Jenna Fitzgerald Editor-in-Chief
Laken Riley did everything right.
She ran during the day. She stuck to popular routes on the University of Georgia campus. She let her friend know when and where she was going.
It didn't matter because the 22-year-old nursing student was just the next woman to lace up her shoes and not go home.
In 2022, kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher set out to run 13.2 miles around the University of Memphis campus. She was found four days later with a gunshot wound to her head, blunt force trauma to her leg, and a fractured jaw.
In 2020, nurse Sydney Sutherland went for a jog near Newport, Ark. His body was found two days later, rammed into a truck, raped and bludgeoned to death.
In 2018, University of Iowa student Molly Tibbetts headed to her rural hometown for a run. She hid under a corn leaf and was found 34 days later with puncture wounds.
As I train for my first half marathon and try to squeeze in 20 miles each week, I think of these women. After all, her ROAD iD, which slips under the laces, is a constant reminder of the crime of opportunity risks that female runners are taught to fear from the moment they step outside.
In a 2023 study by Adidas, 92% of female runners reported feeling worried about their safety, and 38% reported experiencing physical or verbal harassment. Of the latter group, 56% received unwanted attention, 55% received sexist comments, 53% had their horn honked at them, and 50% were followed.
How many women have to be murdered and harassed before we take their safety seriously?
In response to the 2023 study, Adidas released an ad called “The Ridiculous Run,” showing how ridiculous running has to become for women to feel safe. The woman is seen wearing loose clothing and a pair of headphones, surrounded by other runners, bikers, skaters, and literal conservation personnel.
That's crazy — as crazy as the fact that it's true.
Women should be able to run in a sports bra with both AirPods on without fearing for their lives. Women should be able to run on trails alone without fear for their lives. Women should be able to run in the dark without fearing for their lives. Women should be able to run without fear of risking their lives.
My heart broke when I read the news about Laken Riley. Her killing was the first homicide on the University of Georgia campus in nearly 30 years and should serve as a humbling reminder that something like this can happen anywhere. The winding roads of Cameron Park and the Bear Trail certainly aren't all that different terrain.
Ladies, please be careful. Men, please be careful when passing solo female runners. The running community is one of the most uplifting things I've ever experienced, and everyone needs to come together to create a safe environment. I think we can all agree that women have the right to lace up their shoes without worrying about whether or not they'll make it home.
But until that dream becomes a reality, I'll continue my ritual of glancing at my ROAD iD under my shoelaces before I walk out the door. Beneath the usual information like my name and emergency contact information is the phrase “ad Majorem Dei gloriam” or “For the greater glory of God.”
I look down at it and pray. I pray not for sunny skies or personal bests, but for simple opportunities to move peacefully within creation.
May the Lord bless Laken Riley.
