Dylan Allen: A Comeback Story

For Dylan Allen, running was a way of life and kept him driven. With a whopping 10 MHSAA class titles, a Gatorade Player of the Year award, and a collegiate track scholarship to his name, running was his everything. He graduated from Mooreville High School in 2019 and accepted a scholarship to the University of Southern Mississippi. From there, he cracked down on his training and was on pace for the best track season of his life. A week before his first collegiate outdoor race, the Bryan Clay Invitational, disaster struck.

COVID-19 had spread throughout the country and completely shut down all schools, including their sports teams. Dylan never got to compete in his outdoor season. Months of hard work and sacrifice were gone in an instant. The anchor that had held him steady for so long had suddenly been yanked away and left him adrift, with no land in sight. When he came back sophomore year, that anchor never replaced itself. He no longer felt the drive that had pushed him forward for so many years. The discipline that he had ground into his life had faded away, and he couldn't funnel the ambition needed to continue his running career.

Faced with this shortcoming, Dylan left the life of a collegiate athlete and chose to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. During his time in service, he learned a lot about himself and grew to appreciate his life in the military. Even though he was happy, one thing always seemed to be missing from his life. As expected from someone who joins the Marines, Dylan worked out constantly and gained a substantial amount of muscle; however, he hardly ever ran. He continued this practice for many years until he received life-changing news: he was going to be a father.

When Dylan thought about how to be the best parent possible, he knew he had to have strength, discipline, and self-control. He wanted to have all the characteristics a great man should have, so he decided the best way to start would be to do something difficult. This led him back to running. After not doing a hard run in over three years, he could barely do three miles at an eight-minute pace. In his own words, "It was hard, but it felt great." That same day he received news that his course record at the Mooreville XC Invitational had been broken by none other than Oxford's Bailey Kosko. Dylan decided it was time to not only do something difficult but to do something crazy. He simply googled "Hardest races in Georgia" and signed up for the Cloudland Canyon 50k.

After only a few weeks, he was already doing 20-mile-long runs at a pace that he could barely hold for three miles just weeks before. He was running better and better each week, and he began to feel like himself again, just doing what he loves most. In a way, this training felt like he had returned to that fateful outdoor season, almost as if he had picked up right where he left off. Unlike three years ago, nothing was going to stop Dylan from competing in this race.

With only three months of training, Dylan toed the line of the Cloudland Canyon 50k on December 3rd. He had never touched anything close to this distance in his history of racing. In a nutshell, this race is over 31 miles long, has 4500+ feet of elevation gain, and forces runners to trek down and up a canyon. Despite all of this, he went on anyway and began the hardest race of his life. When describing his race, he said, "I have never had to push myself that hard in my life, and there was a stretch where I didn't think I'd finish." With an effort that surpassed what he thought his body could do, Dylan finished the race. Only, he didn't just finish this race but placed 3rd overall and came through the line with his head held high.

In a summation of his story, Dylan said, "When my outdoor season got canceled my freshman year I never recovered. I had an awful attitude and mindset and the lack of discipline I had in my life just threw me into this downhill spiral for a long long time. Literally years. Eventually, after having my daughter, I really started digging deep into my past to become a better father. It brought me back to running. And it's given me more drive and discipline and really just changed my life again. And now running today means more to me than it ever did then. So it's been an awesome journey, and I'm thankful for all the ups and downs. If I could go back, I wouldn't change anything."

For all runners out there, adversity will always find its way to you in one form or another. You may miss a season due to injury or lose that race that you've trained so hard to win. In the end, the most important thing you can gain from Dylan Allen's story is this: adversity happens, but you will always bounce back. It may take a few weeks, maybe even a few years, but it is possible and it can be done. Whether or not you continue running in the future, it will always be a part of you, and you can always trace a pathway back to it.