Former Seahawk Justin Britt ran his first Bloomsday, trading football for running and sharing how it’s helped him heal after injury and mental health struggles.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Former Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Justin Britt traded the gridiron for pavement at this year’s Bloomsday Run, marking his first time participating in the iconic 12K race through Spokane. Britt, who played in the NFL from 2014 to 2022, now uses running as a way to compete and stay healthy after injuries and mental health challenges led him to retire from professional football.
“I’m just over a year into running,” Britt said at the finish line. “I ran my first half marathon in September, and I just got done with my sixth. This was my first 12K, my first Bloomsday, so, a lot of firsts, a lot of newness, and it’s cool to be included in this world.”
Britt’s football career included six seasons with the Seahawks before a knee injury cut his 2019 season short. He later signed with the Houston Texans in 2021 but stepped away from the game amid recurring health issues.
“In the middle of the game, I felt like I hit an all-time low,” Britt said. “It all came crashing down that evening and the next day, and I was kind of going through it with anxiety and depression.”
Britt sought therapy and began the difficult work of healing, but said he still felt something was missing—until his wife encouraged him to go for a run.
“The fact that I couldn’t finish my first mile kind of drove me crazy,” he said. “And it lit a fire in me where I just wanted to make that mile easy.”
Now, Britt races across the country and documents his journey with running and mental health on social media, where he says the response has been powerful.
“I see the impact in my DMs, for instance, and people starting to share their testimony,” he said. “We’ve all heard ‘you’re better off sharing your story than holding it in because you don’t know who else is going through it and who may be impacted from it.’”
This May, Britt returned to the Pacific Northwest not just to run, but to wave the Bloomsday flag for the elite runners before joining the race himself. He completed the hilly 12K course with an average mile pace of 7 minutes, 18 seconds.
“I saw the vulture, and I was like, ‘I made it,’” Britt joked, referencing the infamous Doomsday Hill mascot. “Now, I get to eat the vulture for breakfast. Maybe it will get me next year, but this year I think I won the battle.”
Britt’s next scheduled race is the Chicago Half Marathon, but he told KREM 2 Sports the first thing on his mind after Bloomsday was coming back next year.