I Miss the Joy of Running

Before neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), my whole life I was an athlete. When I got to high school, I decided I was going to play basketball since the basketball gene ran in my family. Or so I thought.

Unfortunately, I was awful. I wasn’t coordinated enough to dribble, wasn’t quick enough to catch the ball, but the one thing I was good at was running. They put me in a fast break role. Yes, I was fast enough, but still not coordinated enough to make a layup. I wasn’t the best one playing on the court but I definitely was the fastest.

My love of running

Our basketball coach happened to also be head coach of the women’s track team. As our team sat down to change and gathered our belongings after practice, he came up to me and asked if I'd be running track that year. I didn’t put much thought into it, I just said yes.

And thus my track career began.

I did fairly well in practice and was definitely one of the fastest on the team. I looked up to the abilities of the other fast runners on the team, and we all pushed each other to run harder and faster.

College dreams

After playing basketball for two years, I decided that I fully wanted to focus on track my senior year. I started getting contacted by colleges interested in having me on their team, because they saw my potential.

I had dreams of going to a D1 university. Months later I received a letter from a college in Illinois. They were impressed with my accomplishments, both in music and in track, and offered me a full scholarship to attend their college. Of course I accepted, and I was off to Illinois to be a collegiate athlete.

Taken by NMOSD

My love for track got me through the hard parts of life and was there for me when no one and nothing else was. Having that taken away by NMOSD when I never really got to experience the true joy of competitive running, is something I still struggle with.

I am working to fill a void that was left behind, from when I was a runner.

Did you have to give up a favorite way of moving your body after NMOSD? Share with us what it was, or any new hobbies or exercises you've chosen to replace it with.