{"id":555,"date":"2011-12-12T19:56:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T00:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/?p=555"},"modified":"2011-12-28T12:44:30","modified_gmt":"2011-12-28T17:44:30","slug":"the-pastiness-of-the-long-distance-runner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/2011\/12\/12\/the-pastiness-of-the-long-distance-runner\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pastiness of the Long-Distance Runner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Even in the most diverse cities,\u00a0marathoners see mostly white legs and faces at the starting line.\u00a0At Citings and\u00a0Sightings<\/a>,\u00a0Suzy and Hollie point to\u00a0a new Runner’s World<\/em> piece, which asks\u00a0“Why is Running so White?”<\/div>\n

This issue also\u00a0arose at a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation meeting this year, when\u00a0James Jackson noted that African American neighborhoods often provide few safe places to run, but ample <\/em>outlets for fast food and\u00a0alcohol. While both running and junk food can relieve stress in the short-term, their long-run health effects will differ dramatically. There are other reasons for race differences in running, of course, and the Jay Jennings\u00a0article<\/a> touches on everything from hair to role models.<\/p>\n

In running, as in other sports, strong stereotypes persist about race and athletic ability. I once shared a starting line laugh with a fellow middle-aged,\u00a0middle-of-the-pack runner … who happened to be from Kenya<\/em>.\u00a0He said he was a slooooow <\/em>runner but\u00a0people seemed to make the assumption that all Kenyans must be faster than all Americans. Some were so convinced of his abilities they’d invite him\u00a0to join the elite runners at the start of the race — which, when you think about it,\u00a0is actually a pretty horrifying\u00a0prospect for middle-of-the-pack runners like us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Speaking of running, I was resplendent in Minnesota colors at this year’s Twin Cities marathon. This brought\u00a0a few inquiries about exactly where one buys<\/em> maroon shoes with gold swooshes and aglets. I fibbed\u00a0that I had them specially commissioned, but these\u00a0are really just “Nike Livestrong Air Pegasus +28,” which can still be had for about $69 online<\/a>. Fair warning, though: the kicks\u00a0make for controversial office attire. Ann Meier,\u00a0our Director of Graduate Studies, told me that they were not <\/em>acceptable — and most definitely not acceptable\u00a0when\u00a0one is bedecked in\u00a0a maroon sweater and gold shirt.<\/p>\n

(All photos are the model’s own!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even in the most diverse cities,\u00a0marathoners see mostly white legs and faces at the starting line.\u00a0At Citings and\u00a0Sightings,\u00a0Suzy and Hollie point to\u00a0a new Runner’s World piece, which asks\u00a0“Why is Running so White?” This issue also\u00a0arose at a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation meeting this year, when\u00a0James Jackson noted that African American neighborhoods often provide few safe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10960,14],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fitness","tag-race"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/files\/2011\/12\/tcm_11c.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":614,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/editors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}