Friday Randomness – Oct. 28

It may not seem this way now, what with all of the women who run now, but women used to be barred from running in long-distance races.  It took the defiant efforts of a few women to convince people otherwise.  One of those women is Julia Chase-Brand, who ran the Manchester Road Race 50 years ago.  The New York Times ran a profile on her, and I really, really recommend reading it, if only for better understanding of just how far we’ve come in such a short span of time, but also because Chase-Brand is a badass for the ages.

Sad news – MMA fighter “Mighty” Mia Hayes died from breast cancer on Sunday.  She was 35.  She left behind a husband and seven children.

Over at Dances with Fat, Ragen writes about really bad science – specifically, about a study on the workplace costs of obesity sponsored in part by a company that manufactures the LapBand.   I could not have written a more textbook example of problematic science if I tried.

Amy Moritz reviews “The Mighty Macs,” which is a movie about the 1972 Immaculata College women’s basketball team, the first team to win a national championship.  (This was also the first year that women could play full-court, five-player ball.  Nineteen-seventy-two, y’all.  Not exactly ancient history.)  Her review is worth reading because of its central idea, which I am not going to tell you because I want you to go to her site to read it yourself.

Cristen Conger’s series of posts on male body image for Bitch Magazine closes out with an interesting post about the origins of dieting.  Hint: it wasn’t always seen as a lady-only thing.

NPR published an article about the effect of hormones on people who diet. The researchers said they found a severely low-calorie diet screws with your internal “gas gauges.”  Chalk another mark against severe caloric restriction as a healthy lifestyle choice. (And seriously, 550 calories a day?  How were those people even able to stand up?)

While doing my research for my post on thinspo and eating disorders, I came across this article about the problems faced by elite high school runners.  The practice of training young teenagers to run competitively can cause serious damage, both psychologically and physically, and many of them never live up to their early promise as a result.

I’m impressed – and a little scared – after reading this article about ultra-trailrunner Rachel Cieslewicz.  I admire her perseverance and her refusal to give up in the face of pain, but I’m not sure I could keep running when dealing with the symptoms of E. coli poisoning.

I’m not a violent person, but I can’t deny – I want to slap any parent who wants their daughter to participate in a Youth Lingerie Football League.

Color me surprised: Dr. Pepper‘s ads for its new “manly” diet soda are not working out quite as well as hoped.

Yes, competitive pole dancing is an actual thing, and it’s something men do, too.  And guess what else?  It’s really fucking cool.  Check out this report from Dodai at Jezebel, who recently went to the American Pole Fitness Championships in New York City.