Documentary ‘Running for Their Lives’ Explores a Crisis in Women’s Sports

The new documentary “Running for Their Lives” is delving into whether female athletes at the top of their game are training so hard, and eating so little, that they could be risking their lives just to compete.

“Extra’s” Melvin Robert caught up with Olympian and middle-distance runner Colleen Quigley, who talked about the injuries and harmful physical repercussions that female runners are facing in the doc.

Quigley is a world record holder in the 4x1500 meter relay and in 2016 she placed eighth in the 3,000 meter steeplechase during the Rio Olympics. These days, however, she said her relationship with running has changed.

“It’s changed so much over the years. Largely due to my experience with injuries… ever since going pro,” she said.

In the doc, the world’s top female runners reveal how the grueling training practices and dieting have led to losing their periods, catastrophic health issues and more.

Melvin asked, “Why do you think it took so long to get this information out to people?”

Colleen explained, “I think a lot of it has to do with research… our bodies are just different and it's a lot more complicated to do research on women because of our menstrual cycles… then we just get overlooked.”