Tutus Rock

As I was scrolling through Facebook last week I saw a few pictures of two beautiful young women running in tutus during the L.A. Marathon. It wasn't just their tutu's or superhero outfits that caught my attention, but it was also the caption above the photo "Magazine Makes Fun of Cancer Survivors Tutu". Being an avid runner and tutu creator myself I had to find out more.

Courtesy of Huffington Post

Monika Allen is a marathon runner, brain cancer survivor, owner of Glam Runner, and donor to Girls on the Run: San Diego. When Monika ran the L.A. Marathon she wore a Wonder Woman outfit for motivation as she was undergoing chemotherapy at that time. So when SELF Magazine contacted Allen asking for permission to use her photo in an upcoming issue she was thrilled. She thought it would great publicity for her business Glam Runner in which she makes and sells tutus. Proceeds from her sales have gone to Girls on the Run, a charity aimed at promoting exercise and confidence for young girls. Monika has raised an estimated $5,600 for the nonprofit by making approximately 2,000 tutus over the past three years. However, SELF Magazine did not use her photo in the positive way Allen thought they would. The photo was highlighted in the magazines section called the "BS Meter: Our SELF-y guide to what's legit and what's lame this month." Beside the women's picture was this caption, "New Running Tulle: A racing tutu epidemic has struck NYC's Central Park, and it's all because people think these froufrou skirts make you run faster. Now, if you told us they made people run away from you faster, maybe we would believe it."

Readers and runners alike were outraged and immediately showed their support for Monika and her business. The Facebook site Women's Running Club created a Virtual Run/Walk and called it "Tutu or Not: Runners Rock". They asked all members of the running community to show support for Monika... "and all runners of every background, pace, size, and kind. On April 2nd, we will run because we rock." Monika's Glam Runner business had to turn customers away because they just couldn't fulfill all the tutu orders that were coming in. Everyone wanted a tutu and they only had a few short days to get one. I helped some friends make their own and made a few for others who asked (even men). I also sent one off to a women from Kansas who contacted me through Facebook- technology is amazing. 

So you may be wondering, "How do you participate in a virtual run?" Easy! For this run we printed out a bib that rocked Monika's number (3112) from the L.A. Marathon, wore it during the run April 2nd, and posted our picture on the events Facebook page. Any distance, in any city, anywhere in the world! I got the word out that a few of us planned to run for a "Tutu or Not: Runners Rock" Virtual 5K. 17 runners showed up for our small community run and every single one of them was wearing a tutu in support of Monika.

2 days after 18" of snow 

Since all this controversy started SELF magazine has apologized to Monika and stated they are discontinuing their "BS Meter" page effective immediately. The running community is a very tight knit group that sticks together, whether we know each other or not. We all share something that some non-runners call "crazy". FYI: We take that as a compliment!