The Strength Running Podcast · Jason Fitzgerald

When Should You Quit Running? An Honest, Difficult Conversation with Author Dimity McDowell

·56 min·3 clips

She says losing running is a grief process tied to identity, community, and daily structure.

1. The Strength Running Podcast episode 450 focuses on Dimity McDowell’s book The 27th Mile and the problem of when a runner can no longer run. 2. Host Jason Fitzgerald introduces McDowell as the co-founder of Another Mother Runner, a journalist, author, and former runner whose work has appeared in Runner’s World and Sports Illustrated for Women. 3. The conversation asks what the book is for: how runners can navigate the shift from running to non-running with less shock and more preparation. 4. McDowell says losing running means losing “community,” “power,” “identity,” and “the structure of your day.” 5. She describes her own history of being “consistently injured,” including stress fractures, hip problems, knee problems, and back pain. 6. She says she started running at age 18, never learned mechanics early, and thinks her tall frame, at almost 6'4", may have contributed to the strain. 7. McDowell explains that she did not like resting, even when injury cycles kept returning. 8. She says an orthopedist she trusted told her in late 2017 to “consider not running anymore.” 9. She stopped running in 2020 after about three years of trying to keep going in some form. 10. During that period she used swim-run, a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike, walk-runs on the Highline Canal in Denver, and other endurance substitutes. 11. One of her main insights is that the transition can take about a year of acceptance or more, rather than happening overnight. 12. She says the loss of running fits the category of “disenfranchised grief,” a grief that society does not always validate. 13. McDowell argues that runners often keep the loss private because people who do not run may not understand why it hurts so much. 14. She says running friends can fade away when someone stops showing up at group runs and races. 15. Her book includes examples of people who keep walking with running groups, while others let those friendships evolve or end. 16. She also cites one unusual story of a woman who became a nun at age 60 after a decade of racing and training as a runner. 17. The interview style is personal and reflective, with Jason using his own move away from competitive running to keep the discussion concrete. 18. The tone stays conversational and candid, with repeated attention to injuries, grief, and the practical logistics of age and recovery. 19. Listeners who are aging runners or facing injury-related change will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting race strategy or workout talk may skip it.

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