Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World

Lauren Fleshman delivers her inspirational life narrative and a call to action for reform of a sports system that is failing young female athletes, driven by her years as an outstanding runner and advocate for women in sports.

Lauren Fleshman grew raised in the running community. As one of the most accomplished collegiate athletes in history and a national champion in her professional career, she rose to prominence as Nike's face of women's running before departing to launch the innovative Oiselle running brand and now mentors the next generation of talented female runners. She has witnessed firsthand how our sports systems, which were initially created by men for men and boys, fail young women and girls just as much as they empower them at every turn. Once they reach adolescence, girls quit sports at startling rates, and female collegiate athletes frequently suffer from eating problems, injuries, or mental health issues while trying to overcome a normal decline in performance for their age group.

Good for a Girl is Fleshman's account of falling in love with running as a young girl, being pushed to her limits and dying from terrible injuries, and having the courage to fight for a better life for female athletes. It is half memoir, part manifesto. The days of women and girls feeling fortunate to be involved are long gone; fleshmen and women globally are realizing that they are competing, playing, and running in a world that was not intended for them. The time has come, according to Fleshman, to rebuild our systems of competitive sport with women at their core. She bases this argument on her own experience as well as recent research on the physiology and psychology of young athletes of all genders.

With passion and vigor, Good for a Girl is a heartfelt ode to the running life, an honest account of personal development, and an imperative plea to reinvent sports for the next generation of female athletes.