Run Like A Girl: Reflections on Embodied Running and Resistance

Abstract

Running is everywhere, from adolescent children on playgrounds to Olympic tracks. Similar to the history of most sports, organized running has long been associated with masculine competition, but the landscape is changing. Female participation and achievement in the sport of running has burgeoned in recent decades both at leisurely and ultra-competitive levels. In this thesis, I intend to explore this history in order to unpack connections between gender identity and femininity. By integrating experiential reflections from my ethnographic research at Nike After Dark London 2025 (including participant observation and informal conversations) with digital ethnography of online running discourse and academic theory, this investigation provides a platform and meaning to communities within sport that have long been neglected. Through the lens of resistance in various forms, this research considers the experience of being an embodied female runner and how it enables community formation, fosters competition, and invites commodification of the athletic body.