How One Woman Who Was Told She Was ‘Too Fat to Run’ Silenced All the Haters

In 2010, after a couple years of running, I experienced the most embarrassing moment of my running career. I came in dead last in a local 10K race and when I got to the finish line, it wasn’t there—and neither was anyone else. Everyone had packed up and gone home. I was mortified.

That evening after drowning my sorrows with a pizza and a bottle of white wine, I decided that I should share my experience, if only for the laughs. Surely this kind of thing didn’t just happen to me—there must be other fat and slow women out there running, I thought.

It turns out that there were—millions of them. And so, The Fat Girls' Guide to Running blog was born. 

And now eight years, four marathons, one triathlon, an ultra-marathon and hundreds of other fitness challenges later, I simply couldn’t imagine my life without running.

People often assume that I love running and are surprised to hear me say, “Oh no, I hate it!” Because running in a larger than average body is hard—physically and emotionally.

Unfortunately, dealing with judgmental and patronizing people never really gets any easier. Just recently, someone gave me the following unsolicited advice during a 5K run: “Oh, the problem is you are going off too slow and can’t maintain it…that’s why you’re walking.” I wanted to scream at them, “The reason I’m walking is because I just ran the New York Marathon two weeks ago, and I am still sore from running 26.2 miles, thank you very much.”

Another challenge? There’s nowhere to hide as a plus-size runner. Lycra is unforgiving and finding clothes that fit can be especially tricky, since most specialist running shops don’t stock larger sizes and some items like waterproof jackets are near impossible to locate in big sizes (even online). 

But despite the obstacles, I’m not going to stop. Long distance running has taught me so much about myself, my capabilities, my insecurities and everything in between. And I’ve found a fantastic support network of inspiring women to run with. As cheesy as it sounds, marathons are a wonderful metaphor for life—they show you how to push on under the most difficult of conditions and how to have faith in yourself even when others doubt you. And that’s why I do it (not to lose weight).  

It’s shocking that according to research, two million fewer women than men in the U.K. (where I’m from) play sports due to the fear of judgement. It makes me wonder what else women are not doing because of this fear—particularly plus-size women.

On my darkest days when I don’t want to run or when I’m anxious about my Lycra clad body being on display, I remind myself that it’s not just about me. It’s about being visible and being out there. Claiming my place in this sport helps others to know that they too can find their place…and that somehow motivates me to lace up my trainers.”

Creffield’s book, The Fat Girls' Guide to Marathon Running, is available now.