Fiona O'Keeffe to race at NYC half

Looking at those pics side by side is so f**king sad.

When you are struggling with an eating disorder there is really nothing anyone else can say or do to help you until you acknowledge that you have a problem and decide to make a change for yourself (speaking from personal experience).

slip her a pot brownie

In 2023, I found myself in the elite tent as an “elite amateur” at one of the country’s premier summer races. People say this but it’s true: it’s wild just how tiny these men and women are in real life up close (much smaller than they appear in photos or videos all next to each other with no point of reference).

Anyway, I briefly sat next to Fiona in the tent while we were changing shoes and she made me (and to a lesser extent all the other pro women) look like we’d all just come back from a running break or something. I swear to God her upper arms were the circumference of my forearm. Like really really startlingly small so much so that I distinctly remember this brief experience as part of the race weekend years later.

The whole running world is so warped in terms of perspective truly. Like I go through my personal and professional life probably as the smallest person in terms of weight to height ratio but in that godforsaken tent I felt like a hippo for one brief moment. Of course I then went on to PR in the marathon soon after so all of that was just my mind playing tricks on me in an intense environment.

I saw this comment and like your username thought "uh guys give it a rest" and then I actually clicked through the photos and jfc anyone who claims this is OK is in complete denial about physiology. It's not a 'men policing women's bodies' - irrespective of gender, this is dangerous and also quite sad.

Also any moron comparing a western-raised body to female East African body types, needs their head checked, as well as their grasp of biology.

Other than the people running in this race, nobody cares. NYRR keeps trying to make this race the half version of the NYC marathon, but it’s not even a pimple.

A fascinating take considering that 20% of the threads on here are political BS. But sure bud, no one cares about olympians racing

She could run around Central Park all day and nobody would know who she is. Also, the start time for the pros is 7:20 AM on Sunday morning. She’s gonna be finished before anybody even wakes up.

As I said, other than the people participating, nobody cares about this race. Half of it is on the FDR Drive. There’s literally nobody there ant the time other than the runners.

That would be 100% of your posts here

Seconding all of this. I've seen people argue that over half of Americans are obese, which raises the risk of heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, and the like on this forum, but forget that heart failure is common with end-stage EDs. I absolutely do not want to see this happen to Fiona, and am appalled that Puma is letting her race like this. Really, it would've made the most sense to get her into treatment while she was recovering from her stress fracture in a bone that is NOT one that is normal to get stress fractures in at an age where bone density is at or near-peak, when she couldn't do regular training anyway. If she refuses or insists there isn't a problem- common with ED patients (I've been recovering from one for years myself and I CERTAINLY lied about how much I ate and denied having a problem)- then they need to pull the nuclear option of "you need to go, and we'll pay for it, or you will lose your sponsorship" and send her to a reputable therapist for treatment that'd see through any prevarication, perhaps with even a "we'll drop the matter if you simply go for assessment and they say you're healthy."

American Heart Association about the effects EDs have on the heart: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/02/26/how-eating-disorders-can-damage-the-heart#:~:text=%22The%20heart%20is%20severely%20affected,person%20will%20have%20cardiac%20complications.%22

As another person that has personal experience, I second this one also. Even if the change is originally only made because the alternative is losing her sponsorship, that unfortunate potential necessity may be what she needs to at least learn ways to reframe her thinking and her viewpoint on food/fuel

(I still struggle at times, especially when I'm injured because I get anxious about subtle body changes, and worry about indulging hunger because I'm burning less calories, but in my personal case I remind myself food is fuel, and the hunger just might be my body demanding the fuel for healing, since healing is also an energy burner. And if I do gain a little body fat, when I am coming back anyway and already resigning myself to being slower, it'll just go away again when I resume the mileage, it always does, and in the meantime my muscles are getting a little stronger temporarily carrying "extra weight" which invariably goes away within a few weeks anyway)

Keep dreaming, degenerate.

Sponsor contracts are not so easy to break. She’s likely to say she’s aware of the problem and she’s working with a psychiatrist, nutritionist and a physician. I don’t see how they can force her not to run.

They can't force her not to run. But they can keep her from joining the group for track sessions and posting photos of those sessions and touting her next race.

If Puma incentivized her to start in Paris in spite of her injury, despite the terrible optics of that situation, they probably also do not care about the optics of this situation.

Anyway it seems that they consensus is that she is clearly unwell. My bad guys, I'm not an elite/subelite like many on these boards and clearly don't have the eye for these things. I hope she gets some help.

I doubt there is such a clause in her contract. If there is, would it be based on X weight? If they want to play hardball with her, she can obtain an injunction if needed.

The last hard truth you faced was when you got constipated in 5th grade after eating a pound of cheese on a dare.

I don't know the details, but Allie O has said that Brooks told her that she had to go to treatment or else they would drop her. Fiona hasn't competed for a year - maybe they have some leverage to negotiate the subsequent contract reductions if she agrees to enter intensive treatment the way Allie did?