I've started reading a new book about running, "An Honorable Run," by Matt McCue, a recommendation from the Run Wild Missoula / Runners' Edge people, who are starting a book club, that I might go to if I can get myself to drive into town next Monday night. So far, I can't really relate. He's talking about running competitively in high school and college (in fact I think the whole thing is about a great coach he had) and I've never run competitively or had a coach for my running (unlike Jim who was a champion in cross-country).
My high school didn't have a track or cross-country team. No, when I was in high school girls had five choices for "athletics." We could play field hockey, basketball, volleyball, softball, or be a cheerleader. I played field hockey and basketball and softball. The only running I remember was before field hockey practice, doing laps around the ball fields. I seem to remember being one of the slower ones. I've always been more defensive than offensive, and I ended up playing goalie. Goalies also had to do hill-running drills at the end of practice, with all of our heavy gear on. Maybe that's why running hills in the woods doesn't bother me too much, but I'm still not very fast.
Or maybe I was so slow because it was before the invention of the sportsbra. While I was running slow laps around the ball fields in order to minimize the bounce (which did not go unnoticed by the boys' soccer teams), a small group of women in the next state over (Vermont) were just putting two jockstraps together to come up with the first "jogbra" (see history in link above!). I believe that this invention, more than any other, has liberated women to be able to participate more fully in athletic activities.
I don't know if I would have been interested in running in high school even if there was a track team, or jogbras. It is interesting to read about someone else experience though, and maybe learn a little bit more about my running now from it. (More about this book later as I read more of it!)
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I would say sports bras and tampons are two of the best inventions ever for women, coming in right behind birth control.
I was on a swim team for years, and while there isn't a bounce factor, so to speak, having a big chest was still a problem. The solution was to buy suits at least a size or two smaller. It was uncomfortable, but effective.
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