Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Harrison
Christian, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been running since I was 9 years old and I can honestly say the high school version of myself would never imagine I’d make it this far. I never won a county or state championship in high school, never won a conference championship in college, and I’ve certainly never won a national championship on any level. I’m simply the product of consistency and discipline. I don’t even think of myself as super talented—sometimes it feels like I imposed my will to get here. I wanted it so bad that I was willing to work for it day after day. Eventually those days start to stack, and progress becomes inevitable. I’m simply the result of showing up every day and putting my foot on the pedal. After bad performances, through periods of feeling discouraged, through injuries, through missing family holidays and missing friends’ wedding—I just keep showing up.
I’m now entering into my 9th year as a professional runner. There are many goals I set for myself that I have not achieved yet, and some goals that I will never achieve. Throughout my career I’ve learned to shift my perspective and give myself grace about those shortcomings; but I’ll be damned if I don’t show up and try.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Hahaha, not even close. The struggles in my professional career began in 2017, which was my first year pro. I had a lot of discomfort I was running through that year which led to some inconsistent training and subpar performances. It turned out to be a couple stress fractures in my hip and pelvis. The next year I ran the 7th fastest time of all Americans during the indoor season, but the very next race I suffered a season-ending injury. The two subsequent years would be filled with injury as well, with the last injury being a ruptured achilles tendon in 2020.
With my first 4 years full of injuries, I enter into my the 5th year with a surgically repaired achilles and a sense of gratitude to still be competing. It takes a very long time to regain elite-level fitness after 6 months of no running, but I would eventually get there. However, there was a mental portion of recovery that I had not achieved. It’s tough to watch your competitors get better year after year, while you stay stagnant due to injuries. All the while, the young guys coming out of college are getting faster and faster. I went into that 2021 season having not won a race in 3 years. It took me a long while to get my confidence back and race as if I was actually trying to win.
Between the mental and physical recovery of injuries, there are also loss of contracts and sponsorship due to lack of performance. All these things together made up the hurdles in my road to get to year 9. I learned a lot, and grew a lot as a navigated those struggles.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve been running since I was 9 years old and I can honestly say the high school version of myself would never imagine I’d make it this far. I never won a county or state championship in high school, never won a conference championship in college, and I’ve certainly never won a national championship on any level. I’m simply the product of consistency and discipline. I don’t even think of myself as super talented—sometimes it feels like I imposed my will to get here. I wanted it so bad that I was willing to work for it day after day. Eventually those days start to stack, and progress becomes inevitable. I’m simply the result of showing up every day and putting my foot on the pedal. After bad performances, through periods of feeling discouraged, through injuries, through missing family holidays and missing friends’ wedding—I just keep showing up.
I’m now entering into my 9th year as a professional runner. There are many goals I set for myself that I have not achieved yet, and some goals that I will never achieve. Throughout my career I’ve learned to shift my perspective and give myself grace about those shortcomings; but I’ll be damned if I don’t show up and try.
Hahaha, not even close. The struggles in my professional career began in 2017, which was my first year pro. I had a lot of discomfort I was running through that year which led to some inconsistent training and subpar performances. It turned out to be a couple stress fractures in my hip and pelvis. The next year I ran the 7th fastest time of all Americans during the indoor season, but the very next race I suffered a season-ending injury. The two subsequent years would be filled with injury as well, with the last injury being a ruptured achilles tendon in 2020.
With my first 4 years full of injuries, I enter into my the 5th year with a surgically repaired achilles and a sense of gratitude to still be competing. It takes a very long time to regain elite-level fitness after 6 months of no running, but I would eventually get there. However, there was a mental portion of recovery that I had not achieved. It’s tough to watch your competitors get better year after year, while you stay stagnant due to injuries. All the while, the young guys coming out of college are getting faster and faster. I went into that 2021 season having not won a race in 3 years. It took me a long while to get my confidence back and race as if I was actually trying to win.
Between the mental and physical recovery of injuries, there are also loss of contracts and sponsorship due to lack of performance. All these things together made up the hurdles in my road to get to year 9. I learned a lot, and grew a lot as a navigated those struggles.
You often see professional athletes go into coaching after their careers. I’m testing the coaching waters now as I’m entering my third year coaching at Helix Charter High School in La Mesa. We have won back-to-back CIF San Diego Section Championships on the boys’ side, going for the 3-peat this year. I’m not sure if I’ll go into coaching full-time after my career, but I’m having fun coaching my high schoolers for now.
Aside from track and field, I started a nonprofit organization in 2018, Beat The Day, Inc. With my nonprofit, I try to directly impact our youth by giving annual college scholarships to student-athletes, doing various community activations in my hometown, and sharing all the knowledge I’ve acquired through my life. I’m originally from Glenarden, MD—right outside of Washington D.C., but I’ve fell in love with San Diego. I’m growing baby roots here, in fact I’m getting married next year and my wedding will be here, despite majority of my friends and family being on the east coast. I don’t know if I’ll stay in San Diego for 12 more months or 12 more years, but I’m loving everything that has come with it.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
There are a ton of changes happening in track and field. We are starting to see new leagues emerge with Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track League. We’ve seen successful, innovative takes on track meets with Athlos NYC. Our stars are starting to get more national notoriety. There are a lot of exciting, new things happening within the sport. Optimistically speaking, I can see track and field becoming exponentially more popular than it is now within 10 years.
Our product is great—the viewership at the Olympics every four years prove it. However, records get broken every year, there are plenty of athletes with great stories and big personalities to follow each year. The product has never been a problem, the issue has always been how the product is presented to the public. There finally seems to be some funding being thrown into the sport. If that funding falls into the hands of creative people who truly love the sport, I can see us shattering our glass ceiling in the next 5-10 years. I actually would love to be a part of those conversations, maybe that’s something I’ll get into after my career is over.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beattheday.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christiancash/profilecard/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Image Credits
Justin Britton
Jan Figueroa
Kevin Morris
James Rhodes
Chris Dorwart
Marilia Vasilakopoulou
