it’s sad Rojo doesn’t care about Molly, eating disorders or even women. He only posted this because Molly is a hot button for clicks. Pretend to show some sympathy, rojo. Your crocodile tears for semenya and other DSD athletes is telling
I have been around running as an athlete and coach for a long, long time. The reality is a lot of very destructive personality traits are rewarded in running. Obsessiveness, control, extreme dedication, narcissism and sadly eating disorders can lead to some good results especially in the short term. I know several old school coach that call an ED “riding the lightning” as in they are going to run great for 3 months before they crash and burn (insert most of the womens 10k field at NCAAs).
Molly is incredibly talented outside of her issues with mental and physical health, she has been on that lightning a time or two. I think everyone is hopeful that she can race and be successful fully mentally and physically healthy.
Lastly, and old rule to follow. The more a runner tries to prove she doesn’t have an eating disorder, the worse off she actually is. If there are more food than running pics on IG, dead give away
I have been around running as an athlete and coach for a long, long time. The reality is a lot of very destructive personality traits are rewarded in running. Obsessiveness, control, extreme dedication, narcissism and sadly eating disorders can lead to some good results especially in the short term. I know several old school coach that call an ED “riding the lightning” as in they are going to run great for 3 months before they crash and burn (insert most of the womens 10k field at NCAAs).
Molly is incredibly talented outside of her issues with mental and physical health, she has been on that lightning a time or two. I think everyone is hopeful that she can race and be successful fully mentally and physically healthy.
Lastly, and old rule to follow. The more a runner tries to prove she doesn’t have an eating disorder, the worse off she actually is. If there are more food than running pics on IG, dead give away
While I think IG is a negative and can contribute to eating disorders, Molly had issues well before IG fame. Eating disorders and running have been around for a long long time. I don’t see the problem getting better or worse, the sad reality is it will always be a negative part of the sport.
It’s a requirement with sponsors. Social media following is very important for athletes to attract sponsors. I’ve been in contact with Puma since 2019, yes… before they announced their re-entry to the running market, and their emphasis was on growing my audience. I decided to find other ways without sponsors because it’s BS. Terms have requirement’s around weekly posts, story, etc.
Excellent post Neurodivergent. Another challenge faced by many is proper diagnosis. When I read your post, some of your symptoms could be bipolar, anxiety disorder, OCD so there is overlap which can complicate getting proper treatment. Rejection sensitivity is a feature of borderline personality disorder. I mention all this not to question your diagnosis but for others to be aware that some people do struggle to get assessed properly because in some cases it can be tricky. Good luck.
You realize Adhd is often coupled with Anxiety Disorder and OCD… right? I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, EDNOS, and OCD in college, then in January this year I was diagnosed with ADHD. My Psychologist explained that ADHD is rarely alone.
I sound like a head case as I read this back, but no one ever would suspect these mental health disorders with me - I’m a happy-go-lucky person that ran successfully at one of the top universities in the world, and have a strong running career.
It's possible to have problems and be a doper. They're not mutually exclusive. PEDs, after all, all have valid medical uses. Athletes, however, don't use them for that purpose. They use them to gain an unfair advantage over those who don't dope.
Excellent post Neurodivergent. Another challenge faced by many is proper diagnosis. When I read your post, some of your symptoms could be bipolar, anxiety disorder, OCD so there is overlap which can complicate getting proper treatment. Rejection sensitivity is a feature of borderline personality disorder. I mention all this not to question your diagnosis but for others to be aware that some people do struggle to get assessed properly because in some cases it can be tricky. Good luck.
You realize Adhd is often coupled with Anxiety Disorder and OCD… right? I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, EDNOS, and OCD in college, then in January this year I was diagnosed with ADHD. My Psychologist explained that ADHD is rarely alone.
I sound like a head case as I read this back, but no one ever would suspect these mental health disorders with me - I’m a happy-go-lucky person that ran successfully at one of the top universities in the world, and have a strong running career.
You are likely just drowning in a sea of isms trying to find an explanation for what is probably not too far from normal. Your shrinks are there to authoritatively declare these isms and prescribe meds so they can feed their families.
Not denying mental health disorders or that medication have an effect, but we are a “shrink wrapped” generation suffering from overdiagnosis and overmedication for what lies on a broad spectrum of normal. ADHD? Have you considered that you or your kid might just be a little stupid? Everyone’s focus improves, with or without ADHD, with ADHD medication, which is why kids and their friends abuse it during exam time. Same with depression, anxiety, OCD etc. as in we all experience all of these emotions and for some it can be truly crippling, but the number prescribed is way higher than the number that actually need prescription meds.
Honestly it's probably not great for Molly that her sister is now a full-time "run-fluencer" whose career is helped by Molly having an extensive, fun and quirky social media presence
The vast majority of Americans eat too much food as kids and teens to be skinny enough to be a top tier elite runner. They have to compete with Africans who were basically undernourished throughout their childhoods and are thus smaller in stature and have lower bone mass. A few people, like Deena Kastor and Shalane Flanagan, appear to be able to maintain a very low weight. (Who knows if they have eating disorders also, though.) But 99% of Americans have to exercise extreme restriction with food to reach their optimum running weight. I think it's very hard to do that without going over the edge into anorexia, bulimia, or both.
Even for non-elite runners in the US, I think if you have an average metabolism you have to constantly deny yourself, especially as you pass 40 and 50. The grocery store is filled with tasty, terribly unhealthy food. Restaurants are filled with fried food, sugar and saturated fat and huge portions. And if you're well off, money is no object in terms of being able to afford as much food as you want. So it's all down to self-control and restraint. It would give anyone a complex about food.
Honestly it's probably not great for Molly that her sister is now a full-time "run-fluencer" whose career is helped by Molly having an extensive, fun and quirky social media presence
When I ran D1 my coach definitely enforced the ‘ride the lightning’ approach and It left me & a lot of my teammates chronically injured & burnt out by the end of college, which I documented in an e book called She Was Once a Runner. How Molly was able to bounce back from being a burnt out 5th year senior to an Olympic medalist is an amazing story but now knowing she was still suffering from Bulimia at the peak of her career is disappointing. If I was a d1 college athlete right now, Molly’s story would be so toxic for me & my teammates (some of whom were suffering from bulimia at that time).
The vast majority of Americans eat too much food as kids and teens to be skinny enough to be a top tier elite runner. They have to compete with Africans who were basically undernourished throughout their childhoods and are thus smaller in stature and have lower bone mass. A few people, like Deena Kastor and Shalane Flanagan, appear to be able to maintain a very low weight. (Who knows if they have eating disorders also, though.) But 99% of Americans have to exercise extreme restriction with food to reach their optimum running weight. I think it's very hard to do that without going over the edge into anorexia, bulimia, or both.
Even for non-elite runners in the US, I think if you have an average metabolism you have to constantly deny yourself, especially as you pass 40 and 50. The grocery store is filled with tasty, terribly unhealthy food. Restaurants are filled with fried food, sugar and saturated fat and huge portions. And if you're well off, money is no object in terms of being able to afford as much food as you want. So it's all down to self-control and restraint. It would give anyone a complex about food.
The mistake here is aiming for "optimum running weight". That shouldn't even be a thing. Be at your optimum healthy weight and if that means you are a few seconds slower that is what it means. A few seconds on the stopwatch isn't worth your health.
The problem is it sounds like she can't fully give it up because of the sponsor commitments, which are possibly what enables her to train, run, compete and so on. She may financially need them. However, in an ideal world I agree with you - she should give it up. If someone is constantly getting sh1tty messages on social media it becomes pointless. She could block messages from people she doesn't know which would massively help.
Then she will have to pick between leaving sponsors and her mental health. Not a fun choice but she wouldn't be the first person to leave a job for mental health reasons. I know a lot that left stressful jobs for the same.
I would never consider a job that mandated any social media presence. I keep work work and life life. Social Media, other than LinkedIn, is life. I don't even allow coworkers to see my pages unless we are friends outside of work.
Well hopefully she makes the right decision for her health. Sometimes we can't have it all.
Honestly it's probably not great for Molly that her sister is now a full-time "run-fluencer" whose career is helped by Molly having an extensive, fun and quirky social media presence
Actually, that would mean her sister is the perfect person to pay to run Molly's accounts for her: she knows Molly well enough to understand her 'voice' while also being sympathetic to her sensitivities and can weed through DMs without falling prey to trolls' slings and arrows. Molly's not hurting for dough, she could chip off $5000+ per annum to get her sister or some marketing student to take over her accounts and let Molly just focus on the running and real life stuff. Heck, if it were my own sister I'd volunteer to do that.