My Why

At sixteen, I moved away from home to chase a dream, a real career in track and field.

Junior year, everything clicked. I hit goals I didn't think were possible. There were minor injuries along the way, but I was ready for them.

Then senior year came, and with it, an injury I thought I'd already beaten. It took my whole cross country season, the base everything else was built on. I told myself it was fine. College recruiting was still happening, and that alone was enough stress to carry.

So I kept showing up. Smiled. Said hello. And then went and did the quiet work, the unseen kind, to get back to where I'd been.

By indoor season, Nationals, my body was ready. My mind wasn't. I'd built expectations so high I couldn't see over them anymore. And somewhere in trying to meet them, I started losing the thing I loved most, the sport that had always been my escape.

The injury kept coming and going all season. But so did the work. Quiet work. One practice at a time.

By the end, I found it again, not all at once, but slowly, the way most real things come back. I remembered what I'd forgotten: it's not the end of the World when it doesn't go the way you planned.

That's why Dear Athlete exists. For the quiet work nobody sees. For finding your way back. On your own time.

Mackenzie, Founder of Dear Athlete