Friday Feature: MissShellShock

Michele aka MissShellShock is one of my newest outdoor social media friends. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado and is a long distance runner and is becoming a bonafide ultra-runner. If you didn't know, ultra-marathoners run up to 100K in their races. Yes, 100 kilometers. Without stopping.

But one of the main reasons that I chose to feature Michele, is because she and I are a lot alike. We have friends that do things better than us. We're not FINISHED with our path, we're about half way there! We struggle, we hurt, we have days we don't want to run or hike. We question and we wonder why we do the things we do. But unlike some in our hobbies, we're not afraid to tell people that. I am not judging those that are, but we are not.

Michele blogs at MissShellShockRuns and you can follow her on Instagram at @missshellshock

Below is one of my favorite blog posts that I've read, that Michele wrote. I am attaching it in full.

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I have only been running for 3 years now, and only in the trail/ultra running world for a year. The biggest thing that I have noticed among taking part of both road and trail running is the lack of willingness to show vulnerability. What I mean by this is not saying "I could have done better" or "my race wasn't what I thought it would be" or "I failed because I didn’t place", but more along the lines of being willing to show that running and training for races isn't always "I love running!" "Running is amazing!", or "I can't wait to go run!". Sometimes it's "Why am I doing this?" or "This is the most painful thing I've experienced!" or "I never want to run again". I believe that every runner struggles at one point or another, including elites. The struggles can be different for everyone. It can be about motivation, injury, running through pain (and choosing to continue), feeling insecure in your abilities or just plain not loving running that day. Admitting these things doesn't make any of us less of a runner or any of our accomplishments less incredible. However, it's becoming a trend to make ourselves appear as if we don't go through these thoughts and feelings…ever.

I am a pretty transparent person which can be really annoying sometimes. I myself hate being vulnerable and can become embarrassed very easily when my pain and struggle becomes obvious to anyone that's running with me. I start to feel as if everyone is going to think that all I do is struggle and that I never have a good run (it almost seems as if all my good runs happen when I am running solo, go figure…maybe it's because I'm not putting all this undue pressure on myself!) This is probably why most people will be willing to admit something such as that they wish they could have finished their race faster as opposed to admitting the reason why they didn't is because the run was painful and difficult for them.

Why do I think that not being willing to show your vulnerability is a bad thing? Because it's so important to be real and honest with yourself in order to grow as a runner and that begins with being real and honest with others. It's also really important to allow your struggle to reveal itself when it occurs so that when it starts to become less common, you can still remember what it was like and be able to empathize and support others in your running community.

It's so easy to want to represent yourself, especially when social media is involved, as a runner that just demolishes every run and every goal they have set for themselves and that it wasn't even hard. While this could be true for some people, those people are in the minority. As runners, we put ourselves into this amazing community of people that are just there, handing out their support, their love and their admiration to their peers. This is something that I am so grateful and appreciative of and am starting to realize that I can feel safe to show my entire self as a runner and not feel judged.

Show your true self and feelings with others and they will be willing to do the same. We are all simply passionate humans that are putting our full drive into this sport that we love. With passion there are setbacks and insecurities and there are also successes and endorphin filled happiness. Don't be afraid to fully express everything that is involved with being a passionate runner!