As a sport, running likes to think of itself as a very inclusive community, especially since the birth of _is Girl Can and the growth of the #strongnotskinny movement. But the truth is we can still be guilty of body shame: both of ourselves and others. Ask yourself: do you believe in yourself every time you step out the door, regardless of your age, race, ability or size?

Words: Tina Chantrey

With a sport like running, you’d think many female runners would be more concerned with performance rather than perception. However, there is an age-old myth that to be a ‘real’ runner you have to look a certain way. This simply isn’t true. Although a large handful of elite runners who do a lot of high mileage in their training look thin, you don’t have to look that way to be a runner, a good runner or a real runner.

You are an athlete, no matter what your weight is, your age or your ability – and despite what other people may tell you. Throwaway comments – often received when you are training – about what you look like or perhaps what you should look like, can be severely damaging.

Self-esteem and a positive body image has to be worked at, just like your physical strength or building base miles when you’re training for a marathon.

Some women are incredibly lucky to be born with inner confidence, but many of us experience this in waves – these can be high and low – and many women are their own harshest critics. Have you ever met another woman who says, “Yeah, I love my bum”?

Whatever body you have, it is beautiful. Whatever the colour of your skin, and whether you are genetically thin, larger than the average, more muscular than many women, older or younger, your body and health are the greatest gifts you were ever given.

We talk to five inspirational women about their experiences of having their confidence in their bodies knocked, but who made the choice to fight back against outer and inner criticism to believe in themselves. They all share this message: you don’t have to look a certain way to do exercise, running is for everyone – and you are beautiful.

Anna Smith-James

Anna has run 20 marathons including the Abbott World Marathon Majors and has a PB of 3 hours 16 mins

When I first started running all I did was run. But I quickly came to realise I needed to supplement my new passion with strength training if I wanted to avoid injury, something which othen plagued me at the beginning of my running journey. So I started lifting heavy weights in the gym and my running, like my body, grew stronger. My body started changing as it had never done with running alone. While I’ve always been fairly lean, I was gaining muscle now.

But gaining muscle and looking stronger isn’t always seen as a positive, especially as a female runner. Extra weight, whether that’s muscle or fat, is seen as a negative. Lighter is better. Lighter is faster. And as a female, lifting weights othen carries the fear of getting bulky and looking masculine. My thighs weren’t the delicate lithe thighs of models. they were strong, athletic and built for sustaining long distance running. But also my back and shoulders had visible muscles. My arms had biceps. I worried I was losing the soff feminine side of my appearance. When I wore dresses or strappy tops, I felt self-conscious about my muscles. Was it too much?