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.
murchubrian 