Bet on Yourself: an Interview with World Mountain Running Champion Grayson Murphy
Grayson Murphy is a professional distance runner, University of Utah graduate, and five-time All-American. She is an accomplished road and track athlete, and made her debut on the trail scene in 2019, winning the World Mountain Running Championships in her first year as a professional trail athlete. She is an inspiration to athletes everywhere, as well as a passionate mental health advocate, environmentalist, and creative. I was so incredibly honored to have the opportunity to sit down with Grayson, and learn more about her athletic background and philosophy as a distance runner, and am so excited to share our conversation with you!
Grayson grew up playing soccer, and played for her school team during her freshman year of college. She was a midfielder, which is a position typically characterized by lots of running. Though she absolutely loved the feeling of being on a team, she began to feel burnt out in the sport, which eventually prompted her switch. She knew that being a part of a team was something of great importance to her and thought it might be fun to give running a go! She began running her sophomore year of college and was just having fun with it, but it developed into a career through years of hard work and a passion for running.
“ I grew up playing soccer and I played soccer on a college team my freshman year. I just got so burnt out of it and was ready to move on but I still wanted to be on a team! I played midfield in soccer so that’s why I walked onto the [cross country] team… it was mostly for the social aspect, and to be with all of my teammates.”
When asked what she considered to be her biggest achievements as a runner, and what makes her feel most accomplished as an athlete, she thoughtfully replied,
“I guess I’m really proud of my learning curve because I’ve only been running for almost six years. I’m proud of that, I guess my ability to learn or adapt quickly. I’m not really injury prone, I’m really proud of that too, with the exception of a few instances, but other than that I feel like I’ve done a really good job with self care like you said and just making sure I do the little things so I don’t get too injured. Especially just being in tune with my body, I think that’s a strength. And then results-wise I’m really proud of the last three races, like US Champs, World Champs, and XTERRA. I was proud because they were good results on their own, but I was really proud to string them together in such a short period of time. I think that was mentally difficult and now I know that I’m strong enough to do that too.”
Grayson takes a very focused and grounded approach to her career, with her main focus lying in longevity. She practices and prioritizes self care, recovery, and nutrition, in order to perform her best and lead her best life.
“In the end, longevity and my career are my main focuses. Having a successful career, to me, means competing at a high level for a long time, and I know I can’t do that if I’m not doing self care, eating right, and sleeping right. I even consider sleep to be a part of my training. I sleep nine to ten hours a night, and take naps and stuff. That’s kind of a priority. It’s up there with the running workouts, that’s how important it is to me.”
Proper rest and sleep is a huge part of performance in sport. The body needs time to recuperate and recover, and without sleep the body is deprived of the down time that it needs. I liked how Grayson views all of these aspects as part of training itself, and how each piece compliments one another, as well as overall performance.
Grayson began running when she was in college, mostly for the social aspect. She joined the team as she was burnt out of years of playing soccer and wanted a sport that would allow her to be more social and free! As her career progressed, her mindset on the sport shifted dramatically.
“[Running] became a time when I could be alone; like, I don’t have to think about anything. Therapeutic kind of. That’s what I like about it now. That and being able to push myself is now the most important thing.”
This led us to chat about societal pressures and body image ideals often associated with the sport. I was curious to hear about Grayson’s experience throughout her athletic career, having switched from soccer to distance running. So often in this sport we hear the association “smaller means faster,” and young girls are especially susceptible to these notions and the desire to fit in. Grayson offered a really refreshing perspective, further outlining how she has prioritized balance throughout her running career.
“I think a lot of people think that lean means fast, or skinny means fast or strong, and that isn’t always exactly the case. There’s a whole psychological component to body image. For me, it’s always been there, it’s never not been like, an issue. It’s changed. Like in soccer you have different body ideals versus in running, so I’ve seen both sides of that. In soccer people were always telling me to ‘get bigger’ and then with running people were always like ‘you can’t be too small.” You have those two extremes. It hasn’t necessarily been a negative personally, I think because of my prior experience with eating disorders in high school. I was armed I guess, to defend myself against it. I was able to handle it because I knew how to deal with it.”
Grayson talked a lot about how she definitely picked up on pressures from society and those around her when looking at stereotypes of what a runner “should” look like. She reflected on what she had seen in both soccer and running and how there are two extremes when comparing the two. Navigating this part of athletics can be difficult, and Grayson has learned to define what being an athlete means in her own right.
“It’s been weird to figure out that I need to not listen to that and just figure out where I feel like I’m the strongest and fastest and best athlete I can be. That’s been the turning point; realizing that they’re full of baloney. I had to figure out for myself, what that means to me; not what other people are saying that the best athlete is. I guess, it just takes a long time for one idea that’s so big to be rewritten. It’s just a process of like, retraining the way we think of things and it can take years to get to a point where we figure out a positive way to do things.”
To close out our discussion, I asked Grayson what running has taught her, and what pieces of advice she would offer to her younger self. She reflected on each fact of her career, from the roads to the trails, and how she’s learned to bet on herself.
“I guess the road stuff teaches you a lot about discipline because I think it does require a little bit more intensity with it. You’re hitting a specific pace and splits, and the workouts are a little bit more grueling. On the road you’re not on these gorgeous mountains, so you don’t get that aspect of it. The mountain stuff has taught me to let go and be a little bit more relaxed and not be so uptight about splits and paces because those are irrelevant. Like, you don’t run a pace, you just push yourself. It kind of gets to the intrinsic piece of running where it’s like the essence of a race is really just to push yourself. It takes away all that ‘garbage’ that you get caught up in, I think a lot of the time. That’s been a big contrast. But then with the trail stuff there are a lot more variables you have to deal with on race day, whereas on the road it might rain or be windy but that’s about the most uncertainty you’re gonna get. With the trail stuff you might be running through a river or climbing a small ladder; it’s really funny! To me, it’s been, just kind of letting go and being more open minded I think.”
“[If I could give my younger self a piece of advice,] it would probably be to trust yourself, take risks, and bet on yourself. That’s not specifically sport directed because I wasn’t even running as a freshman in high school. I would have been like ‘what even is professional running?” So I definitely say to trust yourself and things will work out. I think that that’s what I’ve done and things have worked out. There’s been a lot of uncertainty and fear but I know that I need to just do it because it’s been fine! Every risk is scary. That’s what makes it a risk!”
It was really cool to have the opportunity to talk to a professional runner, and grasp a bit of insight as to what that world looks like. Grayson was absolutely wonderful to interview, and was so kind and knowledgeable! I thought she was a great choice as a subject as she’s had collegiate experience in two sports, and professional experience in two avenues of running; track and field and trail. There are different stereotypes for the “ideal” body in either sport, so it was fascinating to see her take on the stigma and how society has developed around it.
When I spoke on the phone with Grayson, I gave her an overview of my project concept and thanked her for taking the time out of her busy schedule to be a part of it. She had so much insight on the topic, being an experienced athlete and someone who is so in tune with her mind, body, and soul. I find this data to be extremely significant to what is going on in athletics today, specifically pertaining to the younger generations. Eating disorders are rampant in society in general, but many young athletes are misled by what is seen or promoted on social media. It is so easy to show fragments of one’s life and influence others in ways that may be more harmful than helpful. This can occur especially because you do not have to be licensed to spread false information! We have so much at the tips of our fingertips, with nothing to say whether or not it is true.
Overall, speaking with Grayson was extremely insightful and informative, and I am so grateful for the opportunity!