Women may also be better able to recalibrate their behavior and expectations based on circumstances (even if that doesn’t mean making the more self-preservationist decision to quit altogether). “Among the athletes I’ve coached, I think I’ve had more women where when it’s bad, they can blow up but they’ll still finish the race, whereas men drop out,” said the elite distance coach Steve Magness. “There’s a biological and social tendency for women to tend toward caregiving,” said Adam Grant, the psychologist and host of the TED podcast WorkLife. Women are often discouraged from being athletic and competitive, so the female runners who made it to Boston had already overcome more social obstacles than men. Top spots for men and women went to amateur runners who juggle training in non-ideal circumstances around work and family.

Source: New York Times April 20, 2018 23:48 UTC