FEATURE – Women’s Issue | Endurance Magazine

In 2002, Pam Reed won the grueling 146-mile Badwater Ultramarathon outright, besting the closet man by more than 4 hours and setting a course record. A year later, she won again by nearly 30 minutes over Dean Karnazes. Both years saw women in 4 out of the top 10 spots. Since then, as many as 5 women secured top 10 overall finishes in a single year at Badwater – one of the toughest races in the world. Most recently, Diana Finkel led the grueling Hardrock 100-mile Endurance Run for 90 miles in last year’s event in Silverton, Colo., before ultimately finishing second. The tougher the race, the better they do it seems as pointed out by Joshua Stevens in his “Women are Better Athletes” article in this Women’s Issue edition of Endurance.

While there are certainly some events that offer a more competitive advantage for women, there is no doubt that women can be tough competitors – in races and in life. Take our cover story, Wendy Chioji. After recognizing that she would suffer during treatment for breast cancer, Chioji decided to undergo a clinical trial so that others might suffer less in the future. She began her treatment shortly after running the 2001 Boston Marathon (which she qualified for), survived breast cancer, jumped back into endurance sports while continuing to raise money – over $200,000 to date – for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and is now training for Ironman Wisconsin where she hopes to qualify for the World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Also in this edition, Girls on the Run founder and vision keeper Molly Barker returns with her great perspective in her column, “The Challenge of Starting”. With her usual great insight, Barker looks at why the decision to simply begin something new can often be one of the more difficult hurdles to start and how you can embrace that challenge.

This issue includes our usual more practical articles as well. Our great writers show you new yoga poses, recipes, core work, and recommend events and books, too. We also provide some very useful knowledge for women in regards to cycling in our article, “4 Things Women Can Do to Improve their Cycling”, as well as recommend some women-specific bikes.

Inspire. Perform. Endure.