Run Along

Being an Olympian or Paralympian often comes with some pretty cool things. Pretty cool things like clarity of purpose, confidence, sponsorship deals, traveling around the world with random life stuff taken care of because of Olympian status. Stepping away from that unique experience can be uncomfortable and unforgiving. Cue the skies parting and sun beaming from heavens. This is where Terris “T” Tiller comes in. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

For large portions of her soccer career, Sommer Denison felt burnt out. She had lost her heart for the game. Much of her competitive desire went away. Overall, her positive experiences in the sport felt fewer and farther in between. Still, she kept going. That perseverance — and a twist of fate — saw her end her career in a blaze of glory. Make no mistake though...when it was time to turn her jersey in, she couldn’t have been happier to do so. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

The practice of retiring numbers is a not-so-straightforward one. A number that "hangs from the rafters" can get us thinking about some stuff. Like whose idea was this? What might be the best way to honor a legacy? Can retiring numbers go too far? Here's a short history, analysis, and entertaining anecdote hybrid episode on the sports ritual. 

Introducing Run Along's new round of mini shows. “Intervals” is a lil platform for the cool, random stuff about athletic retirement and post-sports life in general. Did you hear the story about college basketball star who went on to become a nun? Have you ever wondered about the history behind “retired numbers”? What exactly happens when pro athletes go broke? That and more will be coming to you in these every-so-often jolts of auditory pleasure. It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be interesting and it’s all gonna happen in bite sized episodes under 10 minutes. Nice.

Matt Bracegirdle ate, slept and breathed hockey. Not everyone who commits their life to their sport like this wins national titles or gold medals. They are average people who gave an extraordinary amount of themselves to the game. Loving something in that way is no doubt special and it can make leaving behind the experience devastating. How do you use what you once loved as a healthy (!) emotional measuring stick to find new passions? Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Shannon Miller is the most decorated American gymnast of all time. As far as athletic successes go, her career was an extreme. Gymnastics — Female gymnastics. In the US. — is also an extreme. The discipline required, injury risk, relative retirement age, and the veneration our best and brightest young women garner every 4 years are elements that elevate the sport to a tier of its own. What happens after you leave behind a life that’s so exceptional in all these ways? List now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

How does the way a sport is introduced define an athlete’s relationship to it? To the Iroquois, lacrosse is considered a gift from a higher power. Neal Powless is one of the greatest players the Onondaga Nation has ever produced. A life-threatening disorder ended his career. In the midst of his grief, he saw the ways being a pro athlete had hurt him and re-committed himself to promoting the Creator’s Game in the ways from which he had strayed. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

The 6 individuals in this show were all confronted with a decision. They could potentially harm their well-being in an irreparable way by continuing to do something they love, something that has always defined them. Or they could say goodbye. They could weigh logic over emotion and walk away in order to protect their future. Navigating a scary end to their sports careers, these former athletes struggled through pain, found hope and learned a lot of lessons along the way. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Kikkan Randall had a fairytale ending to her athletic career. She helped win the US’ first ever gold in cross-country skiing at the 2018 Olympics. Just weeks later, her retirement started off with a nightmare. Randall was diagnosed with breast cancer. Today, a story of side-by-side emotional extremes and putting the champion mindset to an unthinkable test. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

As the best female boxer in the world, Lucia Rijker’s career focused on damage — the ways to inflict it, the ways to overcome it. How might the type of sport an athlete plays affect them in the post-sports chapter? Now a coach and a speaker, Rijker has focused on turning the dysfunction she embraced as a fighter into a force for good. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.