Author: Alexa Hasman

The sun barely starts to set as I climb up a muddy and well-worn trail in the coastal mountains of Oregon. I am 40 miles into my 100-mile race and have a long night ahead of me. I check in on myself: “Feeling good, Alexa. Keep grinding. You know these trails better than anyone.”The moment I finish this thought, I feel a sudden, sharp pain in my right knee. I stumble to the ground in pain. Trying to stand, I realize in horror that I can barely weight that leg. I was 5 miles out from the next aid station,…

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It is crucial in all sports to consider the physiology of female athletes, especially their biology and the fundamental mechanisms of their bodies. Mountain sports have a dominant history of male achievements with little focus on the incredible achievements of female athletes. But female athletes in mountain sports have overcome societal hindrances to climb the tallest of mountains, literally and proverbially.In 1808, at only 18 years of age, French mountaineer Marie Paradis summited Mont Blanc in the first recorded female summit. In the 1920s, female athletes started tackling the rock climbing world despite the numerous sexist and discouraging things said…

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