About

The Lane 9 Project, launched in March 2017, is a volunteer-run non-profit organization dedicated to educating active women and girls, and their support systems, on issues including women’s health, eating disorder recovery, fertility, and sport. The project came together by active ladies who strive to be lady (health) activists.

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The Ninth Lane

The name, Lane 9 Project, ties together our two worlds: sport and recovery. A spin-off of Title IV and the eight lanes on the track, this proverbial ninth lane is the unspoken but ever present mindset in which many active girls and women exist.

There isn’t a ninth lane on the track. There isn’t a well-defined path to eating disorder recovery. There isn’t enough known about the impacts of under-fueling and over-exercising the female body. There isn’t one way to have an eating disorder, amenorrhea, or the female athlete triad.

We are runners, we have personal histories with eating disorders, we have been amenorrheic. We believe recovery is ongoing, and movement is part of it. We want a loud, strong, evolving conversation about the prevalence of eating disorders and amenorrhea amongst female athletes — girls and women of all ages and at any level of endurance or competition. We want to bring a voice, a movement, education, and hope to active women. We’re happy to be talking.

The Lane 9 Project Mission

With this project, we aim to empower women struggling in the ninth lane. If you’re an active woman with disordered eating and/or amenorrhea, we want you to know you’re not alone, you’re not stuck, and you’re not done. This project will be your community, and hopefully the start of your recovery. If you’ve been there, these are your people.

We work to bring coaches, teachers, parents, and female runners together to increase awareness of eating disorder signs and symptoms, along with the risks and long-term effects of missed periods and under-fueling for our bodies’ needs.

Get involved with the Lane 9 Project

Note: The information provided on this website and by the Lane 9 Project community is not intended to replace medical, nutrition, or athletic consultations as needed. This community may be a sounding board, but is not intended to be a full solution to your personal recovery needs.