6 | Elite Marathoner Kaitlin Goodman: A Return to Running Joyfully

In the summer of 2018, pro runner Kaitlin Goodman—known for her positive personality, as well as times fast enough to qualify her for the Olympic Trials in multiple events—had just signed a new contract with the Boston Athletic Association High Performance Team and Adidas. She was training for the TCS New York City Marathon that fall. By her account, she was in “the shape of her life.”

Then, on a training run in August, she dove to avoid a car that nearly hit her. In the process, she partially tore her hamstring tendon. The diagnosis—and the subsequent slow recovery—ranks as one of the biggest challenges she’s faced in her life. But in her journey back to running, she gained newfound perspective (and even a new family member).

Kaitlin joined us today to discuss:

• How the injury took her from the “highest of highs” to the “lowest of lows”
• Why her dog Moose was so critical to her psychological and physical recovery—and how his running ramp-up mirrored her return to the sport
• The extremely difficult decision not to line up at the NYC Marathon, and why she kept her injury quiet for a time
• How she handled the day of the race itself; why she couldn’t go to NYC but did watch the competition from afar
• Why coaching was another saving grace during this time: “When all your eggs are in the running basket and running is not going well, it's really challenging. You feel like you're like failing at all areas of your life.”
• Why she thinks it’s so important to allow yourself time to feel negative emotions—but to put a timeframe on them
• One big piece of support she wishes she would’ve asked for in the depths of her injury process, and what she recommends to other athletes
• The anger she felt at the driver, how she worked a day at a time to control it, and the productive project into which she’s now channeling it
• The loss of identity that comes with injury, how deeply it affected her, and what she did to move through it
• When she started to feel like “Kaitlin the runner” was reborn, and how gratitude for that influences her experience now

 

Resources/links we mention:

• Kaitlin’s website
• Her social media pages: Instagram and Twitter

 

Thanks for listening, and please reach out anytime at [email protected] with questions, guest suggestions, or other feedback.

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