I am periodically serious...

"It's more about owning your own comfort level and being confident in your own skin to do what you need to do to accomplish something. Really making it about yourself instead of about other people. For me, it was a bit of a metaphor. I was like, Running a marathon is a very, very big stretch for me. I need to do whatever it takes to get myself to the end of that line. We were running for a greater cause, we were running for breast cancer." - ​Kiran Gandhi

Inspiring, right? Sounds like a great woman--she's articulate, confident, and just ran a marathon for charity. And she is a pretty amazing young woman, she's a Harvard MBA and was on tour with M.I.A. But this quote is about a whole other story. A bloody story that has freaked out the internet in a way that does nothing to restore my faith in humanity. You probably have heard her story, but you may not have seen any of her intelligent, thoughtful quotes related to her story.

Kiran Gandhi is the chick who free bled while running the London Marathon.

Yes, she had the ovaries to free bleed a marathon.



Not my bag of Tampax, but I have never had issues exercising or running during my period. I think it helps. That's just me. Kiran talked about how sick she gets during her period, how she usually didn't run during her period, and how a friend keeping a tampon in her sports bra caused chafing and freaked her out. (Pro tip: SPIbelt for your necessities. Just sayin'.) But also understanding how we runners have all our weird little habits and rituals, I will respect her decision to free bleed and let it go. Why? Her lady parts don't affect me. The only lady parts that affect me are mine. And the Bitches, but I took care of that a LONG time ago. Things happen while running, like people pee themselves, shart, straight up poop themselves, spit everywhere, callous, blister, chafe, suck down GU packets, and sweat everywhere. Everywhere. I always warn someone who's never cheered at a marathon that he or she will see a dude with bloody nipples. Because he just wouldn't listen.

We are a disgusting lot. We're like hockey players with better vocabularies and more teeth.

But the internet went crazy with this. One news outlet pixelated her crotch out of the photos attached to the blog. Let that sink in. It isn't safe to go to a movie or to church in this country, because you might get shot, but run a marathon without a tampon and we are so offended by your blood, we will pixelate your crotch. The average woman loses four to 12 teaspoons of blood in each cycle. Apparently four to 12 teaspoons--do your math, that's a max of 4 tablespoons--of a woman's blood is offensive, disgusting, and wrong to a great many people in this world.

And Kiran did have a point to sharing this story. She wanted to raise awareness not just for the breast cancer charity for which she was running, but also for girls and women around the world who are discriminated against while having their periods or don't have access to feminine hygiene products. Think of all the homeless women in the United States struggling with this issue.

I've watched sites and feeds of women attacking Kiran, calling her disgusting, an idiot, and an attention whore. Dudes don't seem to want to jump in, although I secretly hoped someone would go full-on The Donald and accuse all of us fighting about this of having our periods. (Just because I love a popcorn moment.) I think the attention whore commentary was the most fascinating as there was even a story line that she got her period mid-race and then made up the whole story and awareness issue to get personal attention. The people who called the threads "disturbing" just made me laugh. It's a period. Remember? Four to 12 teaspoons of blood. And frankly, for most of us, periods should be like Christmas morning; it's proof the birth control worked for another month.



So let's just get over ourselves. Granted, this is coming from a woman who once made a tampon cake (strawberry filling), but seriously, quit shaming each other. Let's quit second-guessing each other. And let's quit being so grossed out and ashamed of our bodies. We are rad. We are women. Period.