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Running Issues: Stronger Together

Published by
DyeStat.com   Aug 18th 2020, 7:00pm
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One Key To Performing Better Can Also Make The World A Better Place

By Elizabeth Carey for DyeStat

We’re stronger together. 

Teammates know this. Especially those who’ve run cross country or a relay. Working together makes everyone better.  

Take, for example, a tactic from one of my collegiate cross country coaches. Before dropping a teammate in a race, encourage them three times. This pack-running approach yielded success at important meets but also helped us help each other dig deep. 

Take, for another example, relays. A handoff delivers a burst of adrenaline that kicks you into a higher gear. For me, whatever leg I was running was something I couldn’t have done alone. 

Teammates know. Competitors do, too. 

In the midst of the U.S. Olympic Team Marathon Trials back in February, Aliphine Tuliamuk, the champion, encouraged Molly Seidel, the runner-up. (Tuliamuk trains with HOKA ONE ONE’s Northern Arizona Elite team, which placed three women in the top eight finishers, while Seidel is sponsored by Saucony and trains on her own.)

A team-oriented approach may boost performance. It can take us further, though. 

That’s one reason Melody Fairchild and I wrote Girls Running. In it, we talk about the running journey: an individual’s experience that can grow and flourish off the track, in communities across the globe. 

One great example of this is how Alysia Montano and Allyson Felix advocate for better support for pros, especially when it comes to maternal health. 

Other athletes — especially womxn and girls — are becoming stronger together beyond the confines of sport. They’re using their bonds to voice concerns and provoke change. They’re promoting health and well-being, and overcoming taboos, obstacles, and even toxic culture. 

For one, gold medalist Natasha Hastings is teaching girls about healthy habits for sport and life with fellow track stars from the University of South Carolina. This week, she’ll be talking about Puberty, Periods and Perceptions. (Photo, above, from an event in South Africa in 2018).

Last year, when Mary Cain spoke out about toxic coaching that harmed her health and performance, other athletes chimed in to validate her experience and to share their own. Since then, other athletes have called for a stop to old-school detrimental approaches.

Wesleyan University athletes organized to call out a veteran coach for body shaming and perpetuating eating disorders. (He’s since retired, despite the school finding no official violations, reports the New York Times). 

Another group of cross country and track athletes, this time from the University of Arizona, have spoken up about “rotten culture,” as reported by the Tuscon Star. They say coaches fostered abusive behaviors at the cost of athlete’s physical and mental health. 

These athletes are banding together out of necessity, out of a will to survive, and out of hope that things will be better for others that follow. We are louder together, and, sadly, more likely to be taken seriously. We’ve seen concerns too easily dismissed

Newsflash: Toxic culture doesn’t just exist under “bad” coaches. It’s found in athletic departments and other sports. It’s also in the boardroom, town halls and family rooms. It’s the product of our culture and society. This is what we get when sexism and racism are baked into the structures that shape our sport and our world. See: Misogyny, fatphobia, and other harmful, outdated beliefs thriving in old boys’ clubs and through the lens of speed goggles. 

The stronger together approach does not hinge on protecting or coddling those assigned female at birth. It’s about empowering and educating athlete-humans. In theory and practice, the stronger together approach lifts everyone up. It elevates us, as Fairchild says. 

Now is a great time to practice a team- and community-oriented approach. Our daily lives and the calendar might look different these days, but they present an opportunity to work together. Let’s mold our sport (and society) into something better. Be it more just, more equitable, more powerful. 

WRITING PROMPT: What does a stronger together approach look like in practice? It can take many forms. 

For example: 

Checking in with a teammate who’s feeling down.

Asking your coach to stop with body-shaming jokes.

Reporting misconduct. 

Advocating for your teammates, competitors, and/or community members. 

Talking about periods and puberty.

Dedicating your training to something besides a win-at-all-costs mindset. 

Fundraising for a cause that’s important to you. 

Voting, or helping people register to. 

Giving encouragement.

 

Let’s go. You can do it. C'mon. 

 

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Elizabeth Carey is a writer and running coach based in Seattle, Washington. Her first book, GIRLS RUNNING, co-authored with Melody Fairchild, is available at your local book store and here: https://shop.aer.io/GirlsRunning/p/Girls_Running_All_You_Need_to_Strive_Thrive_and_Run_Your_Best/9781948007184-9934.



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