Girls Running: All You Need to Strive, Thrive, and Run Your Best

Girls Running is Fairchild's guide for girls and parents that offers the guidance and tools girls need to strive, thrive, and create a positive, lifelong relationship with running. With straight talk on topics such as training and female physiology, menstruation, sports nutrition, a winning mindset, body issues, girl-specific gear, and team-building and competitive advice, Girls Running will change the experience of running for girls so they can achieve their potential and thrive at their best.

Girls are the future of running. Over the past 10 years, the running community has enjoyed a welcome revolution in participation worldwide. Today's running community is at a peak of participation, thanks to the millions of women and girls who have taken up road and trail running, joined school cross-country and track teams, and answered the challenge of half-marathon and marathon.

At the elite level, female pro runners have never been stronger--winning iconic races and setting new world records. Yet our running community has room for real improvement at every level. Recent news coverage has exploded with news from the pros who have sounded the alarm about sexism, body shaming, unequal pay, and discriminatory sponsorship packages that treat mothers unfairly. Some of these trends reach local communities and school-based running programs, too.

Melody Fairchild wants to change how girls run. As a pioneer of women's running and a prodigy child runner, Fairchild has seen the best and worst that running has to offer girls and women. She knows from experience how young girls who run often find themselves facing confusing cultural pressures, dangerous myths, and a serious lack of information. During her own youth running career, she dominated the U.S. high school racing scene winning two Footlocker National Cross-country Championships, setting a new sub-10-minute national record for the 2-mile race distance, and placing highly in national and world championships. She continued her winning ways as an adult, winning the 3000-meter indoor NCAA championship, two Olympic trials, and five USA Track and Field Masters National Championships.

Running can shape a young athlete in healthy, positive ways for the rest of her life.

Girls Running offers the guidance and tools girls need to thrive on their running journey, right from the start. With straight talk on training, physiology, menstruation, sports nutrition, a winning mindset, body image issues, gear, team-building, and competition, Girls Running educates and empowers young runners to achieve their potential and love running more.

Inspired by high-school phenom Melody Fairchild's groundbreaking running journey, and with the coaching insight from Fairchild and coauthor Elizabeth Carey, Girls Running is a valuable toolkit for middle- and high-school runners. Backed by science, research, and over 100,000 miles of experience, this resource answers the most timely and sensitive questions that girls face when their bodies change and the miles increase. Girls, parents, and coaches will see ways to navigate puberty, mental health, eating disorders, and the pressures of competitive running.

Girls Running is a go-to guide for everything girls need to know to run better--and love the journey while doing it