Some people enjoy running; the footfalls, the huffing and puffing and, finally, that runner’s high. They enjoy the weird look they get when they say, “but it hurts so good!” because the pain is a great feeling at times.

Then, there is that handful of others: athletes who compete in sports that aren’t track and field or cross country, but are still based on running. Most sports incorporate running into the game, it is just a matter of to what extent. Sports such as football and baseball involve its players to sprint from point A to point B.

Sports such as soccer and basketball are a whole other story. Running is a very significant part of the game. So, why and how are these athletes willing to run? In any other case they’d just flat out hate it.

Alex Kemp, a sophomore soccer player, says he doesn’t view playing soccer as running.

“I almost never think about actually ‘running’ during a soccer game,” Kemp said. “My mind is more focused on where I need to be on the field and where I’m going to go with the ball once I have it.”

Kemp also described his strategy toward handling the average 6 or more miles run in a typical soccer game.

“The best way that I cope with fatigue is to not stop moving,” he said. “The moment you try to stop and rest, you might feel better for a few seconds, but then taking off running again will just feel worse. That is why I never stop moving on the field.”

Kemp’s focus on the game doesn’t make running any less tiring.

Hannah Millington, a sophomore basketball player, agrees that running for the game of basketball is enjoyable, but for fitness purposes that is not the case.

“Every full court drill we do it always feels like running,” she said. “It’s fun when we scrimmage but when it’s a transition drill it feels never ending.”

Millington understands the mental aspect of running.

“I try not to think about how tired I am,” she said. “It’s a mental game if you tell yourself you’re not tired, then every trip down the court doesn’t seem too bad.”

Both Kemp and Millington say their coach makes them run in and out of practice in order to be best equipped to handle the fatigue that running brings on, so they can be on top of their game.

One athlete at Millikin, Ashley Livingood, loved the running so much that in her senior year she went from soccer player to cross country runner. She can see running from both sides of the fence as an athlete who ran to play for the game of soccer and now as an athlete who follows that white line in cross country for nearly 4 miles in a race.

“There weren’t too many times when I paid attention to the fact that I was running,” Livingood said. “Generally, you are distracted from that thought because of the game that’s going on around you.

“However, I played outside mid (a position that does a lot of running) so there were moments throughout the game when my legs felt heavy and my breathing was hindered from making a run or being involved in a series of intense plays.”

Livingood explains that without the distraction of the game of soccer going on around her, the fatigue from running seems even more challenging.

“I definitely think that when you take away the distraction of a sport the running will always be harder,” she said. “Although there are more physical aspects to a game like soccer that contribute to complete exhaustion, it is way more mentally challenging to only run.

“When it is you verses yourself and the only motivation you have is to finish the race, there’s nothing more challenging than that.”

Livingood dives into greater detail on how she motivates herself.

“In soccer it’s easier to motivate myself to run for a multitude of reasons being; I know I’ll eventually get a break to recover, I know my team needs me, and everyone can always see how much effort you are putting out there,” she said. “For cross country or track I have to finish the race before I get a break, people can’t always see how much effort you are giving, and there is little recognition for your hard work. All of these things set the sports apart and change how you can mentally handle the pain.

“I push through a race by telling myself that this will make me better and that I don’t want to regret how I ran.”

At the end of the day, it is safe to say that most people in the world would tip their hat to athletes for putting themselves through the daily grind of what it takes to play their sport. Whether that be running up and down a court, a field, or in a race, running is a universal component among athletes. It is a component that brings on a physical barrier consisting of fatigue, but it’s fought by a strong mental desire to overcome it for the love of the sport.