When I started writing these columns, I wanted to connect with others about the importance of physical and mental health for students, especially girls and women who do not usually receive the same recognition and attention as male athletes. However, throughout almost the entire process of writing, I was not able to participate in my sport, and I often felt like a fraud writing advice that I had neglected to take myself, putting me in a position where I couldn’t run at all. It felt hypocritical to emphasize the values of physical health and listening to your body when my own body was actively breaking down.
Because of this, I feel like I have learned a lot about myself and the process that it takes to stay healthy, but the most important thing I have learned is that sometimes things go wrong: there is no perfect formula for everyone that will guarantee success and improvement. You can do absolutely everything by the book, and still be injured or lose the love for your sport. In the last two weeks that I have been back to running, two of my close friends have gotten serious running-related stress injuries, and many others have underperformed or suffered throughout the season, despite having near-perfect nutrition, strength and recovery routines. Sports can be heartbreaking.
That being said, the first thing that comes to mind for athletes who can’t participate in their sport is, “When can I come back?” That’s crazy if you think about it: after breaking a bone and having repetitive stress injuries, I didn’t even consider that running wasn’t for me, or that I was too scared to try to return.
I talked about losing the love for sports due to overwhelming pressure and performance anxiety in an earlier column, and I think it is an important idea to go more in depth on: sports can take so much out of you, but quitting can change the shape of who you are as an individual. Balancing social life, academics and sports is a near impossible task and many feel as though they are taking on more than they can handle. Despite this, sports can be a student’s greatest strength and comfort after a long day or difficult test.
No one wants to continuously put themselves through pain and discomfort, but a lot of times being an athlete can feel that way. Throughout my process to recovery, I have been frustrated, sad and angry, but I have never hesitated about wanting to run again, and the end goal has remained the same. I’m always going to come back to running, even though it has caused me to suffer. I hope that everyone reading this has some space that they feel that they will never stop loving and trying harder.
My coach’s advice to us is, “Run happy, run healthy and finish faster than you started.” To me, this means to take joy from every opportunity to participate in your sport, whether that be a great race after a successful training block or a difficult run-walk progression after injury.