After the US 10k XC Championships last week, there was a lot of buzz about who had overperformed and underperformed. As with any major US Championship, there were people who struggled and people who excelled. The thing that shocked me were the explanations people gave for those performances. On the men’s side, underperformances were explained as mistimed training or an off day. On the women’s side, almost all performances (either over or under) were explained by body size, shape, and appearance. There are literally hundreds of factors that go into race day results, but the overwhelming narrative online was that women’s bodies were the only explanation.  I’m used to this narrative because it’s something I’ve experienced since I was in middle school. In post-race interviews, I’ve been asked how much I weigh. Mid-race, I’ve heard announcers comment on my size, appearance, and weight. For over a decade, I’ve been subjected to the incessant over-analysis of my body and told that how it lo...