistant acted like this was commonplace - NBD. Afterwards their explanation was something along the lines of: her teammates told the coaches that she was "socializing too much and that she was slacking off in her school work." Neither the athletes or the coach seem to have handled themselves appropriately in this situation. I knew several girls on the team at the time and know many of them to have eating disorders. This blog fits perfectly with how I imagined BCs team 6-7 yrs ago (which is supposedly after the time period when this blog writer was on the team). BC was my guess the second I started reading her blog. I hope she keeps writing. Whether this is BC or not hopefully it will have a positive effect (small or large) on women and eating disorders in athletics.

typical??? wrote:

If we are assuming that people are correct in the assumption that this is about BC, was this typical of Randy Thomas' teams? Is it still typical of his current teams or was this unique to this particular group of women?

Thank you. Now will the one college male who wasn't fast enough to get a scholarship to run in DI stop posting under different aliases.

Interesting, but Maria Cicero (I assume it's the same person) is now a licensed therapist (LPC) working at a center for eating disorders treatment.

Many people become counselors for different reasons, but generally with eating disorders or other addictions, people tend to go into THAT specific area because they've either experienced it or been around it a lot.

It's crazy that you all have spent so much time researching what institution this story took place. The thing is, this story is the truth at so many schools across the country. I'm willing to bet that for any female who ran/runs at a DI university, at least part of the blog rings true. I am a female runner and though I remain healthy, I completely understand the mindset that these girls have.

What lots of people aren't understanding is that competitive runner ED's are a lot different from average ED's. The motivation is entirely different. It's got nothing to do with being skinny and everything to do winning races and being the best on your team. Also, an ED for an athlete can be very easily disguised (unless we're talking bulimia) because a girl may eat a normal amount for an average person but not enough to support 12 miles of running every day. And a word on training because some of you guys seemed interested in how a person who consumes too few calories trains at such a high level... the body uses food to complete the activities demanded of it, then it uses the fat stores, then it uses muscle, then it uses bone. One can train for quite a while using itself to fuel it. Until it finally breaks.

crap runner wrote:

Women are 50% of the population and thus 50% of the scholarships would be equilty. The fact that women are not socially encouraged to participate in sport at a young age. Equitable scholarships is a start to address this. Killing off the old boy mentality will take awhile though as this board is indicative of.

However, the ratio of men competing in sports and women competing in sports is not 1:1, it's probably more like 2:1. Thus a 50-50 split of scholarships isn't fair at all.

omb07 wrote:

how a person who consumes too few calories trains at such a high level... the body uses food to complete the activities demanded of it, then it uses the fat stores, then it uses muscle, then it uses bone. One can train for quite a while using itself to fuel it. Until it finally breaks.

Thank you for your comments. I'm still wondering though, because a runner needs carbohydrates to run well. Fat stores, muscle or bone? don't provide that energy efficiently. And I didn't know that calcium was used as an important energy source.

For example I have heard of college age females eating one cucumber in a day. So I wonder, how it is possible to eat one cucumber a day, and still be able to train and run well in races.

I was also a division 1 runner and I can relate to it all. I love the blog and I really hope the auther keeps writing!!!!

The 50/50 split of athletic scholarships is there to increase the participation of women in sports over time. The reason why it is not 50/50 participation-wise now is because it has not been socially acceptable for women to participate in sports until the last 30 yrs or so. It's going to take time. Social attitudes don't change overnight - as evidenced by all the macho posts on this stupid board.

Beta Male wrote:

crap runner wrote:

Women are 50% of the population and thus 50% of the scholarships would be equilty. The fact that women are not socially encouraged to participate in sport at a young age. Equitable scholarships is a start to address this. Killing off the old boy mentality will take awhile though as this board is indicative of.

However, the ratio of men competing in sports and women competing in sports is not 1:1, it's probably more like 2:1. Thus a 50-50 split of scholarships isn't fair at all.

cry me a river wrote:

The 50/50 split of athletic scholarships is there to increase the participation of women in sports over time. The reason why it is not 50/50 participation-wise now is because it has not been socially acceptable for women to participate in sports until the last 30 yrs or so. It's going to take time. Social attitudes don't change overnight - as evidenced by all the macho posts on this stupid board.

Question: do you think schools like the Fashion Institute in NYC are being asked to offer more scholarships to men? If not, do you have a problem with the fact that they aren't?

There's no hubbub there because it's understood that women are more interested in fashion than men are. And we're OK with that. It IS okay that we're different. Failing to acknowledge certain fundamental differences between men and women is a failure of our science education system. Ask any neurologist.

At what point do we say, "enough, maybe this isn't working, and won't work."

If you are into girls puking and flushing toilets, this is a real turn on.

Christopher Poole wrote:

A bunch of annoying crap. Repeatedly.

Connor,

You're still a kid. You don't know as much as you think you do. Whether you're right or wrong, you're mostly off-topic and offensive. Please stop posting or start your own thread.

Everyone else, please stop indulging him by arguing with him.

I don't understand what part of your brain makes you think it's a good idea to address a major problem in our sport by repeatedly alienating the people most profoundly affected by it.

Everyone else, thanks for sharing your insights and shared experiences with the blogger in the original post. What kinds of things do you think can be done to prevent this from happening? Can coaches be fired in situations like these where subtle abuses take place and their athletes aren't healthy?

I'm a little turned off by the constant negativity in her story. I don't mean the main eating disorder / the coach is an idiot parts. Negativity there is to be expected and is deserved. But like, once every other post she introduces a person or thing just to say how dumb or ugly or stupid they are for whatever reason, then doesn't mention them again. This most recent post about the football guy with the broken leg is a perfect example: she used a whole day's post just to say this guy who doesn't matter is a big dumb doofus. We probably won't see this guy again, based on "close as I'd ever come to meeting a dumb jock" so what was the point of that?

In this way, she reminds me of Sylvia Plath, who also liked to use the "insult everybody" literary technique. And she made some money with her writing so hey, maybe it works for some people.

Beta Male wrote:

crap runner wrote:

Women are 50% of the population and thus 50% of the scholarships would be equilty. The fact that women are not socially encouraged to participate in sport at a young age. Equitable scholarships is a start to address this. Killing off the old boy mentality will take awhile though as this board is indicative of.

However, the ratio of men competing in sports and women competing in sports is not 1:1, it's probably more like 2:1. Thus a 50-50 split of scholarships isn't fair at all.

I don't get why people are complaining about Title IX. Without Title IX, do you think schools would provide more scholarships to other men's sports? Are you serious? Schools will just provide less scholarships and profit more money. There's no way that schools will decide to provide more scholarships for men's sports. They're providing scholarships for sports that schools care about like football and basketball.

Title IX is just forcing schools to provide more scholarships for women than they want, but it's not taking away from men since schools weren't planning on providing any to some of men's sports from the start.

J.R. wrote:

omb07 wrote:

how a person who consumes too few calories trains at such a high level... the body uses food to complete the activities demanded of it, then it uses the fat stores, then it uses muscle, then it uses bone. One can train for quite a while using itself to fuel it. Until it finally breaks.

Thank you for your comments. I'm still wondering though, because a runner needs carbohydrates to run well. Fat stores, muscle or bone? don't provide that energy efficiently. And I didn't know that calcium was used as an important energy source.

For example I have heard of college age females eating one cucumber in a day. So I wonder, how it is possible to eat one cucumber a day, and still be able to train and run well in races.

The human body has way of converting its own constituents (as mentioned, muscle, bone, fat) into energy. Yes, carbs are a great source of energy. And some of an anorexic's energy comes from stored carbs that the body has made and then broken down. However, the body can also survive off energy that comes from breaking down fat and protein. It's not as efficient (as you say) because it takes more work to break fat and protein down, but once it breaks it down, energy is energy. I don't think the 'work' it takes to break down fats and proteins is something people are consciously or physically aware of. And in the end, if the body is getting energy from whatever source, that person will continue to run. energy is energy.

Bones don't provide energy really. They are involved in a different way, a lot related to the acid-base balance of the body. Also the hormones involved in bone remodeling are dependent upon a certain amount of estrogen and vitamin D, both of which decrease when a person is starving. exceessive bone breakdown is more of a serious secondary consequence to starvation. (resulting from decreased hormones for buildup, and more breakdown in an attempt to neutralize an acidic body)

that

This frightens me so much. What goes on at D1 schools? I hear about coaches treating athlete like this all the time. I would never do anything like this...I would hope. And the responses from some of you....what world do you live in?

Damnit, revealed, now I need a new name to troll under :(

Today's post was a bit of a let down. The dumb jock comment came off bitchy, but if I'm being honest with myself, there were times when I thought to myself that certain football players were just dumb jocks.

If there was a point, I think it was to continue to set up the feelings of loneliness and alienation. She can't or doesn't want to relate to anyone she comes in contact with. She can't turn to anyone, not her teammates or even her parents. She is lost and seems closed to the idea of even trying to find new friends or someone to confide in.

With every new person that she meets, she seeks confirmation that this new person like everyone else will not make things better.

i agree that you aren't necessarily meant to whole-heartedly support or sympathize witht the protagonist's attitude. I think the author is establishing an increasingly alarming mental state, which is what a lot of people are responding to negatively. I think the writing is very good.

RunningInCircle wrote:

I don't get why people are complaining about Title IX. Without Title IX, do you think schools would provide more scholarships to other men's sports? Are you serious? Schools will just provide less scholarships and profit more money. There's no way that schools will decide to provide more scholarships for men's sports. They're providing scholarships for sports that schools care about like football and basketball.

Title IX is just forcing schools to provide more scholarships for women than they want, but it's not taking away from men since schools weren't planning on providing any to some of men's sports from the start.

Take a look at college wrestling before Title IX, during the early stages of Title IX and today. If you did, I don't know how you could reach the above conclusion. Does the University of Delaware reflect where the trend is headed for Men's XC/Track and Field?

Also, for a lot of people here, the negative affects of Title IX go beyond just scholarships to participation. Some schools are limiting participation of non-scholarship male athletes in order to comply with Title IX. Is there any pressure on college drama or dance programs to limit participation of females and increase participation of males? No, there isn't.