Hit Like a Girl: Our Beauty Editor Takes Up Boxing

Real Girls Get Tough

"I used to figure skate; then I tried ice hockey -- and I loved it! Today I play on a men's team in summer. Sharing the rink with the boys is great because you have to think faster to keep up."
-- Francesca Holzheimer, 27, Arlington, Virginia

"I began adventure racing as a way to be on the same team as my guy friends with whom I trained for triathlons. Little did I know we'd win Merrell's Oyster Urban Adventure Race in San Francisco three years in a row!"
-- Kathy Longaker, 37, San Francisco

"I grew up playing most every sport: soccer, softball, basketball. But football was always off-limits to girls. I love that I'm now in a football league with hundreds of other women."
-- Kelly Hamill, 28, Wall Township, New Jersey

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, June 2009.