Fake tan, fancy nails: How marathons became a catwalk for beauty

With her wavy red hair scrunched up high in a ponytail, Chloe Humphries applies collagen patches by the Korean beauty brand Abib under her eyes before grooming her brows with an Anastasia Beverly Hills serum and layering her face with a multitude of skincare products: a peptide-infused essence by Sunday Riley, a vitamin C-infused sunscreen from Garnier and lip balm by Sol de Janeiro. It’s a process shared with her 634,000 followers on Instagram. “I’m going to be doing more runs than ever, so I need to make sure I’m taking care of my skin,” Humphries wrote in the video’s accompanying caption, adding that she will be running the London Marathon on April 27. “I’ve decided to treat each pre-run skincare routine like a warm-up and try to make sure I’m doing it every time,” she said. For Humphries, who has been running since 2020 and is based in the UK’s West Midlands, an effective beauty regime is increasingly as important as training ahead of a race. “When I do my makeup, it’s part of the ritual of getting ready, and having that time to myself (helps me to) decompress and distract from what’s coming up,” she told CNN in a phone call, recounting the pep talk she gives herself: “Get in the zone. You’ve got 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) or more to do. You’re going to be OK. Your makeup feels nice, and you’ll be running good when you’re out there.” ‘Looking my best’ Humphries is not alone in turning to grooming and beauty routines before a race to feel confident and prepared. London-based healthcare worker Intisar Abdul-Kader took up running in 2014 and has since participated in marathons globally (she completed the Tokyo Marathon in March and is now training for a half marathon in Amsterdam in May). Abdul-Kader emphasized the importance of skincare and makeup that ideally “will stay on for four hours.” (Her current go-to brands are Merit and Glossier.) “It’s about taking pride in showing up to a race that I’ve prepared for months,” Abdul-Kader told CNN by phone. “I’m not going to show up not looking my best. Feeling good, looking good — that’s outside as well as inside.” Charlotte Purdue, another UK-based runner, shared a similar sentiment: “It’s like going to work,” she said over a phone call. “You wouldn’t go to work without looking kind-of presentable. So, when you’re on the world stage — if you’re running a major marathon, you could be on TV — you just want to look good.” For some runners, beauty can extend beyond simple skincare to more elaborate treatments including tanning, manicures and intricate hairstyling. Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson is known as not only one of history’s fastest women, but also for the ornately designed nails that has become a core part of her personal style. As she dashed across the track in the women’s 100-meter race at the 2024 Paris Olympics, her long custom acrylics — shipped to her from Brooklyn-based manicurist Angie Aguirre — were visible to all. Elite marathoner Anya Culling’s beauty regime takes place both before and after a run. The latter, which includes “an all-body moisturizer that feels like a massage, or a good hair mask, after my hair has been matted from a track session in the rain,” is vital because “it feels like self-care, which is important after I have pushed my body so hard,” she wrote to CNN over email. Investing in beauty prep — such as fake tan, eyebrow dying and gel manicures — ahead of time means that “I don’t have to do it every morning and can get straight up and train,” Culling explained. Among her favored products are the Bondi Sands one-hour express self-tanning foam, Eylure’s permanent eyebrow tint and BIAB nails. “I wouldn’t normally wear makeup for training, but for a race, the E.l.f. power grip primer and setting spray means my makeup doesn’t budge, and then a quick lick of Benefit’s BadGal Bang! mascara makes me feel exactly like the name suggests,” she added. Challenging misconceptions The growing significance of beauty in sports marks a shift in athletes’ attitudes. Historically, athletes, particularly female ones, have focused primarily on their performance, with anything else viewed as a distraction, said Andrea Geurin, a professor of sports business at New York University’s Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. This is, she explained, partly due to a largely male-dominated sports culture, where athletics is characterized by stereotypically masculine qualities, such as strength or competitiveness, resulting in female participation in sports being less appreciated. “Men’s sports have overshadowed women’s sports for so long that women athletes felt like they couldn’t focus on beauty, or on aspects of their femininity, while also being seen as a serious sportsperson,” she said on a call. American track and field athlete Florence Griffith Joyner (known as Flo Jo) captured the public’s attention in the 1980s, not only for her running prowess while setting 100-meter and 200-meter world records at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but also for her beauty regime, which included nails around four to six inches long, in bright colors or animal prints. Her fingernails were viewed as “both a source of intrigue and revulsion,” wrote Lynchburg College sport management professor Lindsay Pieper in a 2015 essay. “Because she preferred long, colorful nails, the runner was depicted as abnormal, deviant, and different.” Joyner’s femininity — or perceived lack thereof — was often the source of controversy: Because of her deep voice and muscled physique, her career was mired by unproven allegations of performance-enhancing drug use. (She consistently passed drug tests during the 1988 games, including 11 tests that year, and an autopsy carried out after her death in 1998 found no conclusive proof of drug use.) Grappling with body image and stereotypes has long been a point of contention for Culling. “There was always this unspoken idea that if you were a girl who played sports, you either had to sacrifice your femininity or constantly prove that you could still be ‘girly’ enough off the field,” she said. “I remember feeling like I had to make an effort to dress a certain way or wear makeup just to remind people that I was still girly — even though I was just as passionate and competitive as any male counterpart.” “As a young girl, this sent the message that strength and femininity can’t co-exist, which isn’t true at all,” Culling added. That sentiment, however, appears to be changing as Culling and a new generation of athletes become more comfortable with expressing their authentic selves. “Now, I embrace the fact that I can be competitive and athletic,” she said, adding that “I love the antithesis of being a girly girl who is also running faster than most guys out there.” “For so many years, it seemed like women weren’t allowed to fully express themselves. Now, we’re seeing this old notion turned on its head (as female athletes) take control and ownership of their image, and it’s actually empowering for them to talk about these other aspects of who they are beyond sports,” observed Geurin. “There’s no longer this contradiction; you can be strong and fast and also feminine.” ‘The marathon is a catwalk’ Female participation in running competitions is growing: At the 2024 New York City Marathon, which is regarded as the largest in the world, 24,731 women completed the race — marking the highest number of female participants in its history. Women athletes are also increasingly visible thanks to the amplification of social media platforms, where people share their training journeys and race experiences. On TikTok, there has been a recent flood of videos with tags such as “how to look pretty while running” and “makeup for marathon.” For some amateur runners, the sport offers the potential for romance — leading some observers to dub run clubs as “the new dating apps” — which may explain a heightened interest in maintaining one’s appearance and looking good. “I know girls in my run club that have got run club crushes,” laughed Humphries. “Park runs and races are a really good way for people to meet. I think that for a long time, run clubs felt like something for the older generation, but with social media, younger people are (getting more involved).” Humphries added that the sport has helped her form new friendships: “I have a friend group from my run club. We see each other outside of runs, and when we do go for runs, we message each other beforehand saying, ‘What are you going to wear? Will you have matching socks on today?’ I love that it’s become a way to meet people.” Rising interest in running has also proven attractive for brands. Last summer, beauty label Charlotte Tilbury partnered with Purdue, who counts over 51,500 followers on Instagram and 32,000 on TikTok, on video content showing off the products the runner uses in her routine. “They sent me loads of stuff, and I also got to go to their Covent Garden store (in London) and get a full glam look.” Purdue said. In 2024, Maybelline New York became the first-ever cosmetics sponsor of the New York City Marathon. Ahead of the upcoming London Marathon, companies including the self-tanning label Three Warriors and facial brand FaceGym have partnered with athletes and influencers, offering treatments that promote their products and services. “I think back to the London Marathon in the ‘80s and ‘90s, where people would run in their slops or casual clothes,” James Harknett, global creative artist at Three Warriors, told CNN over a call. “Now, the marathon is like a catwalk, where people are (considered about) what they’re choosing to wear and the skin they’re showing off.” Asked why he is now collaborating with runners, Harknett said he hoped to grow brand awareness and to “educate people and make them feel good in their skin.” A former avid runner herself, FaceGym founder Inge Theron started offering facial massages, as part of a quick break, to runners taking part in the Los Angeles Marathon about seven years ago. “The marathon (route goes) directly past Sunset Boulevard, where our shop is, and I saw a lot of people running and grinding (their teeth) from the stress,” she recalled. “It creates tension within their jaw.” Theron continued: “I’m seeing a lot more people get out and participate in (runs) — what’s changed is that instead of going on their own, people are coming together.” But whether people engage in athletics professionally or as a hobby, protective measures need to be taken, she warned. “It’s not just micro injuries that can be caused from the repeat repetition on the ground, but there’s also the sun and other things that can impact your skin and body,” she said.