An entitled Karen secretly records me and tries to get me fired from an athletic program

as a coach, claiming that I was too out of shape to be a coach on this kid's program.

But my boss was absolutely not having any of this, and put this Karen right in her place.

Here's what happened. So I recently had an emergency appendectomy, and recovery has been

very slow. So because of that, I had to take time off from my own athletics, but worse,

from coaching in the kid's sports program I'm currently involved with.

The experience as a whole made me step back and realize I really built my whole identity

around being active and healthy, so the hit my physical abilities took as a result of being sick,

as well as the healing process has made me feel lost. I've been working to regain the joy

I used to experience from exercise without going, oh, you used to be so much faster than that,

or saying something like, your technique used to be so much stronger. I don't want to feel like

I don't fit in anymore. I want to enjoy myself regardless of the level I'm at. But ironically,

the anxiety about not being able to do what I used to has made regaining those abilities a bit

difficult. It made me self-conscious about exercising in public spaces, but I was starting to get

over it as friends convinced me the source of my concerns were all in my head. There is no

way to get back to it other than training. So despite the anxiety, I started running again,

as soon as the doctors approved it. I went to the local track and just did a few slow laps each

morning, building up speed every few days, and I've only just been authorized to add some sprints

and body weight strength training to the mix. Occasionally, there are a few other people at the track,

but I didn't really notice because I run with headphones on, and I tried to zone out in these

lighter sessions. But little did I know that my friends were wrong. It was not all in my head.

In fact, I was being watched, and more than that, I was being judged, which really is my

...