There are two things that can’t be compartmentalized and are inseparable for Abbey Cooper: faith and running.
She admits that competing in track and field would be too hard to do without having faith. Her faith has been a constant during the peaks of her career, but it’s also given her great perspective and soothing joy in the valley experiences of her career.
“Every meaningful experience that I’ve had in my career, and success, has been on the heels of suffering,” Cooper said.
Cooper had a storied and decorated college career at Dartmouth, where she won a combined seven NCAA championships while competing as a distance runner in cross country and track and field. But contrary to her collegiate career, she’s had to deal with different injuries that she’s had to overcome.
“It was humbling right off the bat,” she said. “I was pretty injury free my whole college career too. Obviously that lent itself to success in a lot of ways.”
Cooper suffered her first injury in the fall of her first year as a professional runner while training in Boston. While Cooper said that she struggled to find consistency early on in her professional career due to injuries, she was able to make the 2015 USATF World Championship team as well as the 2016 Indoor World Championship team and the 2016 Olympic team.
Cooper tore her ACL and meniscus at the 2016 Rio Olympics while competing in the qualifying heat of the women’s 5000 meter race and has endured setbacks since then. But the one attribute that allows her to press on is joy.
Cooper said that for her, joy is a constant relearning process. It’s also a constant feeling that she’s found in the sport since she started running. Despite the injuries and setbacks that Cooper has faced, because of her faith, her joy and confidence has grown in the midst of hardships since she knows from experience that she doesn’t go through them alone.
“I’m 29-years old, but I have experienced enough of (joy),” she said. “The Lord has given me enough to date that I know and I trust, and He’s never let me down. And I know that when crazy stuff happens and when hard stuff happens, He’s in it, He does not abandon – I just know it from experience.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has also given Cooper a different perspective on what’s really important and what brings her the most self fulfillment.
Cooper said that she had a very sobering conversation with her mentor and Olympic chaplain John Ashley Null. In their conversation, he asked her if her successes in the past gave her what she expected, which led her to sit back and reflect on her success throughout her career. In her reflection, she was able to find perspective on what brings her true satisfaction.
“I think the Lord is showing me that this doesn’t satisfy,” she said. “So I was just reminded that success is not going to give me what it claims to give me. I remember (Null) saying that the only thing that really satisfies is emotional dependence on the Lord.”
That perspective allowed her to go from being in a self-protective mode, to a self-giving mode, which allows her to build relationships and serve those that she comes across. She’s found that she’s her best self when she’s investing in others.
“When I’m giving myself away and running for that which is much larger than just me, that’s when I’m most fulfilled in my personhood, and that’s when I perform at my best,” she said. “I kind of lost hold of that, and the pandemic has helped remind me of what’s true.”
Cooper, who’s entering her eighth season as a professional track and field athlete, said that one of the biggest lessons that she’s learned in her career is that when you follow Jesus, things won’t go as you expect them to. She admits that while it’s a hard truth to accept, it’s a hopeful truth because even though things don’t go as you expect, they exceed your expectations.
While others might not understand why Cooper chooses to endure the setbacks, hardships and heartbreaks that she’s faced in the sport, based on what she’s learned and the perspectives that she’s gained, there’s nothing that she would change about her journey.
“It’s hard from the outside looking in, there’s sort of this maybe picture that why would you choose this if there’s so much suffering involved,” she said. “ But He’s still Lord, He’s Savior and even in it, He’s still the same.”
“It’s worth it. The gift of His presence and His power in and through those experiences – I would not exchange that for anything.”
As originally posted to Lactic Acid with Dominique Smith
