May 27, 2025, 9:38 am | Read time: 4 minutes
I had been running for a while and had already participated in a few 10-kilometer races. In 2018, I wanted to seriously improve, so I signed up for a trial session with an ambitious running group from a major Berlin running club. The coach made it clear that he didn’t see much potential in me. I never went back and decided to train on my own.
One early evening in the spring of 2018, I stood in my running gear at a sports facility in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Along with about a dozen runners, I waited for the running coach. I was excited; the man was a legend. His trainees were all fit runners. And indeed, they were, as it turned out when the coach arrived and instructed them to start with exercises from the running ABC. “What are you doing here?” I thought to myself. Before I could slip away, he turned to me. And then it got uncomfortable.
“You Run Like a Giraffe! That Won’t Work!”
To assess our running style, another runner—who, like me, wanted to try it out—and I were supposed to run back and forth in front of the coach individually. As she started, I watched his face. He seemed satisfied with the demonstration. Yes, I should be able to do that… I tried to encourage myself and started running confidently. Already on the first return, he shouted to me—and now everyone could hear: “Oh dear, you run like a giraffe! That won’t work!”
Ouch. I first looked down at my body and wished fervently that my legs would work properly and not awkwardly tilt inward while running. Heat rose to my face. I had expected many things, but not to be exposed in front of the entire group.
He told the other runner she was “marathon material”
I was allowed to participate in the subsequent trial training, which included a 1,200-meter tempo test—but I felt more like I was in the way. The coach paid no further attention to me. To the other “applicant,” however, he called out generously as she passed by that she was “even marathon material.” I couldn’t believe we had ended up in such an unpleasant form of talent scouting…
Today, eight years later, that moment is still vivid to me. Not because it was funny back then—it initially discouraged me—but because I now know how much that comment affected me. At the time, it almost cost me the joy of running. I was hurt, discouraged—and felt like I didn’t belong. How can a coach make such demotivating remarks?
How Can a Running Coach Make Such Demotivating Remarks?
In the days and weeks that followed, my motivation to run was at rock bottom. But the more I thought about this annoying situation, the more defiance built up. Along with the realization that I didn’t want to give up running because I simply enjoy moving this way. In fact, after the disaster at the trial training, I became friends with my “competitor.” She also found the coach’s elitist attitude distasteful. We laughed about the guy.
The athletic gazelle from the trial training and I became our own running group. The mockery turned into motivation. The doubt created a goal. In 2019, after participating in several 10-kilometer road races, I dared to take on a specific, ambitious running challenge for the first time in my life: running 10 kilometers in under 45 minutes. I processed my inner hurdles—the frustration, the doubts, and how I kept going.
Everyone Can Improve
Instead of belittling me, my challenge coach, Egidijus, showed me what matters. Stability in the knee, control in the hip, conscious footwork. Small corrections, targeted exercises, over and over. Let’s be honest: You can’t really straighten a fundamental leg shape. You can’t train it away. Not everyone has an ideal running style—and that’s okay. But everyone can improve.
Today, running has once again become a challenge for me. The running shoes sometimes sit untouched in the hallway for days—a child shifts priorities. But one thing remains: Whenever I start running, I feel it as a powerful moment just for me. I can build on that… let’s see where it goes.
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This Is What I Want to Say to the Coach from Back Then
To the coach from Charlottenburg back then, I want to say: You saw how I run, but you didn’t see me. Not everyone runs straight. But everyone has the right to run with pride and joy. If someone stands before you, ready to try and compete with others: Give them a perspective, instead of taking it away. Motivation comes through encouragement, clarity of goals, and effort.
*I don’t want to expose anyone, so the name remains confidential