thinking about quitting running

Your health should be the priority.

There is more in life than running success.

Wishing you the best.

Just quit, running won't miss you. If later in life you miss running, start doing it again. It's just a hobby. If woodworking was your hobby, and you lost your entire forearm doing it, and then the week after that accident you lost your OTHER forearm, it'd be smart to probably not continue doing woodworking as it is hurting your body, yea? Running is literally just walking fast, who the heck cares? Find something new that isn't going to be unhealthy for you.

There's a lot going on here.

Your health is paramount to everything. Take care of yourself.

As for running, it doesn't have to be either/or. You can still run for the love it...for the healthy aspects it gives you & NOT the negative that bears down on you.

Meanwhile, I do think you can be as fast as you used to be at a healthy weight. You do NOT need to be anorexic to run well. I suspect your body simply has to adjust to the new weight. Just give it time to happen. But, I completely understand the slippery slope you're on.

Often we identify who we are by our hobbies or our jobs or our major in college. That's a Sparknotes version of who we are. We are much more complex than that. Remember that. On the surface, you identify as a runner, but there's so much more to YOU than that.

Good luck. Be safe. Be healthy.

You sound like a talented runner. That's awesome. Would it be worth trying to work with a nutritionist? Maybe you can find a good balance between healthy weight and a healthy diet. Just an idea.

Keep plugging away at the running, still high quality reps and eat as much as you like, and you will start to get fitter again.

Your options are not quit or get unhealthy again. THey are quit or run healthy.

confusedgal wrote: My options are either that or to become super unhealthy again. I'm so lost. Someone please help me.

The good news is there are more options than that.

The WORST thing to do would be to quit.

The BEST thing to do would be to stay connected to your passion for running while maintaining good health.

Let go of the need to have the fastest times at any cost. It sounds SO simple, but as you know, it isn't.

I recommend getting some professional help with this very important transition in your life. It isn't easy.

Don't stop running. Redefine it. Make it part of a rich, varied life. It's a part of you. Don't leave it behind.

The two things I'd want to know are: (1) how much have your times dropped by?; and (2) how much heavier are you now?

The reality is that you are speculating you can't be as "good", but you actually haven't tried. Unfortunately weight is a factor in running, but, there is a balance you can achieve. The one truth that you need to know is that 100% you can be a good runner and not be anorexic. In fact, you can be a better runner if you are not anorexic.

The first step - start training while eating healthy and not trying to lose weight. Get in the mileage without worrying about weight. Get in the quality workouts without worrying about weight. Then, see where you are. Once you've got the mileage and are doing quality workouts you can look at your times and start thinking about what, if anything, you need to do to improve.

Also - you can find joy in running well, without being the best. Balance running with other things in life that are important, you will be happier for it.

You clearly have the drive to be really good, to do "whatever it takes", including starve yourself. Fortunately, you also have the good sense to know that some things just aren't worth it.

In Ordinary People, the swim coach says to Timothy Hutton's character, who is thinking of quitting the swim team, "Are you having fun out there? Because I don't see you having fun out there."

That's the acid test right there. Is it fun? I get up at 4AM and do repeat 800s on the road (or hill repeats, or a hard tempo, etc.), believe it or not, because it's fun! Well, it's not always fun, like when I am injured, but I believe it will be fun again some day, so I persevere.

Are you having fun out there?

is this sarcastic?

I do not love running, I run to be good at it. So its not worth it to me if I cant be really good

Yeah maybe but usually nutritionists dont understand that runners are trying to be real lean

Run like a child ☺

No I dont really like running all that much I just do it to be good and because im (or was) better than everyone at it. Im just being honest

confusedgal wrote:

No I dont really like running all that much I just do it to be good and because im (or was) better than everyone at it. Im just being honest

You ran just to beat people.

Anger - Erratic heart state

Calm - Better heart state, incoherent

Appreciation - Coherent heart state

The human heart beats 500% more powerfully in a compassionate state of appreciation.

Find that in training, and don't race again until you can bring that to the starting line.

THEN you will run your best, most beautiful races.

Don't believe you really don't like running. You just seem to be in a bad place at the moment.

Take a long period away from running (months - a couple of years), come back and see if you enjoy it then.

I still recommend keeping fit though.

confusedgal wrote:

I do not love running, I run to be good at it. So its not worth it to me if I cant be really good

Well, YOU said it. Your insistence on "being good" --oh, no, being "really good" --- is probably tied up with your insistence on being a lot of other excellent things. Comparison is the basis of all misery. I wish you the best on getting a handle on your self-loathing dressed up as excellence, sooner rather than later.

Lift weights

What ever drove you to obsess over your weight while running will not magically disappear when you move on from running. If you really want to be healthy, in both mind and body, you should try to figure out why you obsess over your weight and learn to enjoy running at a healthy weight. Otherwise, you can quit running but the same self destructive behavior will just follow you to something else.

confusedgal wrote:

No I dont really like running all that much I just do it to be good and because im (or was) better than everyone at it. Im just being honest

Yeah that's fine. So channel that drive into something else. It could be another sport, a small business, corporate career, whatever. In the USA making money is socially acceptable, if you are really good at it you will feel like a winner. Some people will try to hold you back because you are a woman -- run them over.