Marathon Day in Chicago Buenos Aires 10 10 10

Chicago Marathon ad campaign

Marathon runners have one month to go to two of the most popular marathons around; Chicago and Bunenos Aires. From a sport which began on the battlefield, the marathon - and half-marathon - has become an area where women sports stars excel. The field for the NYC Half-marathon 2009 was 53 percent female according to Runner's World, while the Chicago Marathon consistently has the highest number of women running every year; 43 percent last year.

Personally I'm a halfie 'cause I'm too lazy to train for a full marathon, but people who crank down their times at each outing deserve a shout-out. I'll be posting an interview soon with an avid marathon runner from Buenos Aires on how she prepares for running in the heat.

Do you prefer longer or shorter races?

The Shock of a Woman Reporter in a Locker Room

I came across a older post on Salon.com yesterday. Former NY Times reporter Robin Herman posted on how she accidentally became a feminist icon - when all she wanted was a few quotes before deadline. Alright, this was 1975 but considering that 30 or so years later, women like Orla Guerin (BBC) and Christina Lamb              (Sunday Times) regularly report from war zones, it's bizarre to think that a locker room was off-limits.

When I was competing in Thailand, I found that many MuayThai gyms still hold to the tradition of barring women from touching the ring - this makes training a little bit difficult as you can imagine. The main stadiums there are still for male-fighters only. Plus ca change ...

Read "A Girl in the Locker Room" on  Salon.com here.

Red Bull Illume - my favourite photograph

I went to the Red Bull Illume photo exhibition the other day in Dublin. Some incredible shots of really fit folk. Of course as I have a one-track mind, I was looking out for female photographers or pics of female athletes. Not so many. But one of the finalists was Camilla Stoddart with this great shot of base-jumper Josie Symons diving from a 1,000m cliff in New Zealand. You can see more of Stoddart's work on her site Camilla Stoddard Photography.

Josie Symons by Camilla Stoddart

AIBA Women's World Championship Barbados

So today is the first day of the AIBA women's championships and first step on the Olympic road. Lots of fighters to cheer for but, of course, this blog will be flying the flag for Irish lightweight Katie Taylor. Taylor, twice world champion, fights out of Bray in Dublin and is one of Ireland's main medal hopes in the Olympics. Small matter of qualifying as it only takes on punch to finish it all the wrong way.

She lost out to Sofya Ochigava in March - her first loss in 42 fights, so here's hoping she has pulled up from that and has a great tournament. This video is from another fight earlier this year in Dublin against American Caroline Barry.

Who will you be cheering for?

Salt How Strong Does Jolie Look?

I went to see "Salt" yesterday and spent most of the film wondering how it is actually possible for a woman who is so thin to, cough, be so strong?

Schreiber and Jolie in Salt credit Hollywood Chicago

I do appreciate that it's just a film - and that Santa isn't real. But seriously, could they not try to build her up just a little? Liev Schreiber is not a small guy but she takes him out. Plus dozens of agents on the side. Okay, she sweats a little over it but seriously, if guys were this easy to beat up, we'd all be world champions. To be fair she trained in MuayThai and Krav Marga to get ready but ...

Am I being too picky - do I need to just work on the 'suspension of disbelief' and get on with the popcorn?

Can Women Compete with Men?

A reader sent me on a link to a Runner's World story. The writer is an Ultrarunner (those insanely fit people who consider 50kms as their minimum distance) and she's noticed that many of the top finishers are female.

It's an unusual sport in that the male and female runners compete directly against each other so it's easy to measure who is doing well. The article itself is short - you can read it here "Why Women Rule Ultrarunning" but it's an interesting idea. Usually the idea of men and women directly competing brings up thoughts of fairground freakshows - as in men and women boxing. But it seems there are some sports where women's physiological makeup lends itself to success.

Do you think men are better than women at some sports? Or women than men? 

Sad Times at Women's Rugby World Cup for Ireland

So Ireland aren't going so well at the Women's Rugby World Cup. But these things happen. It's one of the great things about sport that there usually is another day. Not that we remember at the time but afterwards that sense of perspective kicks in ... hopefully. So yes losing 27- 0 on the first match was not a good start. I love that the coach said there were lots of positives to take away, that must have been hard to say no matter how true - the first half was good, really it was.

Photo credit Rugbymatters.net

Captain Fiona Coughlan is one of my favourite players; not just because she takes the time to write for a few newspapers and the Scrum Queens blog. It's so easy as an athlete to forget about life outside the pitch but she takes her responsibility in promoting the sport very seriously. Like all contact sports, it can be hard to convince girls and women to have a go. This is where Tag Rugby and Sevens have an advantage, so it was encouraging to read about a training camp she ran recently when the teenagers were already talking about the Rugby Sevens at the Rio Olympics. Let's look forward not back Click here on the Women's RWC site to see how your country is going!

What's your favourite sporting cliche for dealing with losses?