53 | Skyrunner Hillary Allen: Courage and Curiosity
Release Date: 07/01/2021
The Injured Athletes Club
“How do I keep trying in the face of chronic health issues? Sometimes giving up feels like the more sensible choice.” —Sarah “That’s my question too. How do I accept that structural issues are real and we need to accept and move on? There's a lot of discussion here about 'going back to' what we did before, but for some of us (all of us at some point) that is just not possible. I'd rather be able to walk for life without an assistive device than run for a year and then need a walker or cane for the rest of my days. Can you explain how to put the 3 A's (accept, adapt, act) in...
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“At this point, it’s knowing the warning signs and when you can keep pressing on the gas and when you're kind of like, ah, I gotta, I gotta step on the brakes a little bit … If you've been unlucky and had an injury, you kind of know what it felt, what it feels like, whatever led up to it. You can think, ‘Ooh, this is similar. So maybe I just want to take a day or two off and go in the pool or do some kind of cross training just so I don't repeat history.” Pro marathoner (and full-time occupational therapist) Maegan Krifchin had a pretty incredible fall last year. After what...
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"I just turned 56 years old and have been making great strides in the mental side of my tennis game and competing. However, last May in a doubles match, I tore a piece of articular cartilage in my left knee. As my orthopedic surgeon has explained to me, that cartilage will never grow back as it was. She has given me suggestions for things that I can do to try to create fibrocartilage, including cross training with cycling and taking Osteo Bi-Flex. Those things, I think, have helped me maintain my ability to play. However, I’m more susceptible now than ever to my knee swelling up or the pain...
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“It's really accepting the emotion and coming into the present moment—not time-traveling and wishing things were like they were in the past or time-traveling and wanting this to be over already and thinking about the future. Instead, it’s bringing yourself into the present moment of like, okay, I would prefer to not be feeling this way. I would prefer for this not to be happening. But this is happening, so I need to accept that.” In this week’s episode—a replay from season 1 that’s too important not to re-share—Coach Carrie talks through a mental exercise to get out of...
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“A question I think a lot of us have is, when do you let go? That is, when do you realistically decide that the energy, physical, mental and emotional is not going to be rewarded and a change in goals—whether that's physical goals or life goals—is an order? In short, when do you stop beating your head against an immovable wall? This week—in a replay of an episode from season 4—co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Dawn F. What advice can Carrie offer during what may be a time of transition? Can she help Dawn pinpoint her objective, and...
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“My previous perspective, or the way that I have always thought about my body, is that it's injury-prone. That's the narrative I had adopted and often just think of myself and my body in sports, or in doing any sort of physical activity, that it's not quite suited to or made for this type of activity and that there was something just wrong with me, for lack of a better way to say it. Through the course of talking to a lot of experts and pulling this information together for the book, I really recognized that sometimes things just happen. You could be doing everything right and something...
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“Will I ever be the athlete I was before all of this? My fear isn’t around re-injuring the same part, my fear is, what body part might go wrong next? Is this my body’s way of telling me that my age is finally catching up with me?” —Louise This week, co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Louise, who is trying to navigate through a series of injuries and wondering what impact age is having on her recovery. In her response, Coach Carrie offers some inspiring examples from the world of high-level sports. She explains what it...
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“You can't fight for everything in life. But we all have a few things in our lives that are core to who we are, and that pull on us every single day. As much as you can endure, endure, because it's always worth it and it's bigger than you.” Running back Tim Hightower had all the momentum in the world heading into his fourth season in the NFL—a critical year, when contracts are renewed (or, in most cases, aren’t). But a catastrophic ACL tear in a 2011 game, when Washington played Charlotte, took it all away in an instant. Tim didn’t know it then, but it would be four...
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“One of the catalysts for us starting the Injured Athletes Club support group and then also doing the podcast is so that you don't feel like you're alone … when you lose your sport, there's sometimes so many little mini-losses that come with that. So to be able to come to the Injured Athletes Club and be a part of a community is so special, and you all are the ones that make that special.” One big message we try to share on this podcast, in our Facebook group, and throughout our work with injured athletes is that it’s essential to celebrate your successes. This week,...
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“My parents are dancers, so I literally grew up in the studio. Ballet kind of goes hand in hand with my identity—I have always been Chyrstyn the ballet dancer. I didn't realize that until I had it taken away from me and I had to sit down and identify other things that I was interested in. Otherwise, what was I existing for? I think having the confidence of understanding a little bit more about what I want in life that's not just ballet, or what I represent more than just being a ballet dancer or being a pretty mover on stage, was helpful.” is a principal dancer at the Boston...
info_outline“Every day doesn't have to be perfect. But you still have to put in the work, and you still need to show up, and you still need to put that brick in. Because in my little brick house in Fort Collins, which I grew up in, all the bricks were there, even if they were cracked, and scratched. They were all there in their imperfection and they made this beautiful structure. That's honestly what kept me going on those days where I felt like I didn't want to show up to do my PT. I felt like that was the one thing that I could do, no matter how boring it was, to lay that brick for the day.
Hillary Allen’s amazing story is actually the very first one we highlight in our book Rebound. In 2017, she fell off a ridge during Norway’s Tromsø Skyrace, tumbling 150 feet to what could have been her death. Her injuries included two broken ribs and wrists, a fracture in her back, and a ruptured ligament in her foot.
She’s always written eloquently about her injury, and her compelling new book Out and Back tells the tale of her accident and recovery. On this week’s show, we delve into some of the emotional components of that incredible journey, including the importance of asking for support and how she showed up for herself on days when she didn’t know if she had it in her.
And—in a topic that’s not discussed as much, but is critical for injured athletes—she also opens up about her past with disordered eating, how fueling may have saved her life, and her advice for coping with fears about weight and nutrition during recovery.
A huge thank you to our sponsor for this episode: Fluid Running. Fluid Running makes it possible to maintain your peak physical fitness even when you're injured through the power of deep water running. Listen for a special discount code in the episode!
In this episode, we discuss:
- Her respect for the power of nature, and injuries are viewed in extreme running (5:56)
- How coming to terms with the fact that she might never compete again ultimately made her a stronger runner (14:05)
- Her “brick by brick” analogy of recovery (18:43)
- Why asking for support was so hard, and how she learned to do it anyway (23:00)
- The hardest time period of her recovery, and how she got through it (28:00)
- The power of curiosity, and why she believes it was one of the secrets to her survival (30:41)
- How grief and trauma are like waves, and how she’s learned she can withstand them (34:23)
- Her experiences with disordered eating before—and after—her injury, and why she’s so passionate about sharing them (36:39)
- Why she—like Amelia Boone—doesn’t like referring to her recovery as a “comeback” (48:11)
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Resources/links:
- Hillary’s website and Instagram
- Her fabulous book, Out and Back: A Runner’s Story of Survival Against All Odds
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Join The Injured Athletes Club mailing list, for news and updates
- Join The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group, for support and camaraderie
- Like The Injured Athletes Club Podcast Facebook page, for the latest episodes
- Email us at [email protected] with questions, guest suggestions, or other feedback
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