Courtney Hufsmith

My name is Courtney Hufsmith, I am a 24 year old marketing professional and elite runner from Saskatoon, SK. For the past year and a half, I have been living in Calgary, AB where I began my professional career after earning a marketing degree from the Edwards School of Business. This fall, I will be returning to my hometown and starting a new job, while continuing to run and train with a primary focus on the 1500m track  event.

Growing up, I always identified as a soccer player. I loved the sport and I played until I reached my grade 12 year in high school. At that point, my soccer coach indicated that he saw more potential for me in running than he did in soccer. That was hard to take at the time, as I didn’t truly enjoy running as I did soccer. I always ran in the cross country and track meets in school and placed well with minimal to nil training (within Saskatchewan); but, I was by no means a national level athlete. 

My love for running only began to develop near the end of my first year at the University of Saskatchewan. That year, I decided that I wanted to really commit to a lifestyle that would allow me to put my best foot forward in races and discover what I had the potential to do as an athlete (i.e., no more partying every single weekend and always eating peanut M&Ms as my post workout go-to snack). While I took this to a bit of an extreme and ended up developing RED-S as a result (caused my overtraining and unferfuelling), looking back I would not have changed anything about that year. I ended up winning junior nationals in the 1500m event by the end of that season and while my health wasn’t necessarily in a great place, I learned a lot about myself and what I could do when I changed my mindset. Most notably of all, in addition to the spike in performance on the track, my performance in the classroom went up substantially. 

Fast forward 6 years to today, I have experienced a handful of ‘highs’ amidst many ‘lows’ in sport. I have made a national team and medaled internationally at the World University Games; and I have experienced numerous set backs, from regular overuse injuries that runners tend to face, to being diagnosed with 6 stress fractures at a single time in my foot. 

My story is unique, but it’s also not. It’s a trap that many runners often fall into – allowing our obsessive, competitive (often “Type A”) nature to work against us as a result of over-doing, in hopes of achieving perfection. However, through this process over the years, I’ve learned that perfection can never be achieved and that you never truly know what someone else may be going through. The only way that we can all put our best foot forward is to focus on ourselves, commit to the process of becoming better (for a love of the sport as opposed to any given outcome), and have empathy for those around us. 

At times I’ve questioned, is it worth it? There have been times where I’ve put my health on the line (both physically and mentally) for a sport I love, in hopes that I can get seconds faster in my discipline on the track. Each time I’ve asked myself this question, I reflect on the past few years and wonder what life would be like without running. Each time I do, I realize how much I’ve learned about myself because of this sport and how powerful that can be. I am a better working professional and person because of my sport and that is something that I and those that I’ve chosen to surround myself with, value and respect.

The bottom line is that I’m still learning, every single day. I will never be a finished product and I recognize now that perfection will never be achieved. If there is any piece of advice that I can give, it’s to find the thing that allows you to channel your most authentic self. This may change over time and it is different for everyone, but we all have unique gifts to offer and it’s only by going through the process falling down numerous times and getting back up, that we discover what makes us who we are and ultimately how we can serve others.

– Courtney Hufsmith

Photo credit – Philip Ngo (@streetlightz & @milesplitbc)