Rate: Women's Running Magazine, you fail

Running magazines keep showing up in my mailbox. I’m honestly not sure if I keep ordering them while I’m drunk or if they are sending me them for free or if maybe I signed up for a bunch all at once. Eh, I probably order them while drunk.

Well a few days ago Women’s Running Magazine arrived in my mailbox. After my initial fit of bewilderment, I immediately curled up on my bed with my basset hound and pealed open the shiny cover with giddy excitement.

A women’s magazine that is also about running? I love women’s magazines and I love running. Perfect! I clearly make fabulous decisions while I’m drunk!

Alas, my experience in the land of Women's Running Magazine was torturous. The articles were short and not very informative (they all had a bit of the DUH factor), the photos were common istock images and the entire publication just lacked an overall oomph. I love magazines, like a lot. I love the photography, and the different styles of writing and creative stories that are just too good for the internet. I love getting lost in the pages and wishing there were more. I imagine myself as one of their top writer's and I revel in the fantasy of creative journalistic freedom. But this publication really lacked all that. 

To top it off, and I know it doesn’t really matter, but one of my biggest complaints is that the “fashion” shoot that featured active swimwear was horrible. The bathing suits were flat out ugly. Maybe, as an athlete, I shouldn’t care about how cute my bathing suit is or what running outfit I’m wearing, but gosh darn it, if you’re going to make a female-specific magazine for runners, then why not publish a spread that actually features things that girls want.

Personally, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to be somewhat fashionable while also upholding a bad ass athlete image. But hey, that’s just me. Maybe, assuming I do actually have a subscription, the next issue will be much more satisfying. Until then, I'll be on the look out for cute, yet athletic or "active," bathing suits just to prove that they should hire me instead of whatever dingbat wrote that article.