When Running Gets Taken Away

I have talked with Dr. JoAnne Bullard about sports psychology for years. She has written articles for Run Tri Bike and helped our community understand confidence, motivation and the mental side of endurance sports.

Then the sport psychologist became the injured athlete. And knowing all the answers doesn’t mean those answers suddenly become easy to use.

JoAnne’s story isn’t really about chronic compartment syndrome. That’s part of it. Her story is about what happens when something you love becomes something you cannot do.

For JoAnne, that something was running.

When Pain Stops Being Normal

Runners are good at explaining pain away.

New shoes. Tight muscles. Need more stretching. Didn’t warm up enough. Tuesday. Mercury is in retrograde. Whatever explanation keeps us moving.

JoAnne tried many of them.

But eventually she could barely run three to five minutes before experiencing intense burning in her legs and numbness in her feet. When she stopped, the symptoms disappeared. She knew something wasn’t right.

Learning To Advocate For Herself

JoAnne first asked a doctor whether she could have chronic compartment syndrome. She was told it was unlikely.She went through physical therapy, but the problem remained.

Eventually another doctor listened. That moment matters as much as the eventual diagnosis.

JoAnne described finally feeling heard. A specialist recognized the pattern in her symptoms and testing confirmed chronic compartment syndrome.

The answer was finally there. Unfortunately, the easy part ended there.

Three Surgeries And Another Setback

JoAnne had surgery on one leg in August 2025 and the other in December.

Then came an infection. That meant a third surgery. Then, while trying to recover from all of that, JoAnne suffered a stress fracture.

Think about that for a second.

You’re doing the work and going to physical therapy. You’re trying to stay patient while following the plan.

And somebody keeps moving the finish line. There is no TrainingPeaks workout for that.

Am I Still A Runner?

This was the part of our conversation that stayed with me.

JoAnne told me the loss of identity has been huge. She has wondered whether she’ll run again. Even walking her dogs would feel like a victory right now.

That’s what injury can take from us that doesn’t show up on an MRI. Identity.

Running isn’t only exercise. It can be sunrise miles on the boardwalk. Family traditions. Friends. Stress relief. A place where your brain finally gets quiet.

Take all of that away and the question isn’t only, When can I run again? It becomes, Who am I now?

JoAnne described that athlete identity loss as “humongous.”

The Starting Line Is Still There

JoAnne doesn’t know exactly when she’ll run again. I actually love that this story doesn’t have the Hollywood ending yet. She’s still in it.

She has hard day and hopeful days. She leans on her husband, kids, physical therapists and the people in her corner. Her own advice about acceptance, self-compassion and focusing on what she can control has become advice she has to practice herself.

And maybe that’s the lesson. Being an athlete isn’t something Strava gets to turn on and off.

Sometimes being an athlete means racing. Sometimes it means recovering.

And sometimes the biggest goal in the world is simply being able to walk the dogs again.

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When Running Gets Taken Away