After discovering that she was going to have her period on her first ever marathon, Kiran Gandhi decided that she was going to run the entire marathon free-bleeding.(of course without using a sanitary pad)
The 26-year-old told buzzfeed that she had trained for a year to complete the London Marathon in April. She said she made her decision to “run free” and not wear a tampon because she wanted to wanted to highlight how women are often shamed for having their period.
She said: “There were two things that helped my decision to run free. Firstly, I thought ‘oh god, I really don’t want to run a marathon with a tampon in’ as it’s something i’ve never done before.”
“But it was also the fact I had to think about what other people would think of me that helped me make the decision. You shouldn’t have to worry about how you look for others on a marathon course. To me, that shed light on the fact there is no global conversation about periods.”
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She said that period blood should not be a big deal, and that women “should be able to run or do whatever we want to, how we want to.”
Kiran told BuzzFeed News that she didn’t expect so many people would care about her story, but that she’s thrilled a global discussion about periods and women’s bodies is happening.
Kiran has a message for any critics who may hate on her choice to free-bleed: “I don’t care if people want to make fun of me. I felt good doing it, it’s my life, and it’s my story.”
Here is a question for Ms Kiran, since 'Shitting/Pooing' is an absolutely normal thing to do that 100% of the world does, would she consider running a marathon if she has diarrhea too?
