On catwalk, runners replace models for a sportswear company

The models at the Oiselle fashion show in New York last week were the first to admit it: They were more at home on a running track than on a runway.

They stepped barefoot onto the catwalk anyway, wearing sports bras and spandex, with ponytails and abdomens shredded neatly into sixths. Instead of look books and go-sees, from which the waifs of Fashion Week are typically culled, they were cast based on their portfolios of race times and medals.

The women were not, technically, models: One was a 45-year-old doctor with three sons and a degree from Yale who had just run a 5 minute, 13 second mile. Another was Olympian Kara Goucher, 36. Leading the group down the runway was Lauren Fleshman, 33, an NCAA national 5-kilometer champion at Stanford.