Women's History Month

Posted by Dukes Track Club (DTC) March 31, 2021

Women's History Month

Womanhood

What does it mean to be a woman? I’ve been pondering this question a lot lately as I reflect on women’s history month and celebrate International Women's Day. So I’ve asked my teammates to help me in sharing what it means to be a woman to them. Recognizing that the ebbs and flows of life shift and change how our bodies serve us, how we show up in the world, who we show up for, and as we grow, evolve, and enter into a new territory our definition evolves. I’ve asked the ladies to share what’s showing up for them - from athletes to mothers, and everything in between. So, please join me in reading beautiful and vulnerable pieces of my friend’s hearts as we celebrate our wholeness, our humanity, our womanhood.

“Our beauty is in our wholeness.

Our aliveness is in our togetherness.” – MHN

Women’s History month hit a little different this year for me, and as I reflected I couldn’t help but think about all the strong, brave, and inspiring women who have helped shape me and paved the way for little brown girls like myself to grow up in a world where I can be me. It is never lost that the agency I feel within my body, skin color, and social circles is directly associated with the women who came before me, and as I reflect on this I cannot help but be abundantly grateful and thankful for their grit and tenacity.

For me, over the years my definition of womanhood has certainly evolved and, my goodness, I am so thankful for the softening, and the grace-filled lens I’m learning to view myself through. Recognizing that my womanhood does not lie in the ability to bear children or not. The ability to run fast paces or not. The ability to do this or that but rather my ability to recognize and celebrate the uniqueness in all women that connects us and reminds us that we are whole no matter what shape, size, or color we walk through the world in. Understanding that the fight so many women have fought for me to feel safe today, is far from over and that it is my responsibility to keep showing up for my fellow woman.

Through and through I am thankful for the diversity, and strength of the women before me, for I know, their legacies, strength, and courage pulses in me and lead the way every day.

-Arlene

I’ve thought about this question a lot lately: What does it mean to be a woman? More specifically for me, what does it mean to be a child-free woman? Now the question is what is a woman when you take reproduction out of the equation? This is the reality for so many women and it’s not always a choice like it was for me. There are women that want children so badly but their bodies aren’t able to carry a child. There are women that the variables of a stable relationship, career, and capability never align. There are women that were born into a body that was alien to them and fought like hell to make their body their own. The list goes on and on and I realize that really a woman is anything she wants to be. There are no rules to being a woman. You can wear your hair short, or long. Work on cars, or work in a kitchen. Never wear pants, or never shave your legs. Despite our many differences we still share a fundamental sisterhood. Now, as I follow this child-free trail further and I’m getting older, I’m nearing the point of no return and I’m fine with that. More than fine really.

- Sarah

I’ve observed that patterns of movement provide an accessible path to stability and satisfaction for us humans. In my specific context within a woman-identified body that includes a neurodiverse brain, the useful forms of movement including running, yoga, swimming, and walking. Movement aligns our consciousness with the body’s wisdom of yin and yang flow. The yin comes from the rhythm, the social bonding, and the therapeutic surroundings of water or Nature. The yang comes from the self-agency of picking and completing the athletic strategy, yoga asana expressions, and the intensity/duration variables in the embodied circumstance. The yin and yang flow is a power source that brightens my being with confidence undefined by the social condition’s expectations/preferences about my body’s image or labor output.

-Natty

Being a woman in sports has:

- connected me to lifelong friends across the country and world

- broadened my network and helped me focus on my community here in Albuquerque

- taught me different perspectives

- inspired me to follow others examples and occasionally to actually apply the advice I would give others to myself

- demonstrated the value of patient hard work

- helped me remember I am capable and strong

- provided a healthy outlet when parenting or life is hard

- gotten me and my family outside and adventuring

-Liz

Mama Liz & Baby J

Running makes me feel powerful. Strength is what prevails in our sport and I am constantly inspired by the strong female runners on the roads and trails who show up with consistency, and determination every single day. These are the women who lift others up and encourage one another to be our best versions. These women are who inspire me to go after lofty goals and to never give up on my dreams. Together, we can accomplish anything.

-Andrea