Las atletas mujeres son increíbles

Author Keila Merino with some of her students at a track meet on Global Running Day.

“Tonight, I’d like to raise a glass to a new era in sports. An era when the women’s game is finally getting the attention it deserves. For a long time, there was this well-meaning but patronizing idea that you should care about women's sports because that aligns with your values. And sure, there’s some merit to that. But the real reason you should care about women’s sports is because they’re incredible." – Patrick Mahomes

Although I'm not a devoted football fan, I recognize the importance of this statement by perhaps one of the most distinguished quarterbacks in American football today. As a woman who used to be an avid competitive runner and continues to follow the sport, I appreciate and agree with these words. We should care about women’s sports because they are incredible.

My Role Models

As a distance runner, growing up there was never a shortage of role models to follow. During high school I competed with Sara Slattery. I use the word "competed" loosely as she used to lap us, boys and girls, on the track. She was the first woman who I thought was incredible. Sara is a two-time NCAA champion and now coaches at Grand Canyon University.

During my college years and even today, I mostly admired long distance runners such as Kara Goucher, Des Linden, and Deena Kastor but also enjoyed watching track and field athletes like Allyson Felix and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Though my most favorite was and continues to be Des Linden. I’ve always admired her optimism, perseverance, and ability to run almost perfectly even splits in all her races. As a former competitive distance runner and pacer, I am familiar with the amount of work and patience it takes to be fit to race and pace well. What is so inspiring about Des to me is that even though she is older than most of her competitors, she continues to train hard and race well. I find myself always rooting for her and at times thinking she will pull it off and win the race.

Runners, and So Much More

Women athletes are incredible in other ways as well, such as the way they adapt to compete even when running is not the main focus of their lives. Today we read about women who are competing at elite levels even though running is not their primary source of income. Women like Steph Bruce, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Kellyn Taylor, Allyson Felix, and Elle St. Pierre are some of my newly acquired role models. They are all women who are not only elite runners, but who also play the important role of being moms.

When training for major races, I used to run 8-10 miles daily during the week and double and sometimes triple that amount on the weekends. The hours spent on the road, at races, traveling, and recovering were pretty much all I had time for. I can’t imagine doing that now when my career and family take priority. It’s nice to listen to women runners during interviews explain that when they have a bad race, they don’t have time to dwell on it because they have soccer games to attend, birthday parties to host, or a myriad of other things to think about. Perhaps that’s the secret.

Inspiring My Students

As a teacher, I am thankful for these encouraging words to motivate and embolden my young 5th grade girls. I am happy that these girls are growing up with amazing role models of their own. As a teacher, I am often challenged by my students with questions about politics, women’s athletics, equity and various other complex topics. I never thought that I would have open conversations about Taylor Swift’s influence in my classroom. I am always amazed by their awareness of everything happening around them.

My students are bright, inquisitive, curious and brave. They are lucky to have women like Caitlin Clark, Fiona O'Keeffe, Emily Sisson, Dakota Lindwurm, and, dare I say, Des Linden. We had the opportunity to watch the Boston Marathon in April during the school day and they were so excited to watch Des lead the race at some points. They know I love her and we were rooting loudly for her.

I am excited to see my 5th grade girls be a part of the Girls Run at the Mastercard New York Mini 10K this weekend. When I recently asked them who is one of their women role models, a lot of them said their mom. We are looking forward to seeing some of these role models run in the Mastercard New York Mini 10K women's race on Saturday too.

As for me, I am inspired too, and I look forward to getting back on the racing circuit. When I do, I hope to inspire kids and be a good role model in the sport I love. 

The views expressed by authors of content on our blog, and those featured, are their own and their inclusion on our website does not imply an endorsement by NYRR of them or their views.