A Final Effort to Save the Love of Running.

It sadness me that this must be written, but I am doing it because of my love for running and the sports of cross country and track. I entered college to continue my education and athletics; in hopes to deepen my love for running. Sadly, my passion is slowly dwindling away.

Expecting college athletics to be completely different than high school, as in drama free and closer teammates, was soon found to be a foolish thought. I do hate to place blame on people, but it has been clearly depicted that our coach has split our team; some athletes praise her, while others believe she is incredibly unprofessional and creates a harmful environment. Four athletes just this season quit from the cross country and track team.

This women’s cross-country program has lofty standards because of the accomplishments it has had in the past. The team has made it to Division II Nationals the past 5 years in a row, and 9 times total. Also, many All-American runners have come out of this program. It is no surprise that the Coach has such high standards for her runners. Her running program is exceptional, but this does not make up for the way she treats her athletes. It is unfair, and extremely unprofessional.
 
The first of many deplorable actions the coach preforms, is degrading her athletes, especially to the distance runners. Out of rage she will send nasty text messages to athletes if they did not perform to her standards. To list a few examples of how she has degraded her female athletes, here are texts (with many spelling errors) that athletes on the team have received this past year:
“In watching you this fall you put on weight. Some is muscle, but if you keep your cardio it should help lean out the bulk…” 

“You are in the group I put you in. 400/600/800. I promise you will run fast if you do these. The other sprinters can’t even run a 400 without falling on the ground… You have gained weight and are partying. You will NOT break 2:20 or 63 if got keep this path up. A little disappointed right now.”

“We just need to talk. I feel like you jack confidence and are hanging around people who party. Staying up late. Drinking will not keep you healthy and ready to run as an all American.”
“Your body has changed. We need to get on a better plan.”

“Race??? Not what I had hoped for. I am counting on you to get going and start training harder. More commitment. 

These messages are NOT okay, and incredibly unprofessional. Body shaming female athletes does not help improve performances. Some athletes take it to heart, I have seen girls eat less to lose weight, making them weaker and sometime acquire heath issues like low iron or mental health problems. While these messages are sent, she then acts like nothing happened the next day. Sometimes even tries to kiss up to athletes because she knows what she did was wrong, but NEVER apologizes. 

In addition to the nasty text messages our coach sends, she also loves to gossip about her own athletes to her other athletes, show favoritism, and over share her personal life. These actions are NOT okay, unprofessional, and are ripping apart our Women’s Track and Cross Country team. 

It is extremely challenging for me to stay focused and motivated to run for a coach who does not commit herself to the well-being of her runners, and when the team is split with teammates that do not support and trust each other. Instead of looking forward to practice after a long day of school, I sometimes dread it. I have thought many times of quitting running or transferring schools, but I cannot. I am not able to give up the part of my life that has brought me the most joy, toughened my skin, taught me how to deal with failure, success, brought me light during low times, introduced me to lifelong friends, and most of all inspires me to be the best person I can be: on and off the trails and track. I have hope for the future even though it is hard right now, but I cannot let the actions of others take away my passion for the sports of cross country and track. 

As I said before, the reason I am writing this is to save the love for running: For me, my teammates, and any other runners experiencing an analogous situation. It is time we as runners, teammates, coaches, friends… to support each other in the beautiful sport of running, rather than tearing each other down.

- Anonymous