Running through a pandemic
VILLANOVA, Pa. (BVM) — Villanova junior and marathon runner Ryan Haack says that the hardest part of running is just finding the motivation behind it. Running is a constant physical and mental grind and it causes a perpetual state of aches and injuries. When Villanova closed last March at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., Villanova men’s cross country runner Rob Morro, club runner Jordan McMeans and Haack found themselves back in their hometowns isolated from teammates. There were no races to prepare for since all marathons were cancelled and the collegiate season abruptly ended.
Throughout the past year — as they ran alone down their childhood streets — they struggled with motivation and purpose. However, they also learned to run for themselves and find joy in it again by understanding their identities outside of the sport.
“Quarantine saved my running career in a way,” Morro said. “I needed the lack of competition to take the pressure away for a while. It was the mental break that I needed.”
Morro was about to enter his fifth year at Villanova and was trying to transition away from identifying solely as a runner. He was running 90 miles a week and questioning what any of it was for and why he was doing it.
“It is difficult that you have to sacrifice so much outside of running to be good that you are almost choosing social isolation to be the best runner possible,” Morro said.
He has struggled with his purpose in running before. After missing a spot on the team during his junior year, Morro questioned why he was still running and had to learn how to shift his focus from competition to self-improvement.
“You have to do it a little bit for you,” Morro said, “If I beat myself up every time I did bad I would have quit a long time ago. During quarantine I got back to that.”
Now that he is back at Villanova to practice, he is refreshed, grateful and realizes that he loves running. A relatively similar type of realization would come to reality for Haack, who said that in quarantine he also found it really difficult to run. Each day, there was not much going on and he could not find much purpose.
“I had trouble going to bed at night if I felt like I hadn’t accomplished something,” Haack said. “But when I made myself run, even just two, three, four miles — it turned into more and running could be that small accomplishment I needed.”
Running during quarantine, for Haack, became sustenance.
“It sustained me. My best days in quarantine were the days that I was running and some of my worst days were when I was not running,” Haack said.
His motivation for running used to be about proving himself on what he could do, however, that led to a difficult relationship with his own body and not knowing when he needed a break. He often pushed himself too far which exposed him to injury.
One of Haack’s favorite moments in running was at the 2019 Philadelphia Marathon when he proved to himself that he could do some of the craziest things that he had ever dreamt of. It was the first time he had ever gone for “something big”. Halfway through his marathon training, he began to experience pains from over-training and was frustrated by the interruption that it had on his training schedule.
“I like to go all in but sometimes your body needs a break,” Haack said.
As he found purpose in running through quarantine, though, he began to run for health — not competition.
“Today it is something I do for myself; I run on my own for my sake,” Haack said. “I don’t want to be a good runner anymore but I want to use running as a way to become a better person.”
Similar to Haack, before lockdown, McMeans biggest breakthrough moment as a runner was at the 2019 Philadelphia Marathon because he felt that had nothing more to give. He was training for a marathon in the spring before it was cancelled and he realizes now that marked a huge shift in his running career.
“It was a great opportunity to remember that I like to run,” McMeans said. “Now I am having more fun with it and I am running because I enjoy it and not to beat other people.”
While bored in quarantine he started a TikTok account. Now, he has over 84 thousand followers who are mostly high school runners looking to him for advice.
“I love that I can use it to show people that running is fun and that you can be so much better and faster than you think is possible,” McMeans said.
McMeans, who is looking forward to attending law school, is also an Olympic hopeful. He is taking the next three years to train for the 2024 Olympic trials.
These three Villanova students are back on campus and have been able to fit the community piece of running back into their lives — in a safe way. McMeans goes on group runs with his roommates and Morro is back at practice with his teammates.
“A lot of people say that running is a great metaphor for life but I do not feel that way,” Morro said. “It really comes down to the people for me. I love running so much more when I am with my teammates and coaches and we can come together and be a part of something bigger than myself. Whether it is my international teammates from all around the world or the same friends from home that I have been running with since third grade, the best part of running is sharing it with others.”
