1 min readAn Edinburgh ultramarathoner is using her urinary incontinence, which forces her to find a bathroom mid-race or wet herself while running, to raise awareness about pelvic floor health in the United States, according to an Edinburghlive.com report.
Lucja Leonard, 44, has been running for nearly 20 years, completing her first marathon in 2010. But when she started running, she experienced a common—but not normal—issue: leaking while running, or urinary incontinence.
Leonard needs to use the bathroom every hour while she’s running, according to Edinburghlive.com, and is unable to hold it if she can’t find any nearby bathrooms. She told the outlet that she uses the bathroom around three times during a marathon, which she believes is above average for runners.
The ultramarathoner wants to “break the stigma and taboo nature surrounding incontinence,” she told Edinburghlive.com. This move comes after she had to intentionally wet herself during the Manchester Marathon in order to run her personal best.
“I had black tights on, and I threw some water on myself just to look like I was cooling myself down when actually I was having a wee,” she told the outlet.
This summer, she plans to run the Old Dominion 100 in northern Virginia.
Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World, the author of The Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook, and a nine-time marathoner with a best of 3:23. She’s also proud of her 19:40 5K and 5:33 mile. Heather is an RRCA certified run coach.
