To All My Athletes

To all my athletes out there.

Coach/athlete relationships can be so hard to navigate. For me, I had coaches who commented on my body, commented on the food I was eating… Saying things that were NOT appropriate. Such as, “You didn’t run fast enough to earn the right to each cheese.” Or even to the extreme of “How many calories and grams of sugar is in that gum you’re chewing?”

REALLY???!!! ITS GUM!!!

These types of comments caused me to spiral deeper into my eating disorder. I’m super sensitive to all talk about diets, weight/shape/body size, excessive exercise, etc. But it’s something I’m learning to be able to cope with because it’s everywhere… Y’all. Our society goes all heart eyes for the latest diet… the fastest way to lose weight. It’s wrong. It’s hurting our relationships with our bodies, our food, and ourselves.

Your relationship with your sport can be hard to navigate too. I know that for me, running was so abusive to my body because I was doing the sport for all the wrong reasons. Thanks to my eating disorder. But now I am proud to say that I run because I LOVE it. I love the team, I love moving my body in a healthy way, I love feeling free to be me.

My dietitian once wrote down the note in the picture above… “Recovery is the foundation of your training.” Athletes and fitness lovers, I did NOT believe her. I so strongly believed the lie that my eating disorder was the foundation of my training. But each day this phrase became more and more real for me. I was made more and more aware of its truth through the fatigue and terrible performance that set in due to the eating disorder. And now I believe it’s true. Because it is.

Y’all. You can’t love your sport or your workout without the energy to get through it. Recovery from your eating disorder will allow you to LOVE your sport. And to love life. When I first started running again after getting home from treatment, I was astonished. I knew I loved running, but with the energy to actually make it through, I loved it on a whole new level.

Today, I have coaches and teammates who love and encourage me through every step of the way. They’ve taught me that track and field is so much more than just running… It’s about the journey and the work you put in. It teaches you life lessons you couldn’t even imagine. With recovery as my priority, being an athlete is exciting and fun.

So enjoy the journey. It’s not about your results or the outcome, it’s about the joy and the tears and the laughter and the memories that got you there.

Remember… Recovery is the foundation of your training!!