MEET KIRAN GANDHI. She’s a touring drummer with musician M.I.A. and she’s the talk of the internet right now.
Why?
Gandhi ran the London Marathon without a tampon, and people just can’t damn well believe it.
While the marathon took places back in April, Gandhi has recently been brought to the attention of the masses due to a Cosmopolitan feature about her decision to ditch the sanitary products and let her blood run as freely as she did.
Kiran explained to Cosmopolitan that she was faced with the dilemma when she woke up on the morning of the marathon to discover it was her time of the month. Such was the pain she faced, she almost considered dropping out.
What did she do? After all that training to run 26.6 miles, does she face an uncomfortable run wearing a tampon, or simply run without? Most women would go with the first option, but Gandhi decided not to in order to raise awareness of those who don’t have access to tampons and to encourage more openness about periods.
The 26-year-old ran bleeding the whole way, clocking in a finish time of 4:49:11.
Writing on her website, she said:
I RAN THE WHOLE MARATHON WITH MY PERIOD BLOOD RUNNING DOWN MY LEGS.
I got my flow the night before and it was a total disaster but I didn’t want to clean it up. It would have been way too uncomfortable to worry about a tampon for 26.2 miles. I thought, if there’s one person society won’t fuck with, it’s a marathon runner.
I ran with blood dripping down my legs for sisters who don’t have access to tampons and sisters who, despite cramping and pain, hide it away and pretend like it doesn’t exist. I ran to say, it does exist, and we overcome it every day.
There was a mixed reaction to her decision online, with many saying it was too far, and many hailing her a hero.
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Either way, Gandhi raised $6,000 for Breast Cancer with her run. Excellent.
