Title IX: What Keeps Me Going Towards My First Half-Marathon

I often regret not being involved in high school athletics. Granted, I was very busy with musical theatre. It’s kind of ironic that I could perform a strenuous swing dance routine while singing with no problem, but could barely run one mile for the Presidential Fitness Test each spring.

About a year ago, I decided to confront my lack of athletic ability head-on and take up running. I started out with couch to 5k, a 9-week training program for non-runners (that’s the couch part!) to learn to run 3.1 miles. After my first race, I was hooked, and I’m planning to run my first half-marathon this Saturday.

Long-distance running is no joke – I’ve had to reform my sleeping, nutrition, social habits, all in the name of having better runs. I’ve also become one of those runners who talks about fun physical ailments (blisters, anyone?) in casual conversation. Mostly, though, it’s made me more disciplined. At least half of the challenge of running a half-marathon is mentally pushing yourself through to the end. The combination of physical and mental challenges, along with the commitment necessary to maintain my training around an already-packed schedule, has given me an opportunity for enormous personal growth.

While I always understood the necessity of laws like Title IX to ensure equitable athletic opportunities for girls and women, becoming a runner has given me new insight into just how important these opportunities are. Participating in athletics gives girls a chance to become leaders and to see just how powerful they really are. Sports are often the motivator for girls to become better students and to realize their potential. And, there are few things more gratifying than seeing hard weeks of training and practice start to pay off. I am so excited to be running this weekend – and yet, it was really not long ago at all that women were not allowed in races like these. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer was harassed and nearly physically pulled off of the course when she was the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon – and the race was not officially made open to women until 1972. Julia Chase-Brand faced similar harassment and opposition when she ran the Manchester Road Race in 1961. More recently, officials cancelled a benefit marathon in Gaza rather than allow men and women to run together. Without Title IX, it is unclear what the state of women’s sports in the United States would be today – and even with the law, we still hear too many stories of girls not having the same opportunities, facilities, and access to scholarships as do boys, on both the high school and college levels.

When I get to the hardest parts of my run this weekend, I will be thinking of Kathrine and Julia, and of all the girls who are counting on Title IX to give them the opportunity to achieve their dreams. And while I’m still a theatre geek at heart, I will ask you to please wish me luck instead of telling me to break a leg!

Want to learn more about Title IX and athletics? Sign up for our next webinar on April 17th at 1 P.M. EST.