‘Not getting out on the trail is just a temporary phase’

Disclaimer: The following is intended for entertainment purposes only

Brian Ó Murchú interview with Daisy ‘Boulder’ O’Kelly

I recently met up with Daisy ‘Boulder’ O’Kelly, trail runner and group facilitator who started a support group for runners who temporarily can’t get out on the trail. The following is an except:

I am a trail runner and I love lacing up and getting out for a run, EVERYday! But what happens when you can’t do that? Through no fault of your own, you can get ill, have a fall during a race, pick up a running injury, maybe a non-running injury, a ban or sometimes with work/family commitments a run is just not possible. One non-running day is manageable, but a prolonged no-run period can leave you with a feeling the whole of the day that you’ve forgotten to do something. In the early part it’s hard to get to sleep because you’ve so much unused energy, but after a while this can go the opposite way and you sleep too much deflating energy levels. They say your identity is what you do, and my ability to run was taken away from me for a time through injury. Although it’s easy to say it was temporary, I didn’t see it that way at the time and I did things like removing from view all my finishers medals off my ‘running’ shelf. There are wider implications too of not running. I found I lost touch with my running friends as I could no longer join up for group runs. It feels very fickle in that other runners seem to stop being your friend if you cant run with them and that was difficult for me. This was my experience of a prolonged time not being able to get out on the trail and as a psychologist I felt there was a big need to reach out a hand of support to others in similar situations who temporarily couldn’t express their trail running identity.

I think the biggest thing people get from coming to the support group is that people leave saying they don’t feel so alone or isolated, and it isn’t just them. There is a pattern of behaviour here and it is about becoming aware of this. The more a runner engages in the group the more they can benefit from this growing awareness. Some people don’t realise the structure running gives to their day until they hit a non-running phase. Some of the common questions and struggles include: Does anyone else struggle to know what to do with all this ‘extra-time’? What was my life like before I started running? What kind of things do non-runners do? Is what I’m doing normal?

I find that if trail runners can’t run, they don’t want to do another sport to compensate for fitness. Sometimes we get triathles coming to the group and they often offer an extra challenge, because they want to tell the injured runner to cross-train to keep their fitness up. This approach doesn’t recognise and validate the runners struggle with the temporary loss of their trail running identity, ie not being able to run.

Of some of the topics that come up in the group diet can be a controversial subject. Some people put on weight, others lose their appetite somewhat. Our view is that we don’t judge people who do or don’t eat diary, meat and supplements, the aim of our group is to support the emotional needs of the runner. We try to gently remind group members that this type of information exchange is more suited to outside the group.

We get a few people who can’t race because they’re severing a ban for ‘race rage’ or other reasons. They still train, but their goal of specific races have been removed. I offer to work one-on-one with these people in a very structured way as well as them being part of the group.

If anyone is hesitant about joining our support group I would suggest to think of the group like a first aid station, by way of support our aim is that that you can resume your running with greater confidence, motivation and fearlessness. What I can never emphasis enough is that not being able to run is just a temporary phase!

Disclaimer: The following is intended for entertainment purposes only

Brian Ó Murchú interview with Sandra ‘Fast Feet’ Higgins

‘Tribes and Therapy’

Sandra ‘Fast Feet’ Higgins burst onto the trail running scene in her mid-twenties. Prior to that she had been a promising field hockey player with a University scholarship. Sandra ‘Fast Feet’ opened up to why she ditched the hockey stick for the lure of the hills, The following is an excerpt of our interview, which was done ‘on the run’ at Sandra’s request.

I was always into sport, I was very active growing up. My mom had a load of activities she wanted me to do, and my dad use to encourage me to do a lot of different sports. Separately they both brought me to and from all kinds of practice. I did a number of different sports at different times, but there was one point at school I was on the athletics team, the soccer team, and the rugby team all at the same time. I wasn’t that skilful in those sports, but I could run, and I had so much fitness from running. Having a fancy touch is no use if you cant get to the ball first, right?

After going to University with a sports scholarship, it was when I started my Masters, I promised myself that I would put my study first. That’s when I stopped doing the other sports and activities, it was only then when I started trail running. I always found myself doing different sports in an intensely competitive way, did I mention I had barred my Dad from attending any of my sports games? My boyfriend is only allowed come to races if he does not shout! Trail running is one of the few sports I sought out and I find it in a way relaxing and energising. There is a quote that I love from Christopher McDougalls Born to Run that “if you don’t have the answers to your problems after a four-hour run, you aint getting them“.

There was one time I had a row with an ex live-in boyfriend, so I went for a run and it was four hours before I came back. It was 11pm at night, and I might have even played a field hockey game earlier in the day, I cant remember. The run helped me decide what I wanted to do next, if that relationship still had legs. Running is my therapy too!

Despite being very active growing up, I also use to get ill a lot as well. It was only when I started trail running and going for long runs I found I needed to bring food with me. I tried lots of different things, most of which I had trouble stomaching. What I found worked for me was cutting out the diary. I didn’t eat much meat anyway, but I started with Vegan Mondays and it went from there. With a change in diet I found that my energy levels didn’t drop off so much as before and they tended to stay up. This was a revelation for me. Recently I have even started growing my own veggie patch!

After doing all those activities growing up, I didn’t have so much time for friends. Sure, my teammates were my friends, but you don’t feel so warm and fuzzy inside when they are intensely shouting at you during a game. There was another guy I dated, and when we arranged to go mountain biking he showed up in jeans and totally unsuitable clothing. I realised at that point he didn’t get sport and I decided we were just too different. I feel with trail running people understand me better and I have started to find my tribe.