I AM AN ATHLETE IN TRAINING LIFELONG…

Sometime life's a beach. Taken by PKSenagore February 2018. All rights reserved.

'WHO I AM - WITHOUT RUNNING"  Hillary Allen explains in an article for motivrunning.com’s Voice of the Athlete series.  The piece is subtitled, “Pro Runner Hillary Allen gets a bigger picture look at life while sidelined with an injury.”
 
I have posed the question "who am I without running?"  to myself, as have others; friends and acquaintances of mine and my family members.  This crisis of identity has arisen when, just like Allen, injury or illness forced us off the roads and trails. The elite trail runner Allen, sponsored by The North Face according to the brief bio-sketch at the article’s end, is temporarily not able to run and train after a serious injury. A potentially devastating situation can develop when permanent acceptance of this status is necessary (would she be writing if her condition was career-ending?)
 
Allen’s telling of her feelings of isolation, anger, and grief is heart-wrenching, as she recounts no longer struggling to be a top-rung runner, but to “walk normally” and eventually become “the ‘runner I was’” again. She berates herself for this mental attitude of assumed isolation, calling it “a self-inflicted ailment.”
 
The author describes a full and brilliant working life teaching science, and how it is being adversely affected by her need to recover and resume running in order to be whole again, possibly better than whole. The introspection forced by this time of injury-recovery has caused her to attempt a re-definition of herself. One that is not singularly tied to her sport. Allen says the “injury and break from running has been immensely difficult” but sees that a ‘blessing” was bestowed on her by the “lessons it has taught me about myself.”  
 
Hillary Allen writes about the dangers of looking at “oneself through the lens of singularity”, with that eyepiece represented as running.  And suggests there are other single-viewpoint lenses through which we can see ourselves, for example by relationship, occupation, area of expertise, residence location, etc.
  
The point being made is that we can find ourselves in an emotional tailspin due to the temporary or permanent cessation of other lifelong, identity-affirming, activities or relationships, not necessarily related to running. It can occur because we have loved a sport, person, place, idea, or other entity and are no longer able to receive enjoyment from the association IN THE EXACT SAME WAY. 
 
We probably should expect to experience such frame-shifts in identity, almost as a natural occurrence in our lives over time. Realizing that the ending of a specific association may actually represent evidence of personal growth, like Allen says, and be a ‘blessing’ in disguise rather than a disaster. If prepared, we can move on and move forward more easily after the initial disruption.
 
Perhaps there are preventative measures that can be taken to lessen the impact of a life without running or other sport, temporarily or permanently.   It may help to pre-emptively shift the focus of our self-identification away from the specific sport to athletics in general.  As runners (walkers, cyclists, swimmers, and tennis players, and so on) we might:

• Consider ourselves first as being ATHLETES, concerned with all aspects of training: including nutrition, cross training, and strength building.
• Broaden our interest and participation in complementary RECREATIONAL individual sports, that might of necessity replace or supplement running at some point. Road runners might explore trail hiking, cycling, swimming, weight training, stand-up paddle-boarding, rowing, or even golfing for example.
• Broaden our interest in PROFESSIONAL individual sports as spectators:  runners can learn to appreciate track and field events, Olympic sports like cross country-skiing or swimming, and tour cycling. 

• Become fans of sports in which we are not likely to yearn for the ‘glory’ years of yesterday or tomorrow. Picking sports to follow that we haven't personally competed (surfing, sailing, snow-boarding possibly) or have loved but don't miss participating in (rugby, soccer, lacrosse).

  
It’s likely that most runners don’t wish to be ‘blessed’ in the way Hillary Allen was, with a serious injury, in order to gain a healthy perspective of self. But she is saying, “this could be you, so feel blessed that I am showing the way for you to experience less personal upheaval” in the same situation.
 
We might respond to, “Who I am - without running”, in this way: 

“I am an athlete, in training lifelong to be active, fit, and healthy regardless of my sport participation status. One who enjoys challenging myself physically, and takes inspiration from the struggles, shortcomings, and triumphs of other athletes in many sports...’

And after reading Allen's piece, add, "...Who does not define my life by a single subjective thing."
 
RUN & MOVE HAPPY!
 
https://www.motivrunning.com/running-life/the-voice-of-the-athlete/who-i-am-without-running​