This post is sponsored by adidas; however, all enthusiasm, editorial options, and content (other than noted} remain my own.

 International Women’s Day (3/8/2020) brings awareness to the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women – including the celebration of female athletes of all ages and abilities, not just those in professional sports.  That’s what I want to speak to today, how everyday women are supporting, empowering and lifting up each other to live, love and give their best through an active lifestyle. 

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed several trends that remain on the uptick for active women. These include more female participation in “extreme” sports at an amateur level; support and encouragement through various “sisterhoods of sweat;” “do as I do” role modeling by older women to younger women and/or girls; and solo (or mother/daughter) adventure and sport travel. Read to learn more about these Empowering Trends in Women’s Sports, Fitness and Adventure for 2020.

One of my favorite photo bombs of all time, a little girl watching me on the podium!

Excelling in Extreme and Ultra Sports: More and more females are finding themselves enjoying many extreme sports and rebuking the “boys’ clubhouse” mentality that still exists to a degree. There are female super stars in every conceivable extreme sport arena from BASE jumping and BMX to wakeboarding and ninja warrior-ing. However, one of the most notable extreme sports where everyday female athletes are excelling is in ultrarunning. According to the recent statistics, female participants on ultramarathons has risen from 14% of participants 23 years ago to 23% today. But, even more impressive, the longer the distance, the shorter the gender gap in speed. For example, female ultrarunners are actually FASTER than men at distances over 195 miles and have just a tiny pace differential of 0.25% at the 100-mile distance. For comparison sake, in a 5k race, statistics show that men, on average, are about 17% faster . . .this just shows how much grit women have for the long haul! (Source)

Another extreme sport where women are increasingly represented and excel is in obstacle course racing, including races such as Spartan, Tough Mudder and others.  Since 2010, the numbers of women entering obstacle course races of any distance have increased, although now saturating a bit. The proportion of women as a percentage of total participation in OCR ranges from 36% and 46% across all race brands.(Source) Some individual race brands have a higher percentage and others are even billed as female-centric, like Muddy Princess, Gritty Goddess and Mud Girl races.  Original Mud Run founder Paul Courtaway told The San Antonio Express-News, “Eighty percent of the people who run (in his Original Mud Run) have never run a race in their life. You know who this appeals to, crazily? College sororities and groups of girls who love to get together and do things they normally wouldn’t be expected to do. Young moms and mom groups. Sixty percent of our runners are female.” (Source)  Spartan Race, also has a very strong, supportive tribe of women, from newbies and veterans, who are active in communities on Facebook and Instagram.

Hanging out at the bar on a Friday night, chatting about the cool sports bras and shorts from adidas.

Building Sisterhoods of Sweat: Whether online or around the corner in your neighborhood, there are countless groups of fitness-minded women (or “sisterhoods of sweat” as I like to call them) supporting each other day in and day out. From stroller workout groups to social media communities (again, like Spartan Women or Sweat Pink) or women’s run meet-ups and ladies-only lifting classes, leave it to the female gender to create nurturing groups where everyone feels welcome (even the occasional man) and encouraged, wherever they may be on their fitness journey. These types of women’s fitness groups provide accountability, support, inspiration, and that social outlet that many don’t have but really require to thrive.Valerie Hunt, owner of RunRx and CrossFit-L1 Coach, tells me she finds teaching all women’s strength and running classes creates a supportive, empowering community. “Teaching the correct movement and allowing the participants to progress at their own pace (ability) while celebrating success along the way keeps them looking forward to coming back. Once they realize what their bodies can do, there is always a positive shift in how they see themselves, support others in the class and enjoy the benefits of exercising.”

This little adventurer with her mom in Peru, layered up with girl’s clothing from adidas.

“Do as I Do” Role Modeling: Whether a mom to her child, or older athlete to an up-and-coming one, actions speak louder and resonate deeper than words when it comes to communicating how to live a heathy lifestyle and pursue goals. Coaching and teaching skill obviously have their time and place, and can be delivered, as needed. But what a young woman needs to help develop into a strong, motivated, fearless, confident individual is to have an older female mentor in her life demonstrating these qualities on the daily through ongoing, consistent actions.

Staying active and engaged in sports is even more important to role model consistently to the younger generation today considering Project Play, a report from the Aspen Institute, indicates that that a majority of youth (male and female) stop playing organized sports at age 11, while just three years ago the average age to quit was 14.  (Source) A child who sees her parent or adult role model continue to participate in sports is more likely to see that as a normal part of life, and adopt it as her own healthy habit.

Solo Adventure Travel Taking Off: According to George Washington University School of Business, almost two-thirds of travelers are women and 32 million women travel alone every year. (Source) There are dozens and dozens of female-focused travel agencies that have can book safe trips for women traveling alone or alone with children.  For the sporty and adventurous-minded, this could mean heading to the Alps to ski, taking surfing lessons in Japan, or embarking on huge travel-sport adventures with your daughter like Hollie Kenney, a retired pro-triathlete and single mom who recently traveled to Tanzania to summit Mount Kilimanjaro with her then 7-year old daughter (who proceeded to set a world record for the youngest female to summit). The pair most recently traveled to Peru where they tackled the terrain and soaked in the culture. “ Empowering kids through sport is my mission,” says Kenney. “There’s so much confidence that can be built within them and its special to be part of their journey“.

We’re feeling flexy, fit and fabulous in our tank tops  from adidas

In addition to celebrating these every day, empowering female moments, a mission of International Women’s Day is to applaud when gender equality is achieved in pay, sponsorship and visibility. There are still plenty of challenges in women’s sports, especially collegiate professional sports — smaller programs and allocated resources, smaller prize purses, lower overall attendance, obscure broadcast exposure (if any), fewer sponsorship dollars, and one-sided contracts that often don’t support family-friendly policy such as maternity leave.  Lol, approaching these topics is a whole ‘nutha post – or series!

In the meantime, get out there, explore, and get your sweat on, encourage another women or girl to join you in the fun!  Check out the latest and most awesome from women’s shoes from adidas to get you going in style!

This post has been sponsored by adidas who is an advocate of all women and girls in sport. Their She Breaks Barriers campaign celebrates all women, those that inspire, empower, and break barriers.

Also, in honor of International Women’s Day, I would like to give my own mom a shout out — she’s the strongest woman I know and I feel blessed to have such an amazing role model!