Running is known for a lot of benefits. It can help heart health, reduce risks of certain cancers, reduce or even eliminate some cases of diabetes, boost hormone levels, and the list can go on for seemingly endless amounts. Perhaps that's the thing I like the most about running. We all get something different out of it and we all get exactly what we look for from it.

            I have been fascinated over the last few years though to read how many people use running as a coping mechanism. Every month, it seems the cover story in Runners World or Running Times is telling another unique tale of a runner who used running to recover from crisis.

            My personal running narrative begins with running being my escape from deafness. As a sophomore in high school, I lost my hearing from an allergic reaction to my braces. With my hearing went many of my friends. I don't blame them because as a high schooler you just don't have the ability to deal with disability very well (or communicate with a cell phone circa 1997). Running became my absolute constant. If I could never hear again, I could always still run. I used that tough patch of my life to BECOME a runner from the wrestling mold I spent the previous 8 years sculpting.

            The theme has continued for me over the years: I channel my energy into running when something turns challenging in my life. I have used running as an escape from academic struggles in college. Ultimately that brought me back on track to graduate in 4 years too! I've used my running to deal with the death of loved ones. Running has been there for me when I have dealt with break-ups in relationships. It's always my constant and I know I'm not alone.

            Recently my home of Boulder, Colorado has been getting pummeled with rainfalls. We've surpassed a 100-year-flood plain. People have lost houses; people have lost cars; people have been separated from loved ones; some have even died from the flood waters and swift streams. Personally, I lost many/most of my personal possessions that are destroyed or damaged. I guess that's a negative to a basement bedroom. To deal with it, you guessed it...I'm turning to running.

            I survived only 2 days IN Boulder while the floods accumulated. It was just long enough for me to get a siphon set up from my bedroom into the sump pump and save most of my stuff from damage from backed up water outside of my bedroom. Then I had to tend to the siphon every 90 minutes to ensure that it was pulling the rainwater into the drains. Once I left town to race I had to rely on messages from my roommates and news agencies to relay further damage to me. It's all a stress. The sleepless nights, the worry, the emotion from being helpless as my friends message me in need of help clearing their places out to avoid damage, it all wore me down far before I toed the start line on the other end of the country.

            Naturally I turned to channeling my remaining energy into racing hard. Emotional fatigue is very real though and I didn't have my best race last weekend. My focus was in the moment. That wasn't the problem. The problem was lack of sleep and emotional beatings I was getting from seeing my home town being damaged and people's lives damaged.

            I returned home right after the race on Sunday and went right for a run. I had to get my bearings back where they belonged. I had to get my piece of mind and assess where my running could take me still, among what looked like a war-torn Boulder road system. It's how I can only imagine Hiroshima looking after the atomic bomb dropped. There was debris everywhere; trees were floating down the Boulder Creek, some with roots still attached! Tuesday, I found myself foregoing an additional rest day I had been afforded by my coach and I was back to running a hard workout. The emotional energy needed to be channeled and I needed to get back to “my happy place.” It worked.

            The more I'm seeing articles out in the Boulder/Denver newspapers, the more I realize I'm not alone. All of the runners in town are taking a similar approach of using their running to get place to place in order to help others. We're getting out to find some semblance of normalcy among the chaos. We're doing what we do best...running! I realized during this tragic and destructive storm that runners at ALL levels use the sport to cope.

            As I go to races, I see people running for various causes from cancer research to funding therapies for Newtown victims and Boston Marathon victims. It reminds me how great of a sport we have and how bonded we all really are within its confines. Whatever keeps you running, remember that this sport has healing powers and you should tap into them. Thanks for letting me share my healing with you.