Four runners share their mental health stories
Many runners find their sport is not only a way to gain physical resilience, but also a powerful ally in the path toward mental well-being. The road to mental health isn’t solitary, and witnessing others share their challenges and successes can be uplifting and inspiring.
From pros to amateurs, athletes are speaking out about their struggles and triumphs with mental health. Here are four runners to follow who are also mental health advocates.
1.- Alexi Pappas
Pappas is known for being a remarkable athlete (she ran the 10,000m for Greece at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro), but she also boasts credentials as a renowned author, filmmaker, and mental health advocate. Pappas opened up about mental health in 2020: after working toward and achieving her Olympic dreams, her mental health spiralled, and she was eventually diagnosed with severe clinical depression, which was compounded by injuries, a lack of sleep and her own reluctance to take a break from training.
Pappas authored her first book in 2021: Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas, highlighting her triumphs and challenges in sports and life, and encouraging readers to be “braveys” in pursuing their passions. She continues to advocate and be a source of hope to others on social media.”What if we athletes approached our mental health the same way we approach our physical health?” Pappas asks.
Former American steeplechaser turned elite trail runner, Ostrander uses her Instagram platform to share mental health and eating disorder awareness and advocacy.
In 2021, Ostrander returned to professional competition after being sidelined with multiple injuries for the previous 18 months. During this time, she was hospitalized for treatment of an eating disorder. Ostrander qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she ran a personal best of 9:26.96 in the 3,000m steeplechase, before deciding to take a year-long break from professional running to prioritize her own mental health.
Ostrander returned to racing in 2023, and made a shift to the trails, running to ninth place at the Mammoth 26K in California in September.
3.- Evan Birch
Canadian ultrarunner and mental health advocate Evan Birch shares an unflinching look at his mental health journey on social media as he works to destigmatize the conversation around mental wellness. Birch is a former 911 dispatcher from Calgary who has been running on trails for more than a decade, and who most recently conquered Western Canada’s first 200-mile race, The Divide 200, in September 2023.
A busy father to young children, Birch recently collaborated with filmmaker Dylan Leeder to create Running Forward, a documentary illuminating the intersection between running and mental health.”It is more important to me now that I meet the truth within me, than it is to make other people comfortable with how I am,” Birch says on social media. “The gifts I have received from allowing myself to be sad are so plentiful.”
4.- Denoja Uthayakumar
From Scarborough, Ont., Uthayakumar is no stranger to hardship, but she has taken her experiences and built a social platform where she can advocate for individuals from similar backgrounds. Uthayakmar is a cancer survivor, body positivity and mental health advocate and was Canadian Running’s pick for our 2023 Community Builder of the Year award.
Uthayakumar was born into a Tamil family, and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age five; she shares her physical and mental health challenges alongside the joy that running and the community around it bring to her. “This year pushed me. It broke me down. It challenged me to no end,” Uthayakumar says on Instagram. “It was hard, but I rose higher with my running journey, and was able to share more of my story during my healing while being a survivor.”
posted Wednesday January 31st
by Keeley Milne