A 29-year-old hiker was attacked earlier this week in Yellowstone National Park, plus millennia-old petroglyphs were reportedly damaged during construction at an Arizona church. 国产吃瓜黑料 has you covered in this edition of our weekly news roundup.

A Bear Attacked a Hiker in Yellowstone National Park

A 29-year-old solo hiker was hospitalized after a bear attacked him in Yellowstone National Park.

The National Park Service said in a that the hiker was walking alone along the Turbid Lake Trail, northeast of Yellowstone Lake鈥檚 Mary Bay, on September 16, when he ran into the bear. The hiker attempted to use his bear spray to ward off the animal, but he still suffered 鈥渟ignificant but non-life-threatening injuries to his chest and left arm.鈥�

Turbid Lake Trail remains closed in the wake of the attack.

On September 18, the NPS stated that the hiker was treated for his injuries and released from the hospital, according to the National Park Service. Officials investigated the attack site, discovered grizzly tracks near the trail, as well as the carcass of a dead animal.

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Here鈥檚 How to Cheat at an International Stone Skimming Championship

The World Stone Skimming Championships (WSSC), an annual international tournament for long-distance rock skimming, or skipping, is marred by a scandal after organizers said that multiple competitors admitted to cheating during the 2025 competition.

Organizers of the event, which was held on September 6 on Easdale Island, Scotland, on September 10 that numerous participants admitted to breaking the rules.

How, exactly, does one cheat at rock skimming? By doctoring their stones, of course.

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Southwest Petroglyphs Survived 1,000 Years鈥擴ntil a Church Underwent Construction

A series of petroglyphs estimated to be between 700 and 1,000 years old was allegedly damaged by construction crews renovating a church north of Phoenix, Arizona.

Phoenix city officials told 国产吃瓜黑料听that when city staff went to the site on September 12, it appeared as if rocks, including those that contained the petroglyphs, may have 鈥渂een pushed around by heavy machinery.鈥� The stones were not removed from the property, officials said.

The full extent of the damage is unclear, though some social media users have stated that the petroglyphs were 鈥�bulldozed.鈥� Petroglyphs in Arizona are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. State laws also provide for both felony and misdemeanor prosecution with imprisonment and fines.

鈥淲e are still gathering background information about the petroglyphs in question, but records suggest that the petroglyphs date between 1000 and 1300 AD,鈥� officials added.

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Would you rather encounter a grizzly bear or a random man in the woods?

The question for a few weeks back in 2024, of Internet hot takes, and many women opting for the bear. What these blogs, Tweets, and lengthy Instagram posts failed to determine, however, was what would happen if the grizzly bear encountered a random man鈥攐ne who happened to be clad from heat to toe in a plush costume of a professional sports team mascot.

Well, here we are in 2025 reckoning with this new important question, . This week, the National Hockey League’s Seattle Kraken team revealed that its mascot, a blue and scraggly sea troll name Buoy, was recently charged by a massive brown bear during a promotional photo shoot in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.

The Seattle Kraken mascot almost got attacked by a bear

鈥� Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia)

According to the team’s Instagram page, Buoy and Kraken player John Hayden were having their photos taken while fly fishing in a pristine river. Suddenly, a bear emerged from the riverbank and sprinted into the water, scaring them off.

“I want to blame it on Buoy鈥攖hey were pretty interested in his whole look,” Hayden said in the video. “We got out of it OK, but it was a close call.”

Of course we live in the era of AI-generated video that can make even the seem vaguely real. If the Kraken’s clip is fabricated, then the team successfully as well as 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别.听

But the video provides proof that, when encountering a massive bruin, Buoy the mascot’s reaction is to run as quickly as his cowardly troll legs will take him. And it begs an important follow-up question: How would other sports mascots react when charged by a massive bear?

Go the Gorilla: Jump to Safety

Why does a team named for a celestial body have a mascot that’s essentially an extra from the cheesy 1995 adventure film听颁辞苍驳辞?听Nobody knows. But what all basketball fans do know is that is in all of professional sports. Go rappels from great heights, break dances, and walks down the arena steps on his hands. He’s most famous for his high-flying trampoline dunks鈥攈e flips, twists, and does mid-air stunts that dazzle the imagination. If faced with a bruin, my guess is that Go would leap over the grumpy bear, dunk a basketball, and then sprint to safety.

Rocky the Mountain Lion: Immediately Pass Out

You might think that Rocky, the zany mountain lion mascot for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, would use his cat-like reflexes to turn and fight the bear with tooth and claw. This assumption is, alas, wrong. Rocky would immediately faint from fear and lie unconscious on the floor, similar to a . During the Nuggets’ pre-game ceremony, the performer playing Rocky passed out as he was being lowered to the court. Fans watched in horror as his limp body descended from the rafters.

Gritty: Fight

One of the newest is also one of the best. Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers’ googly-eyed mascot, made his debut in 2018 and quickly became a favorite across all of sports. Why? As Gritty’s promotional copy explains, he is known for his “uniquely Philadelphian personality.” Yeah鈥擥ritty likes to fight. He fights other mascots, , . My assumption is that Gritty would face the bear and drop his gloves. Would he win? God no鈥攂ut we’d all enjoy a hilarious blooper video of Gritty’s orange hair and beard being torn from his head.

Mr. Met: Fall and Injure Himself

At 62 years old, Mr. Met, the baseball-shaped mascot for the New York Mets, is quickly approaching retirement age. But that hasn’t stopped him from attempting to appeal to Millennials and Gen Z fans. Earlier this summer, Mr. Met took the stage during a performance by alt-folk band the Lumineers midway through their concert at Citi Field. , Mr. Met dropped a tambourine, stumbled to his knees, and then fell off the stage. How would he do against a bear? My guess is Mr. Met would become entangled in his fishing line, tumble into the rushing river, and drown.

Phillie Phanatic: Get Sued by the Bear

Long heralded as the , the Philly Phanatic , , and yes, occasionally . Guess what鈥攈e also gets sued, a lot. The Phanatic has the ignominious reputation as the most-sued mascot in history, . In 2018 the Phanatic made headlines when he blasted a fan in the face with a bazooka that shoots hot dogs, and the impact caused real damage. Would he bring the hot dog cannon into a fight with a bear? You bet. Would the bear fight back with a team of personal-injury lawyers? Highly likely.

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Back in 2015, a trio of scientists led by the University of Michigan鈥檚 Sandra Hunter, one of the world鈥檚 leading experts on male-female performance differences, wrote in the Journal of Applied Physiology titled 鈥淭he Two-Hour Marathon: What鈥檚 the Equivalent for Women?鈥� The comparable barrier, they concluded, had already been broken by Paula Radcliffe鈥檚 2003 world record of 2:15:25.

Since 2015, the men鈥檚 record has dropped by 1.9 percent to 2:00:35 (with Eliud Kipchoge also notching an unofficial 1:59:41 in a record-ineligible exhibition race). The women鈥檚 record, after earlier this month, has now dropped by a dizzying 4.0 percent to 2:09:56. The claim that Radcliffe had run the equivalent of sub-2:00 was debatable; the claim that Chepngetich has done so is not. This is the greatest marathon performance in history by virtually all metrics鈥攁nd it has stirred up a hornet鈥檚 nest of reactions.

To be a fan of endurance sports in the modern era is to live with a baseline level of skepticism. We know that top athletes sometimes dope, because they鈥檙e sometimes caught. We also know that those who set records are, by definition, faster than these confirmed dopers. But Chepngetich鈥檚 world marathon record sparked a bigger backlash than anything we鈥檝e previously seen. Politicians in Kenya鈥檚 parliament demanded an apology after Letsrun鈥檚 Robert Johnson 鈥斺�淪ome people may think that the time is too fast and you must be doping. What would you say to them?鈥濃�攁t the post-race press conference. Former Boston Marathon champion and longtime running journalist Amby Burfoot made his suspicions clear: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have proof,鈥� he wrote in , 鈥渂ut we know what we know.鈥�

How is it possible that a woman could run five minutes faster than what was recently thought to be the equivalent of a men鈥檚 sub-two-hour marathon? Is it possible? These are questions that we can鈥檛 answer definitively, but there are some clues in the scientific literature that are worth bearing in mind as we consider what this new era means. Here are three points I鈥檝e been mulling over the past week:

Maybe the Shoes Give Women an Edge

We know that supershoes have led to a wholesale rewriting of road racing records since 2016. But why is it that women seem to be improving more rapidly than men? As we鈥檝e seen, women gained more than twice as much as men in the marathon since 2016. The same is true at other distances: the women鈥檚 10K record has improved by 5.4 percent, and the half-marathon record by 3.5 percent; the men have improved by 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

There are a few possible explanations. One is sociocultural: East African men have been dominating international running for decades, but women from the region have emerged more recently, so the talent pool may still be deepening. Or perhaps, as with the Eastern Bloc women on anabolic steroids in the 1980s, there鈥檚 an as-yet-undetected form of doping that helps women more than men.

Another possibility, raised in , is that women get a bigger boost from supershoes. A team of researchers led by Joel Mason of Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, proposes several hypotheses for why the shoes might work better for women.

One theory is that, even though male athletes tend to be taller and heavier than female athletes, the maximum midsole thickness of 40 millimetres (about 1.6 inches) imposed by World Athletics is the same for everyone. That means women鈥檚 effective leg length gets a bigger proportional increase, and their shoes are thicker relative to length. Women鈥檚 lighter weight is also less likely to make the midsole 鈥渂ottom out鈥� when it鈥檚 compressed. If the maximum midsole thickness was proportional to shoe size, this theory suggests, the differences between men and women would shrink or disappear.

There are also more esoteric theories, like sex differences in the elastic properties of muscles and tendons that enhance the female response to the shoes. And there鈥檚 the simple fact that women, with shorter legs, take more steps than men, which 鈥渕ay simply provide more opportunity for the supershoe mechanisms to interact with the ground, potentially compounding the benefits.鈥�

All these mechanisms are speculative, but the performance data showing that women are improving more rapidly than men is quite clear (and has shown up in too). This makes Chepngetich鈥檚 sub-2:10 a little more palatable鈥攂ut it doesn鈥檛 explain why she鈥檚 so far ahead of all the other women who should presumably be getting similar benefits. The previous record, set last year, was 2:11:53; the next best time after that is 2:13:44. That鈥檚 a gap of three minutes and 48 seconds to the third best time in history. For comparison, 49 different men have run within 3:48 of the men鈥檚 world record.

罢丑别谤别鈥檚 Something in the Air

When I was covering Nike鈥檚 Breaking2 project in 2017, they deployed a vast array of scientific tweaks to aid Eliud Kipchoge and his peers in their quest for a sub-two: high-tech training analysis, newly designed race suits, wearable oxygen sensors, and so on. After sifting through the details, my impression was that only two interventions had the potential to really move the needle: supershoes and drafting.

罢丑别谤别鈥檚 a lot of debate about how much drafting really matters at marathon speeds (unlike cycling speeds, where it鈥檚 clearly a huge factor). One theoretical analysis from 2022 concluded that the seven-person arrow formation that Kipchoge used in his sub-two run saved 5:29 compared to running solo. That鈥檚 a surprisingly big number, and when you consider that Kelvin Kiptum hardly drafted at all in his marathon world record last year, it becomes hard to swallow.

Chepngetich had two male pacemakers who guided her for almost the entire race. I believe that this sort of pacing help has big mental benefits, in the same way that pacing lights have helped spur faster times on the track. But as University of Colorado biomechanist Rodger Kram pointed out in an email after the race, it was notable that Chepngetich ran behind and between her pacers, rather than directly behind either of them.

罢丑别谤别鈥檚 that compared this drafting configuration to several others. Chepngetich鈥檚 formation theoretically saved 1.6 minutes compared to running alone. Running in a pace line, with one pacer directly in front and the other directly behind, would have saved 2.6 minutes. Here鈥檚 the data showing calculated drag forces for various configurations:

The implication here is that Chepngetich鈥檚 performance wasn鈥檛 the result of everything coming together absolutely perfectly. On the contrary, she could have gone faster! Her pacing suggests the same thing: she ran the first half in 1:04:16 then slowed in the second half to 1:05:40, which scientists believe is not the best way to run your fastest possible time.

So She鈥檚 Doping?

The female supershoe advantage offers a plausible explanation for how Chepngetich鈥檚 record could be so much better than Kiptum鈥檚. Notably, according to , Chepngetich raced in Nike鈥檚 new Alphafly 3 shoe, a switch from the Vaporfly she had worn in previous years. She also began using Maurten鈥檚 hydrogel carbohydrate drink for the first time. With a little work, you can construct a case for how, at the age of 30, Chepngetich is suddenly so much better than she was before.

Is this merely an exercise in fantasy? After all, Chepngetich鈥檚 agent, Federico Rosa, has overseen the careers of several high-profile marathoners who were caught using drugs, including multi-time Boston and Chicago marathon champion Rito Jeptoo and 2016 Olympic champion Jemima Sumgong.

Like many running fans, I鈥檝e been wrestling with the doping question for the past week. And I鈥檝e found myself thinking about the seemingly unrelated problem of injury prediction. Say you test thousands of soccer players for hamstring strength, follow them for a few years, and find that those with weaker hamstrings are more likely to get injured. Eureka! Now you know that players with weaker hamstrings should do extra strengthening exercises.

But there鈥檚 one problem: how do you set the threshold for what constitutes 鈥渨eak鈥� hamstrings? If you set it too high, you鈥檒l have a lot of false negatives, meaning that players who should have strengthened their hamstrings didn鈥檛. If you set it too low, you鈥檒l have a lot of false positives, meaning that players who didn鈥檛 need to strengthen their hamstrings wasted time on hamstring exercises.

What researchers have concluded over the years is that to set a threshold that keeps both false negatives and false positives to an acceptable level. Even when you have good data associating a risk factor (hamstring strength) with an outcome (injury), in practice you can鈥檛 tell who鈥檚 at risk. If you think hamstring strengthening reduces injury risk and is worth the time and energy required, you should tell all your players to do it.

I feel the same way when friends ask whether I think Chepngetich is doping. There is, in fact, good evidence that sudden jumps in performance can be a clue about doping, an approach called 鈥�.鈥� But it doesn鈥檛 tell you if someone is cheating; it merely flags that you should target that person for testing. Chepngetich鈥檚 performance raises a number of red flags: the time itself; her massive improvement at the age of 30; her association with Rosa; the fact that Kenya currently has 106 track and field athletes .

But where, exactly, is the threshold of red flags that tells us she鈥檚 doping? It鈥檚 simply not possible to set one that doesn鈥檛 catch innocent athletes in its net. Unlike the most skeptical running fans, I don鈥檛 believe that all elite athletes are doping. I know several Olympic finalists who I鈥檓 confident weren鈥檛 doping鈥攖hough, by the same token, I can never be 100 percent sure they weren鈥檛. As with the need for hamstring exercises to prevent injury, I simply have to assume that doping is a possibility, but not a certainty, for everyone.

罢丑别谤别鈥檚 one final detail worth noting. Chepngetich鈥檚 first-half split of 1:04:16 was crazy, but it wasn鈥檛 totally unprecedented. Last year in Chicago, she went out in 1:05:42; the year before that, she split 1:05:44. In those previous races, she faded badly in the second half, but she clearly believed she was capable of running close to 2:10 even then. A breakthrough like this only happens when someone believes it鈥檚 possible鈥攁nd now that Chepngetich has done it, others will be trying to follow.

For more Sweat Science, join me on and , sign up for the , and check out my book .

The post Why the Running World Can鈥檛 Stop Debating Ruth Chepngetich鈥檚 New Marathon Record appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

I鈥檓 an accomplished runner, and I鈥檝e been wanting to try climbing at a facility near my apartment. I have no experience, but I鈥檝e been watching videos online, and I think it鈥檚 something I would really like.

I鈥檓 used to running, which is a relatively private activity. Most of the time, nobody鈥檚 watching me. If they are, it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 in a race and performing at a fairly high level.

When I think about going to the gym, I get a pit in my stomach at the thought of people watching me be bad at climbing. I know everyone has to start somewhere, but I don鈥檛 want to slip and fall in front of other people. Or worse, I might get stuck, and be trapped up there while people watch me.

It seems like being athletic-looking makes it worse, because people will expect me to do well. How do I get over my embarrassment at trying something new?

For a while in college, I got into running. I was slow as heck, but I enjoyed it鈥攚hich surprised me, since I鈥檇 always hated gym class. I headed out for an hour most mornings. For the first few weeks, I just walked, watching the sunrise through the trees. Then I tried jogging, starting with small goals: or two, then walking听until I caught my breath. Eventually I was able to run the whole time, even on huge hills. I was in the best shape of my life.听

One day, I went on a date with a guy who was, like, a real runner. He was a college athlete, and he played sports in high school before that. He was fast and wiry. He made running look easy in a way that it had never, ever been for me.

We hit it off鈥攁t least, until the topic of a local 5K race came up. I mentioned that I might enter. I felt proud, saying it casually like that. I could run now! I was the kind of person who might enter a race on a whim!

He said that more people should enter. 鈥淗onestly,鈥� he said, 鈥渋f anyone out there can鈥檛 run three miles in a row, that鈥檚 pretty pathetic. Right?鈥�

I froze. 鈥淩ight,鈥� I said. 鈥淭otally.鈥� I wanted to disappear.

I was proud of my running, but I didn鈥檛 look down on the non-runner I was before. She had other priorities. She鈥檇 been doing just fine.

Still, I took the guy鈥檚 words at face value. He thought anyone who couldn鈥檛 run three miles was pathetic. I hadn鈥檛 been able to run three miles until recently鈥攁nd it took me a lot of effort to get there. Therefore, if this guy really knew me, he would think I was pathetic.

I avoided him after that, so he鈥檇 never learn the truth.

Embarrassment and self-consciousness often stem from the idea that other people will think the same bad things that we already think鈥攐r fear鈥攁bout ourselves. I was 20 years old, and though I worked hard to accept myself, I struggled with a fear that鈥檚 so common in young women: that there was something wrong or undesirable about my body, my shape, my looks. The idea that this guy saw something pathetic about my body鈥攅ven if he didn鈥檛 realize it鈥攃ut deep.

But looking back, I think his statement may have been an attempt to cover up his own lack of confidence, too. Did he feel pressure to make running look easy? Was he afraid of losing fitness, and thus his identity as an athlete? Was he trying to impress me, or test me? Was there some part of him that hoped I would say I disagreed?

How Trying a New Sport Can Help You Gain Confidence

If you鈥檙e afraid that people may see you as a beginner, then your primary fear isn鈥檛 about other people. It鈥檚 about yourself. It鈥檚 about what being a beginner might mean about you. You鈥檙e not afraid that other people will be wrong about you. You鈥檙e afraid that they might see the truth.

I don鈥檛 say this to diminish your accomplishments in any way. I have no doubt about your athletic ability, your talent, and your hard work. I just wish that you could feel as certain about those things as I do.

Building confidence is an ongoing process; there鈥檚 no easy fix. But in this case, I think that climbing may help you in more ways than one. It might be fun, yes鈥攁nd even more importantly, it could help you realize that being bad at something doesn鈥檛 make you worth less. Your athleticism doesn鈥檛 disappear just because you lose your grip on a handhold. And your identity as an athlete doesn鈥檛 dissolve if you try a new and challenging sport. It might even get stronger.

If you鈥檙e still nervous, try going to the gym a few times and just observing. It鈥檚 great that you鈥檝e been watching climbing videos, but the people you see on social media probably have years of experience. At the gym, climbers will have different body types and skill levels. They鈥檒l slip. They鈥檒l laugh. They鈥檒l pick wedgies. Being there in person will make climbers seem less like icons and more like people. And once you see them as people, it鈥檒l be easier to picture yourself as one of them.

writes our Tough Love column. The top sports on her to-try list are long-distance paddling, kite skiing, and curling.

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How do you make the best of a golf addiction? Add running. That鈥檚 the formula contributor Alex Ward tried to perfect a few months ago, when he started figuring out a way to turn his rounds of golf into real exercise. Would golf be an endurance sport if he played sunrise to sunset? What if he wore running gear, carried just three clubs, and played this notoriously slow and calm sport absolutely as fast as he could?

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I鈥檓 on the move constantly. I exercise about six days a week, walk everywhere (thank you, New York City), and dance the night away until, well, let鈥檚 just say the early hours of the morning. But there鈥檚 not a lot of time for play. That feeling of running around the playground, tripping and falling on wood chips, or slipping on wet grass just doesn鈥檛 exist in my current life. (And, yes, I did get injured a lot as a child.) But, recently, I rediscovered the feeling of carefree movement in a surprising place: the pickleball court.

Like many Americans, I quickly got into after being taught by a family member last summer. Fortunately, my roommates were on board with my new obsession. We purchased a moveable net from that we could set up on a nearby lined court. Within just a few minutes of hitting around, we were all hooked. A free thing to do in New York City that wasn鈥檛 our typical park hang? Yes, please. But I also became entranced with the game for an unexpected reason: it made me feel like a kid again.

My movement throughout the rest of the week is structured. As much as I would love to embody from 鈥淔riends,鈥� I tend to lean more on the side of Rachel, just getting in my standard jog. My workout classes follow the same trajectory. But pickleball is different. When I鈥檓 running around the court, joking with my roommates, or making a goofy impression of my competitor’s last shot, it鈥檚 just plain fun.

The Benefits of Free Play

When I originally learned of the concept of 鈥渇ree play,鈥� I assumed it required a completely unstructured activity. That鈥檚 not necessarily the case. 鈥淚 define play as any joyful act where you forget about time and are fully immersed at the moment and willing to let go of the results,鈥� says , a consultant on positive play.

If you鈥檙e engaged in a deeply competitive game where you are only focused on winning versus enjoying the match, that鈥檚 not really considered play, Harry explains. Play requires playing for the sake of having fun, instead of winning, performing, or impressing others. Unlike other activities or sports I do, this is what sets pickleball apart. I鈥檓 not that good. I head out on the court not with the aim of winning a point, but rather to spend time moving outside and socializing.

The benefits of engaging in free play as an adult go beyond just having fun. found that college students who engaged in play reported lower levels of stress than those who didn鈥檛. Additionally, noted that play strengthened emotional intelligence and emotional traits in participants, helping them cultivate resilience.

It鈥檚 something I鈥檝e noticed anecdotally in my own experience on and off the court. After a few hours of playing, I鈥檓 calmer, centered, and generally happier.

How You Can Engage in Play

You don鈥檛 have to be pickleball-obsessed to engage in play. It can be any activity that brings you joy. And discovering what that pastime is for you is simpler than you may think. 鈥淕et bored,鈥� recommends Harry. The next time you鈥檙e not heading to a scheduled activity, spend a few minutes aways from your screens and just sit with yourself. Connect with your inner child鈥攁nd imagine what would actually be fun for you in that moment.

Experiment with what different types of play may look like for you, whether that鈥檚 acting on an impulse to free dance or saying yes to a friend鈥檚 invitation to a concert in the park. Your type of play won鈥檛 look the same as others鈥攁nd that鈥檚 OK. It has to be personal to you.

That goes for setting time limits, too.鈥淥nly the person playing will know how many hours or days one should spend per week,鈥� Harry says. If you have trouble letting go of time-bound limits, remind yourself that clocking in and out of an activity can be a symptom of perfectionism. Play isn鈥檛 something that can be structured in the same way.

Even if you鈥檙e not engaging in your activity of choice, you can still maintain an aura of play throughout your days. 鈥淚n my case, I see life through the lens of play, so I play almost all the time,鈥� Harry says. 鈥淓ven if it is challenging and not fun, I still can be at play, embracing a play-oriented mindset built on curiosity, awe, and a sense of wonder.鈥�

It鈥檚 impossible for me to be out on the court every day. But I try to keep Harry鈥檚 words in mind as I sit at my desk during the week. Bringing the aura of play to my work sometimes manifests in getting particularly excited around a colleague鈥檚 new story or having a lighthearted brainstorming session. It鈥檚 not pickleball鈥攂ut it鈥檚 definitely another type of playfulness.

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Hellah Sidibe shared his story with producer Sarah Vitak for an episode of The Daily Rally听podcast. It was edited for length and clarity.

I went into this dark area in life where I was just mad. Why is this happening to me?

It all came down to, all right, I鈥檓 pissed at everything, but let me stop making excuses. Just look at myself, and just deal with what I can handle, what I鈥檓 in control of. That鈥檚 how it started.

My full name is Hellah Sidibe, but I have a nickname: Hellah Good. I got that nickname back in college. I played Division I soccer. Every time I would take the ball and start sprinting down the line, they鈥檇 just say, oh, he鈥檚 Hellah good.

A Lifelong Love of Soccer

Growing up in Mali, West Africa, soccer was the number one sport. We just loved playing, and we loved watching the top players on TV. We were trying to play like them: we were trying to score goals and celebrate the way they do.

We lived in an area where there鈥檚 dirt, so we would use our feet to trace and make marks. You would literally make the whole soccer field. In order to still see the line, we would go into our kitchens. When we make food, we make food with wood and charcoal. Everybody would fill that up in a can from their house and bring it to the field. The path that we created with our feet, we鈥檇 spray that chalky gray-white powder along those lines so it looked like the white soccer lines.

We鈥檇 pick teams. Say: you鈥檙e Brazil, you鈥檙e Argentina. We鈥檇 always take the South American teams because they were the best in the world at the time, when I was young. We would pick players, and we would be like, you鈥檙e Thierry Henry, you鈥檙e Lu铆s Figo. I鈥檇 say, I鈥檓 Ronaldo Naz谩rio. Sometimes you鈥檇 just paint their numbers on your back, on your bare skin.

We would recruit our own team within the neighborhood. The next neighborhood was within a five-minute walk, and we鈥檇 go play them. Their neighborhood we would call allez, which is away. And there was no pressure. We did it because we wanted to, and no one was yelling at us.

When I came to the U.S., it got a little competitive. There started being consequences. If you didn鈥檛 do something right, the punishment was: let鈥檚 make you run. So I got to college, and it added more to that because I was playing under a coach. His mindset was that we might not be the most skillful team in the country, but we鈥檙e gonna be the fittest team in the country. It was to a point in that sometimes the track team would joke around and say, are you guys with the UMass track team or the soccer team? Because whenever they went by the field, they鈥檇 see us just huffing and puffing.

So I started hating running. I would cramp up in my calves, my lungs would be burning, and my hamstrings would be on fire. I started having a fear of it. It wasn鈥檛 a fear where I hated the game, but it was fear of going to practice for that specific reason. You鈥檙e getting yelled at like it鈥檚 not enough, even though you feel like you鈥檙e giving your absolute best.

Out of almost 400 players, I was one of 20 picked up to face the US youth national team. All of those teams were after me: phone calls from teams, telling me, we want this player. We like his skillset. I was approached by Sporting Kansas City my senior year, and they were one of the top teams in the MLS and won the MLS Cup the year that I finished college.

I was told: you鈥檙e gonna get picked up in the draft.

There were domestic roster spots and international roster spot at the time. I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 changed; I haven鈥檛 really looked into it. It was the rule that only eight international players could be picked up per team, and the rest had to be domestic players.

The assistant coach at Sporting Kansas City was like, hey Hellah, I鈥檓 sorry to tell you this, but the reality is right now. We鈥檇 rather have a young player that is a U.S. citizen that鈥檚 not as talented as you, but we can develop them and we don鈥檛 have to worry about the paperwork side of it. But also we can pick up a big European player that can sell jerseys and tickets that can take the spot. Versus, I鈥檓 somebody who hasn鈥檛 made a name for himself.

He was just telling me the reality. It wasn鈥檛 even his decision.

Just seeing that鈥攊t is frustrating, and it鈥檚 tough. Your goal is to play the game that you love, and it鈥檚 getting pulled away from you.

I just started hating everything. I鈥檓 not a doctor, but I do think there was some depression looking back. When you鈥檙e in that spot, nothing matters. Someone could smile at you or could even want to hug you, and you want nothing to do with that.

It all came down to, all right, I鈥檓 pissed at everything, but let me stop making excuses. Just look at myself, and just deal with what I can handle, what I鈥檓 in control of. That鈥檚 how it started.

It was a looking-at-myself-in-a-mirror moment. What can you do with yourself right now? What are you in control of? I literally had that conversation with myself. Being an athlete, you always fall back on your physical ability because it makes you feel a certain way mentally. You like challenging yourself. You like competing on the field.

I was just like, what are you gonna do now? You tell yourself you鈥檙e going to go to the gym every day for a week, and you can鈥檛 even last three days. Do something, and hold yourself accountable for once. Be consistent.

So that is what led me in 2017 to when I said, what is a fear of mine that I wanna face? And running was the first thing that hit my mind.

It was a two-week goal of ten minutes a day within the first week. I didn鈥檛 care about distance. It was time. I would just start my watch, and then after ten minutes I鈥檇 be done, so I鈥檇 be just over a mile.

The ten-minute goal wasn鈥檛 because I couldn鈥檛 do more than ten minutes; it was just attainable. I just knew that it wasn鈥檛 so much where I was going to hate it.

That didn鈥檛 last more than a week. Even within the first week, I was going as far as four miles, which is way longer than ten minutes. But I would get lost in it. It wasn鈥檛 about pace or distance or anything. It was about just being out there in the present moment.

I ran every day for two weeks. And then I said, I don鈥檛 want to get ahead of myself, but I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life. Let me do it every day for a year.

And now we鈥檙e here, running every day for 1,989 consecutive days. About to hit 2,000 consecutive days. And running across the U.S., doing a hundred-mile race, and still loving it like day one.

When things aren鈥檛 necessarily working out in life, it does mean it鈥檚 the end of you. It just means that it鈥檚 preparing you for something even greater. You just have to focus on what you can control and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Right now, I would not trade this for anything. Nope, I would not.

Hellah Sidibe is a runner, speaker, and content creator. He has run for more than 2,000 consecutive days. In 2021, he ran across the United States. In September of 2022, he competed in the Leadville Trail 100 Ultra Marathon. You can learn more about him at .

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