Best of luck to her. I'm glad she's getting help.
Best of luck to her. I'm glad she's getting help.
you'll get past this Allie. She is one of my favorite people. Don't know her but just her attitude and smile brightens up the day.
mar828 wrote:
Anorexia has highest mortality rate of any mental disorder at 10%.
Wow…. Is that right?
I would have thought drug abuse/overdose, or perhaps suicide.
Sad nonetheless………
donk the real one wrote:
To all letsrun posters:
If you start typing a reply to this that includes something like, "Wish her the best, but..." or "This may not be a popular take, but...", or pretty much any other reply that uses the word but, just go ahead and not post it.
I am hoping all the best for her. I struggled with an eating disorder in my 20s and it ruined my life for several years. It took years of intensive counseling to work my way out of it. Running doesn't matter right now. She needs to get mentally healthy, and I am glad she is taking the steps to do that. If running comes later, great.
Hey….. Congratulations on your recovery.
I believe that being an elite athlete takes great discipline. That same discipline an be used to recover.
I say Allie recovers and resumes her running career, setting a great example for others who may be silently suffering a similar illness.
Nonsense! wrote:
ddidididid wrote:
At her level of being a WC qualifier? Not many. Drop it down to conference scorer, yeah there are a ton. The question is this a somewhat recent thing or has it been like the 5+ years that letsrun has been saying.
The line here is really fine. What is the difference between 2020 Seidel who we think his healthy and the ED version in 2016? Like 5lbs and an attitude. That is tough for outsiders to diagnosis.
First of all, it's not for outsiders to diagnose. Secondly, eating disorders are not about weight, a person can still be thin and not have an eating disorder just as a person can be heavy and have one. Molly's weight is irrelevant to her stage of recovery and her attitude, a manifestation of her improved mental health, is a huge factor. Molly knows the difference between 206 Molly and 2020 Molly and that's all that matters. Allie will get there, she has a huge circle of support with her family, her friends and her true fans, like me!
Don’t really think this makes sense.
Best of luck to her though
innit wrote:
What’s so bad about Boise states program? I know everyone says “Iowa state and Corey Ihmels is all you need to know.” But what actually happened at Boise?
I don't think it had to do with the program necessarily, but there was outrage on the boards here when the likes of Ostrander, Bothma, and Peloquin etc. ran at a XC meet in 2015 and were exceptionally thin. There was lots of speculation about the team and even a thread about how to approach a topic like this that got locked because it was serious.
I can really feel for Allie though having struggled with an ED for several years. It speaks volumes about her character being genuine and authentic about her struggles, because so many suffer in silence and feel shame when we shouldn't have to. Getting help needs to be normalized and this is a great way to fight against the stigma that plagues our sport.
Facing this demonstrates a lot of strength on her part. It seems like she has an incredible support network to always have her back, and I hope she comes back stronger than ever. Godspeed Allie
I wonder the same. What happened at ISU and Boise State? And if these are founded issues why aren’t we discussing them more publicly to make sure other young female athletes don’t fall
Into that trap. If there are suspected ED issues with a certain coach or program I would want to know and have it discussed rather than being locked and not being known to the public. That doesn’t help the kids or issues.
I hope Allie isn't reading this thread, but if she is - cheering for you girl!
Recoverry sucks. I've been there, though in not such a public-facing way.
There seem to be more and more runners opening up about this lately: Hannah Fields was with the Brooks Beasts and spoke about it, Amelia Boone starting a few years ago right when she came out of treatment, Molly Seidel, Lucy Bartholomew, Abby D'Agostino, Elise Cranny etc etc.
I guess my question is: so many runners are talking about this now, which is great, but is anything going to change? Everyone is begging for it to change and be "normalized," but it just doesn't seem to be happening (sadly).
I do worry that if Brooks forced her into treatment it's not going to stick as well as if she voluntarily went, but I do hope I'm proved wrong.
It takes true courage to admit your struggling and seek help. A coward will continue to struggle and never ask for help. Best of luck to her and prayers for a safe and healthy recovery.
Her HS coach ignored it because SHE WAS GOOD.
Her College coach ignored it because SHE WAS GOOD.
Brooks ignored all of the obvious signs in the vetting process because SHE WAS GOOD
Now we want top at Brooks on the back for doing the right thing?
If she was a lock to make the Olympic Team Brooks would still be ignoring it. The injuries and LACK OF PRODUCTION has made them respond.
sanchobaile wrote:
tacomafan wrote:
I've been watching her Youtube's since this past winter and enjoyed them. I send my best thoughts her way.
But honestly, how many other high level runners probably need help? Allie never looked to me even CLOSE to the worst. I think almost any of us could name ten off the top of our head that look way more in danger than her.
the fallacy you fail to recognize is it's not about who looks the thinnest. you can't diagnose disordered eating by looking at a person's body (sure, sometimes there are telltale signs, but there don't have to be). and getting to a healthy weight doesn't mean struggles with disordered eating are over.
also, think about how often you've looked at a thin female runner and assumed she had an ED, and how rarely if ever you've had the same thought about a male one. it's not because guys don't have eating disorders.
Personally I haven't thought about it much despite gender. Ryan Hall was the one guy I saw and knew right away it didn't look right(even though he may not have had a disorder). You shouldn't be near 6 feet tall and under 130. It's also cultural in some sense. I remember in Running With the Buffaloes Mark Wetmore saying if you wanna be fast you gotta look like a skeleton with a condom on it's head. In general male elite runners look like they have more muscle especially in their legs than female elites. The other part is that generally people simply care less about the mental health of males. Never crosses your mind they're just supposed to deal with it make it work etc.
Walking Contradiction wrote:
I hope Allie isn't reading this thread, but if she is - cheering for you girl!
oh my god I hope she and any other female high school/college/professional runner doesnt get within a million miles of this toxic waste dump. the last thing she needs is to see all the "ha I told you so!" posts by the misogynists and bitter cranks who flock here. Not to mention the countless threads created here crowing over and over about how slow and terrible "fatties" are at running. or how girls will always suck after puberty. talk about reinforcing an already toxic culture...
Making that video was the hardest thing shes ever done and I say that knowing shes a three time Steeplechase champion and a legend of the Mount Marathon challenge, one of the toughest races out there. But I appreciate her more for her humanity than I do for her running. And thats exactly because of her authenticity. Shes not capable of pretending. And what broke her up the most was not that she might have sacrificed her Olympic hopes or harmed her career, its that she feels she has allowed other people to risk a similar fate by pretending everything was fine. I wish more athletes could be like her frankly. More humans really.
ShilohDoesntCare wrote:
sanchobaile wrote:
the fallacy you fail to recognize is it's not about who looks the thinnest. you can't diagnose disordered eating by looking at a person's body (sure, sometimes there are telltale signs, but there don't have to be). and getting to a healthy weight doesn't mean struggles with disordered eating are over.
also, think about how often you've looked at a thin female runner and assumed she had an ED, and how rarely if ever you've had the same thought about a male one. it's not because guys don't have eating disorders.
Personally I haven't thought about it much despite gender. Ryan Hall was the one guy I saw and knew right away it didn't look right(even though he may not have had a disorder). You shouldn't be near 6 feet tall and under 130. It's also cultural in some sense. I remember in Running With the Buffaloes Mark Wetmore saying if you wanna be fast you gotta look like a skeleton with a condom on it's head. In general male elite runners look like they have more muscle especially in their legs than female elites. The other part is that generally people simply care less about the mental health of males. Never crosses your mind they're just supposed to deal with it make it work etc.
Ryan Hall has spoken about how he got so light that it was detrimental to his running, and that Sara is less obsessed with it and lets her body land where it does during training and contributes part of her longevity and durability to that.
I've also wondered if Dathan Ritzenheim dealt with RED-S since he was always battling an injury or another. 5'8'' and under 120 lbs is tiny. I don't know that he had an eating disorder, but he definitely seems like the type that struggled to take enough enough calories for his energy demands and suffered for it.
some thoughts from a woman wrote:
ShilohDoesntCare wrote:
Personally I haven't thought about it much despite gender. Ryan Hall was the one guy I saw and knew right away it didn't look right(even though he may not have had a disorder). You shouldn't be near 6 feet tall and under 130. It's also cultural in some sense. I remember in Running With the Buffaloes Mark Wetmore saying if you wanna be fast you gotta look like a skeleton with a condom on it's head. In general male elite runners look like they have more muscle especially in their legs than female elites. The other part is that generally people simply care less about the mental health of males. Never crosses your mind they're just supposed to deal with it make it work etc.
Ryan Hall has spoken about how he got so light that it was detrimental to his running, and that Sara is less obsessed with it and lets her body land where it does during training and contributes part of her longevity and durability to that.
I've also wondered if Dathan Ritzenheim dealt with RED-S since he was always battling an injury or another. 5'8'' and under 120 lbs is tiny. I don't know that he had an eating disorder, but he definitely seems like the type that struggled to take enough enough calories for his energy demands and suffered for it.
I remember an interview with Ritzenhein later in his career where he mentioned that at times he has taken things too far when it comes to being lean, so you are very likely correct.
Go, allie, go wrote:
Haven't watched her video yet, but has she mentioned if she is still going to compete at the Trials? I hope so. Rooting for her!
She wont be anywhere near a meet for a year, watch the video, she has serious physical and mental issues to get resolvex..it will take a long time before she is ready, if ever.
runnerexpert wrote:
Go, allie, go wrote:
Haven't watched her video yet, but has she mentioned if she is still going to compete at the Trials? I hope so. Rooting for her!
She wont be anywhere near a meet for a year, watch the video, she has serious physical and mental issues to get resolvex..it will take a long time before she is ready, if ever.
I don't think so, she has declared for the US Olympic Trials and you could only declare since June 8th I believe.
https://www.usatf.org/events/2021/2020-u-s-olympic-team-trials-track-field/status-of-entriesddidididid wrote:
some thoughts from a woman wrote:
Allie O said in the youtube video she has had some form of an eating disorder since she was 12 years old. It makes me wonder if some of the posters who claimed earlier that she had stunted puberty might be correct.
Not that outsiders can diagnose anything, but I would hazard a guess Molly Seidel weights a good 10-15 lbs more than she did in college as a woman who is similar in height to her. She is super lean now, but her legs have so much more muscle on them. Plus she is running 120 mile weeks without getting injured constantly. That alone is huge. In college seemed injured constantly.
A quick Google has her claiming 107 as an anorexic and 115 today. As to how accurate they are? Your guess as good as mine. The difference between being healthy thin and crossing that line just isn't much. If you are at like 8% at 105, the odds of you being into that unhealthy region are insanely high. Add 5lbs of fat and you are still going to be insanely thin at 12% bf but there is a chance you are healthy at that weight.
This issue has been a big deal for like 30+ years now AND we seemed to have made no progress. I have a bad feeling that nothing will change over the next 30.
"A quick Google has her claiming 107 as an anorexic and 115 today. As to how accurate they are? Your guess as good as mine. The difference between being healthy thin and crossing that line just isn't much. If you are at like 8% at 105, the odds of you being into that unhealthy region are insanely high. Add 5lbs of fat and you are still going to be insanely thin at 12% bf but there is a chance you are healthy at that weight.
This issue has been a big deal for like 30+ years now AND we seemed to have made no progress. I have a bad feeling that nothing will change over the next 30."
I mean aside from my general impression given my eyes and my weight at a similar height and frame (but far less lean as I am no pro runner running 100 mile weeks), I was also basing this on something she said in a podcast talking about it. She said she weighed ~10-15 lbs less in college at her lightest. I wouldn't be surprised if points in college she was close to 100 lbs. She certainly looked noticeably unhealthy at points.
"Fact" checker wrote:
runnerexpert wrote:
She wont be anywhere near a meet for a year, watch the video, she has serious physical and mental issues to get resolvex..it will take a long time before she is ready, if ever.
I don't think so, she has declared for the US Olympic Trials and you could only declare since June 8th I believe.
https://www.usatf.org/events/2021/2020-u-s-olympic-team-trials-track-field/status-of-entries
She can declare whatever she wants, there is no way they will let her step foot on the track in her current condition
runnerexpert wrote:
Go, allie, go wrote:
Haven't watched her video yet, but has she mentioned if she is still going to compete at the Trials? I hope so. Rooting for her!
She wont be anywhere near a meet for a year, watch the video, she has serious physical and mental issues to get resolvex..it will take a long time before she is ready, if ever.
If you watched the video you would see that she entered treatment 5 weeks ago and has been training since then and she ran in a meet. Some of the workouts in her most recent video were done while in treatment. I don't know if she will run at trials, but I don't see any reason why she could not. She currently has no physical illness or injury that would prevent her from doing so. Whether she is otherwise ready is a matter for her capable physicians.