blog
Embracing Athletic Identity
Last night, I went to watch a track meet. An amazing group of humans turned up to run fast laps around the oval: there were high school athletes, college athletes, local amateur athletes, Special Olympics athletes, and even professional athletes. All ages, all levels– and all of them working at their limits.
The energy was electric– runners warming up everywhere. Coaches shouting out advice and splits to racers. Game faces on.
I watched from the grandstand (ok, and also from the beer garden) and marveled at the whole event. Despite being a dedicated runner, I had never, in my 40 years on the planet, been to a track meet before.
Why, I wondered, had I missed out on the fun for so long?
The Off Season
I trained my butt off this fall, building my running up through the summer to prepare for a 50k trail race at the beginning of October. All that training carried me over the finish line of a super challenging goal event feeling strong. It felt awesome. Then I ate a burrito, slept in the car on the way home, and thought about how nice it would be to have Saturday mornings free again. After that huge build up of back-to-back weekend long runs, I felt tired, accomplished-- and ready for a break.
Why seasons matter
If you grew up playing sports, you had a built-in structure: fall, winter, spring. Maybe it was football, basketball, soccer. Or cross country, indoor, outdoor. You focused on something for a few months, you had a little break, then you focused on something else. Maybe you even took the whole summer off and just did whatever seemed fun (cannonball!!).
The Best Books About Running for Health and Happiness (plus a few blogs and some podcasts)
A classic article in The Atlantic uggests why there's such a strong and enduring affinity between writing and running: "Freedom, consciousness, and wildness: Running offers writers escape with purpose", wrote Nick Ripatrazone. I agree, and I'd like to suggest that the converse is also true. Literature offers runners escape with purpose. Whether it's books or other media, taking in stories and perspectives can enrich the experience of running or whatever your chosen activity is. Staying motivated, staying curious, staying interested, and working through mental and physical challenges is greatly aided by a robust reading list. This might sound romantic, but it's also practical. Sometimes the best next step isn't an adjustment to training or nutrition or even sleep (did I just say that??). Sometimes it's finding something that rekindles purpose.
Tips for the everyday athlete
The more you move, the more you may start to be aware of what your body can do. You can and should treat your body like an athlete would, even if your “sport” is biking to work, zumba, taking yoga classes, or hitting up Orange Theory once a week. Physiotherapist and all-around wizard Kelly Starrett likes to say that humans should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. That’s the task of the everyday athlete: take care of the instrument you use to go through your daily life (that’s your body). A little bit of attention goes a long way. It’s easy to ignore this advice until you’re injured, fatigued, or fighting illness, but surprise! It’s also easy to do it. It just takes awareness and intention. What does that look like? I’ll go through some basic good practices for everyday athletes below.
Capturing kinetic energy
The idea of kinetic intelligence under-appreciated. In the U.S., dominant culture dictates you can be a nerd or a jock. If you're a nerd, you're weak. If you're a jock, you're dumb. You have to pick a lane. For most adults, our use of our bodies is rote. We use our eyes and fingers a lot, in service of our "real work". In jobs requiring physical labor, our bodies are tied to productivity (thanks, capitalism). But true respect for physical feats, bodily beauty, body wisdom and intuition? Largely missing. What a loss- how about if we adopt a both/and mentality instead of an either/or one? There would be huge implications for health and happiness.