Letters

I get letters, announcements, comments and questions. Some of them are simple, others require a community effort. I am printing some of them for you. Look them over, see if you have any comments or ideas. As usual, I welcome your input. Incidentally, these notes are printed as received. For some of the older letters, click on the heading and it will take you to the letter. You can respond to the individual or via our message board. Thanks!

Losing Bone Mass

I have been a competitive runner for a little over 20 years. I am 51 years old and have been fortunate enough to compete in local races. I have seen my times and performance get better over the years. Though I have had a few surgeries (running related) I've always been able to get back in the running field and back to racing. I had a hysterectomy in December 2001 (very early stage of endometrial cancer). Was on a patch for a year - doc took me off due to fear of breast cancer. Have been taking Fosomax since March. Two bone densities since show severe bone loss. Is there any hope for me? What type of specialist should I see? Is anything reversible? Any research I can obtain? I am a miserable wreck for most of the year - have pain in hip and neck (where the bone loss is most apparent). Please help me.

Jacqueline M. Seltzer, CMP, CME

Girls on the Run

I am running my 10th marathon in Austin next month. As a 27 year old
runner, married with a full-time job, I am seeking to help my community.
Since I live in Houston, I am an avid athlete and community supporter, I
have joined two other women to start a chapter organization called Girls on the Run. Although it is national, we are challenging Houston's young girls (7-12yrs) to build their self-esteem through running and lessons. Since I am a coach and on the board of directors, I am seeking support. While we try to gather support, we are helping young girls with any ethnic, social and economic background. It seems we forget that females are a minority. We will run twice a week and train for a local 5K in May and continue in the fall. The girls will gather twice a week for 12 weeks. We will target the girls who need something to do after school and may or may not be on a team.This means a lot to me because I was the girl who never played team sports. I started running in college and fell in love with it. I am excited about sharing the experience with other young girls who may need some guidance during the transition time in their lives.

Jennifer Mendenhall

RUNNING AND GLUTAMINE

I AM A RUNNER. LONG DISTANCE AND TRAINING FOR THE
CHICAGO MARATHON NEXT YEAR.

MY QUESTION IS HOW MUCH GLUTAMINE SHOULD A WOMEN
RUNNER NEED?

ALSO, DO YOU THINK FAT LOADING WOULD BE A GOOD THING TO DO FOR DISTANCE RUNNING?

PLEASE PROVIDE ANY INFO YOU CAN.

THANK YOU!

SINCERELY,

TAMMY SYLVESTER

Poetry for a Liver Cure?

I'm a member of the Am Liver Foundation's marathon team -- Run for Research. We raise money for liver research and run in the Boston Marathon. Instead of hounding people for donations, I came up with a product, Marathon Poetry, that I sell to raise money. All profits go to the charity. www.MarathonPoetry.com

MP is one of those refrigerator poetry sets--little magnetized words you move around your fridge to make sayings and poems. The words are all running-related, so it's a nice little gift for runners. (Page 59 in December 2002 Running Times, if you read that.) ANYWAY, women love this thing. Probably 85% of purchasers are women. Any ideas on best ways to get the word out to women about this product with no ad budget? As all the money goes to charity, I'm shamelessly asking for help and advice anywhere I can get it.

s t e v e m o t t

Winter (now): 843-671-4956
(Summer: 315-673-2218)

San Francisco running club wanted

I am in search of a women's running club in San Francisco California or the Bay area. Can you recommend a club? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Gabrielle S. Jamison

Nationally recognized female coaches???

Could you give me the names of any nationally recognized female
distance coaches? Are there any that have coached both men and women,
and have they published anything on their training and coaching methods?

Stacey Libbert

I feel heavy when running

I have normally only ran 1/2 mile. I am increasing my distance slowly but surely. Why do you think it is that I feel heavy on my feet? I am not overweight. Would lifting weights have something to do with this?

CL

Hello!

My name is Jenine Saunders and I will be attending the School of Physiotherapy in Manchester in a couple of weeks. I am writing you from Vancouver, Canada ... and am an avid runner here.

I have been trying to find a running club to join close to the university, but I have been unsuccessful at finding anything on the internet.

Do you have any suggestions for me? I am really hoping to find a club that will start marathon training ... but, would also like to find a club that simply meets bi-weekly or even daily for runs.

Any suggestions you may have to offer me would be most appreciated!!

Thank you in advance ---

Regards,

Jenine Saunders

Mentors sought

My name is Katie Willson. I'm a 21 year-old runner
at Oregon State. I have only been running a year and
have done 2 marathons, two ultras and a few halfs. I
guess you could say "I'm hooked." I decided recently that I wanted to see how fast I could be at the marathon and have been trying to get in
touch with some of the successful women runners who have my same body type. I want to know what they do to train. I was hoping you might have e-mail addresses or know how I might contact them.
Greta Waitz, Joan Benoit and Ingid Kristensen seem closest to my physically but perhaps you know some others? I'm 5'4" and 102 lbs.
Thanks so much for your help.

Katie Willson

Training partners sought in NYC

I want to run my first NYC marathon in Nov. - are there groups of women in NYC to train with?
Thanks much,

Erica Gruen

Other beginning older runners sought

Would like to meet a group of older woman runners
in the SouthernCcalifornia area. I've been running for
about 6 months and really enjoy it. I don't know if
I'm racing material; however, I'd try anything once. I
don't even know how train for a race. Anyway, I need
inspiration from other seasoned runners especially ones
my age or older (I am 53). How long can you keep running
anyway? Thanks for reading this.

Deborah

Information Wanted on Pioneer Women Runners

Hi. My name is Rebekah Carrow and I was looking for some information when Icame across your site. Iwas wondering if you could help me find this info. I was watching a television program on HBO one day and Ilearned that at one point marathons were thought to be too hard for women to do, so women were banned from doing them. I also learned about women who defied the establishment and ran anyway. I'm now wondering who they are and if Ican find some info on them. If you can help, please let me know.
Rebekah

Student doing research on Female Athlete Triad

I am a sophomore at Mt. Hebron High School in Ellicott City, MD and I am currently enrolled in an Independent Research program for gifted and talented students. In this program, students will be conducting a year-long research project on a topic of their choice as well as writing an annotated bibliography. My research project is on the topic of men and women in the sport of Track and Field and the differences in their training regimens.

I have been researching women in the sport of track and field over the past month and have found out that women do have to train a bit differently than men because of the Female Athlete Triad. This disease can apply to any woman in any sport but I am just focusing on women in track and field.

I came across your name and email address on the website WomenRunners.com and thought that you might be able to help me with my research. I plan to write a paper on the history of women in track and field and any information you may be able to give me on that topic would be extremely helpful. I also plan to conduct a survey with the women's track coaches in my county to see if they are aware of the Female Athlete Triad and if so, to see if any of their runners have been affected by it.

From my research so far, all of the track coaches at all of the universities in Maryland have been men, so to get your perspective on this as a woman would really be appreciated and greatly needed. I understand that you lead a very busy and hectic schedule but you help would be invaluable to me.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Elise Lindenmayer
Student, Independent Research Course

Sponsor questions

I am trying to find information out there on sponsorships out there to help my friend train for the next Olympic Trials. She has started running two years ago as a recreational runner and has dramatically improved her marathon times down to a three hour marathon. She has alot of potential and is filled with the attitude to always get better each day. She is currently training with myself and a 10000 meter Kenyan with plans on running a good spring 2002 race. This will be her basis to how the rest of the year will go from that race. She knows she has a long ways to go but speed, attitude, and training are there for her, she just needs to produce.

If you have any ideas or thoughts on how to get started they would grately be appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

J.Navarro