In-Focus: Injuries and the Effect on One's Athlete Identity

Dealing with an injury that has sidelined you from the run can be extremely difficult, especially when your identity revolves around the sport. When your community and daily life gets upended,  uncertainty, confusion and emotional distress often follows.

In November, we hosted an In-Focus event to hold space for runners to reflect on their marathon experience this year. Though the idea was to talk through the races themselves, the conversation naturally morphed into one about injury. Why?

Every single athlete who attended had dealt with some sort of injury that had sidelined them from sport, thereby excluding them from social events, races, and more. Finding the right path on how to deal with these situations is always the toughest part. I personally have been sidelined going on month 3 now with a nagging hip injury. One powerful thing that has really helped me is putting more effort into other pieces of life, and this was the primary takeaway of the other runners at this event as well.

Focusing more on other people, being aware of what is going on in the community and working on other aspects of fitness and movement that will help me be better when I return.

Here are a few key takeaways to keep in mind that can help guide you in the right direction when dealing with a sidelining injury. 

Acknowledge your Feelings

• It's pretty normal to feel a range of emotions from sadness to frustration, anger or even grief when you are injured. Recognizing and validating them rather than suppressing them is key to success
• Journaling your thoughts to help process them is an easy way to give yourself a time frame and goals to move forward with
• Talking to someone about how you're feeling to actually vent emotions. This could be a coach, teammate, therapist or even a friend. Sometimes actually saying how you are feeling will be a huge help.

Refine your Identity 

• When we are constantly in a training cycle or build into a plan for a certain number of weeks on end then all of a sudden it gets taken away from you a lot of your self worth is based on a physical performance or task. 
  • List some strengths or things you enjoy doing outside of sport
  • Engage in those enjoying activities or hobbies you normally wouldn’t get to do
  • Consider working on skill or developing skills that will help improve your future

Stay Connected to the Run

• Even if you cant physically perform in activity, you can remain included in the sport other ways
  • Support teammates and friends
  • Volunteer at events or races in the community
  • Ask to help on the organizational side of events or team functions

As we move into the New Year, my biggest encouragement to the community is to take a look inside and consider set holistic intentions for yourself around running a part of your life instead of all of your life.