Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man’s World

Retired distance runner Fleshman walks readers through the barriers she overcame on her path to becoming a track and field champion in this motivational offering. Recounting that her father “wanted sons, but he got two daughters and refused to adjust his parenting plan,” she describes constantly seeking his approval and finally winning it with her senior year California Cross-Country State championship. She faces down the sport’s conventions, such as perpetuating eating disorders in the name of ideal race weights, and criticizes the professional contracts that leave no space for pregnancy for female athletes: “The message was clear: win or perish, and be a good girl.” Though injuries prevented Fleshman from qualifying for the Olympics, she won two 5,000-meter national championships before retiring in 2016 to focus on her family and her role as a coach, as well as her work with the feminist athletic wear company Oiselle. The author’s raw honesty when it comes to often taboo topics for professional female athletes (including menstruation and mental health struggles) is refreshing, as is her willingness to confront the ways professional racing “folds and smashes women and girls into a male-based infrastructure.” Fleshman’s determination stokes the competitive spirit in this rousing call to action. Agent: Daniel Greenberg, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (Jan.)