Why NASA Canceled the First All-Female Space Walk
Plus, try-hard faces from the Women's Climbing Fest
Good morning! Hope you had a great weekend. I just got back from a women’s desert trip my friends and I take every year. It was magical.
What I’m reading
Try-Hard Faces from the Women’s Climbing Festival: Behold, the faces of triumph. [Vikki Glinskii for Outside]
Shalane Flanagan’s Spring Goals: Acing TV Commentary, Coaching, and Family: She won’t be racing at the Boston Marathon this year, but the 2017 New York City champion still has pre-race nerves. [Erin Strout for Women’s Running]
Why Elderberry Has a Cult Following as a Cold Cure: Everyone is recommending the stuff on Twitter, so we looked into the research to see if the hype is backed by science. [Jessica Furseth for Outside]
Adventurous. Alone. Attacked. The number of female solo travelers has skyrocketed, but amid Instagram-worthy escapades are tales of violence and death, raising questions about how the world is greeting women who travel alone. [Megan Specia and Tariro Mzezewa for The New York Times]
Colorado Ski Season Winds Down with a Splash, Not a Schuss: A frigid slide on skis through an icy pond—known as pond skimming—has marked the end to ski season across America since the 1920s. [Alison Osius for The Colorado Sun]
Why NASA Canceled the First All-Female Space Walk: Can the space suits of tomorrow overcome the gender disparities of today? [Emily Moon for Pacific Standard]
Meet Lazarus Lake, the man behind the Barkley Marathons
A very good read by Ariella Gintzler:
Some runners think that Laz is an intentional construct, something Cantrell uses to separate himself from the Barkley’s brutality or to add to its mystery. “He’s built this persona, and people latch on to it,” says Beverly Anderson Abbs, a longtime Barkley participant who’s finished two fun runs.
Ultimately, Cantrell seems to enjoy giving people something to puzzle over. “Wrong information out there is OK,” he said. “It just makes the truth harder to find.”
