Ep #200: 4 Lessons Learned from 200 Episodes

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who has never felt athletic but you still dream about becoming a runner, you are in the right place. I’m Jill Angie, a certified running and life coach and I teach women how to start running, feel confident, and change their lives, and now I want to help you.

Hey Rebels. Well, it’s finally here. The 200th episode of the podcast, and oh my god, I’m so excited. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should talk about in this particular episode. I asked everybody I knew, everybody had an opinion, and for a while, I was actually planning to bring on a few people so we could chat together, but eventually I decided I just want to share this moment just between you and me, since we’ve had so much fun together over the past 199 shows.

I mean, we’re basically besties at this point, let’s be honest. And I really kind of want to dive into some of the big life lessons that I’ve learned from doing a podcast every single week for over three freaking years.

So before we dive in, if you want to help me celebrate this 200th episode milestone, here is how to do it. So I want you to run or walk a mile today or in the next couple days, take a picture of yourself with a sign saying that you’re celebrating the 200th episode of the podcast, post it on Instagram, and use the hashtag NYAR200.

Then – and here is the fun part – I’m going to take all of those pictures, make them into a video, and put it on Instagram to celebrate you. All of my listeners and all of the other women that have become runners since we started the show.

So again, that is go for a run or a walk in the next few days, take a picture of yourself with a sign that says you’re celebrating the 200th episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast, post it on Instagram with #NYAR200. You got to use the hashtag so I can find your picture. If you don’t use the hashtag, I won’t be able to find you. And I’m going to put them all in a video and post it and I cannot wait to see all of your gorgeous pictures.

Okay, let us talk about the lessons learned from 200 episodes. There are numerous and in some cases, kind of surprising. I learned a lot about myself and also about how many awesome and badass women there are in the world. It has been an incredibly inspiring journey.

And I probably have 200 lessons that I could talk about, a lot of them are more just like, oh, well, I won’t do that again, just kind of small silly things. But I tried to distill down the ones that I thought you would get the most value from.

So without any further ado, let’s just dive in. So the first lesson I learned is pretty similar to what I’ve been telling you for the past three years, that people are going to have opinions about you and that is okay. But what has kind of blown my mind is how many people will go out of their way to express their opinion to a podcaster. Oh my god.

Most of the time, it is appreciation from what they have learned from the podcast and I’m all in for that. I’m all in. If you want to go out of your way to tell me how awesome this podcast is, or how it has helped you or changed you in some way, please, please, all day long.

But a surprising number of folks have the belief that I should not swear on my podcast. And they’re pretty clear and direct about it. Actually, let me rephrase that. Pretty fucking clear and direct about it. Seriously, I cannot tell you how many times somebody has emailed or direct messaged me on Instagram or written a review or whatever to say I should stop swearing, to say that they are unable to listen to the show because of my – and I’m quoting here – “foul language which makes me sound uneducated and unintelligent.”

And here’s the fun part, I think this is so fun. At no point am I hurt or offended or upset or angry about any of these opinions. Sometimes I laugh, I think it’s funny. But first of all, I’m not offended. I know I’m educated. I mean, for fuck’s sake, I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in chemistry, I have a Masters in regulatory affairs, I even got halfway through my MBA before I realized that another degree was not going to make me happy.

So I know I’m smart, I know I’m educated, and I still choose to swear because I like to express myself that way. It feels natural, it feels fun, and guess what? I’m an adult human with autonomy over my choices, which means I get to decide.

But the big lesson that I really learned from the podcast, yes, from the swearing, but also from other things that people have written in that you cannot please everybody. There is no way that you can do a thing that’s going to make every single person happy.

Because here’s the thing; I could totally stop swearing on the show, and then guess what? All of the people that are attracted to the show because of how I express myself might no longer be interested, or at least not relate as much. That means you actually might not be listening right now.

So you really can’t please everyone and there’s also no perfect way of behaving. I mean, yeah, we have some laws in the world that state if you don’t behave a certain way, there’s going to be consequences. We have societal norms that guide our behavior so that civilization doesn’t devolve into one big giant nuclear war.

But we still all have the human right to do and be however we want. And when there are billions of people on the planet, there are always going to be differences of opinion on how to be the best human. So if you can’t please everyone, I think it makes sense to just be yourself and your people will find you.

So this is from me to you. Be yourself. Be your gorgeous shining self. It is okay if people think you’re crass or braggy or stupid or silly or whatever they think you are. Because they’re just not your people. That’s all. And the more you you become, the more your people will find you.

So that is lesson number one from all the swearing. Be yourself and your people will find you. Alright, lesson number two. Leave your expectations at the door and you will be amazed at what you can create.

So I started this show without any real expectations. Honest to God. I focused on creating the first three episodes because that’s what my producer told me to do. He said, “You got to have three episodes to put out there on day one, and then you’ll put out one a week.” So I made three episodes. I planned them out, I recorded them, I published them, I was not thinking about episode 200. I wasn’t even thinking about episode 10.

I simply focused on creating the next show. And you guys, it was awkward and uncomfortable in the beginning. I had no freaking idea what I was doing. Every time I recorded, I had to remember how to set up the equipment all over again. I can’t tell you how many times I recorded an entire podcast without actually hitting the record button. Really, some smart stuff.

This is me, I just told you how educated I was, yeah, sometimes it takes me a while to learn a lesson. But it took hours for every episode. And eventually, I got better, I noticed areas where I could make things easier, and now I can get an episode done in like, 90 minutes or less, and that includes outlining the idea, equipment setup, and recording.

So the lesson here is that you don’t have to see the whole staircase to take the first step. Actually, that is a Martin Luther King Jr quote. Let’s just be honest. I did not make that quote up. But I do love it because sometimes we derail ourselves from starting a new thing because we don’t know how we’re going to accomplish the whole thing.

And that is such a shame because the hardest part of any endeavor is usually just showing up. Showing up without a bunch of worries or expectations, just saying I’m going to do the first step, I know I can do that much, and then I will worry about step two, and then I’ll worry about step three.

And this applies so well to running, my friends. I cannot tell you how many clients I’ve coached who say, “I can’t start running because I don’t think I can run a 5K, so why even bother?” And I’m like, wait, what? How about you go and do that first run, maybe it’s 10 minutes, and then you worry about the next run, and then the one after that, and then we’ll start talking 5K?

Or this is another really common one. I’ll have a client that gets super excited, they sign up for a half marathon or even a full marathon, and they’re like, this is so much fun. And then they see the training plan and they realize somewhere along the line, they’re going to have to do a 10-mile run and a 12-mile run and an 18-mile run and a 20-mile run.

And right now, their longest distance is four miles and they’re like, “Okay, I can’t run 20 miles so I’m just going to quit right now.” And I’m like, again, let’s just focus on doing that five-mile run. And then you can worm on six miles. Because your marathon is in six months. You don’t have to run it tomorrow.

Right now, you just need to be able to run five miles. That’s it. So, when you focus on taking just the next step and just keep repeating that over and over, it is amazing what you can do. You can run 20 miles. You can write a book. You can record 200 episodes of a podcast. You can teach a million women how to start running.

And I’m not saying you should not dream big. Set those big-ass goals, sister. Set them all. But then, put your head down and work on taking the first step. Show up for yourself in this way and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Alright, lesson number three is sharing the real story, not just the picture-perfect one is one of the most powerful things I can do. Now, it is easy to make your life look perfect on Instagram. It’s easy for me to tell you that I don’t have the same thoughts and feelings about running, about my body, about my life that you do.

I could totally do that, but how does that help you? All it does is make you think I’m some sort of special unicorn and that everything is easy for me. Some of the most powerful episodes of this show, the ones that have helped people the most are where I share my own struggles, my own failures.

Like in 2019 when I trained for the Philly marathon. God damn that was hard. I learned so much about myself from that experience. I learned first of all that I’m much stronger than I give myself credit for. I learned again for like the millionth time that failure is a powerful teacher. And I learned that, you know what? Maybe if you’ve only been back to running for two months after taking several months off for injury, a marathon shouldn’t be your first goal.

But before I started talking about my marathon training on the show, I actually considered whether it was a good idea or a bad idea. Because I thought, what if I fail? Then everyone will know and they will think that I’m a failure, I’m a fraud, I’m a terrible runner, I’m an imposter, I’m a bad coach. They’ll think all the things.

And of course, that’s actually true. There will for sure be people who think those things. And spoiler alert, there are plenty of people who have those opinions about me now without me even failing at a marathon. See lesson number one.

But I know that in my life, when I see somebody model failure and model getting back up again, it has totally made it okay for me to fail. I thought, “Okay, she really fucked that up spectacularly. And wow, she didn’t die. She’s learning. She’s rising. Maybe failure is a good thing?”

So, I knew, going into my training, that I was going to share everything, I thought it was only fair; all the triumphs, all the failures. And there were a lot of both. But here is my favorite example.

So, one of my training runs, my 16-miler, it was just a motherfucker. Oh my god. It was father than I’d ever gone before at that point and I ran it with a friend. And our plan was to do a half-marathon, grab our medals, and then keep going for another three miles.

And the race itself was hard. I was pretty much dragging at that 13-mile mark, wasn’t sure if I could keep going. We crossed the finish line, grabbed our medals, and then ran to the car to refill our water, and my friend decided to just stay there. And I was like, “Oh shit, now I’ve got to do the last three miles by myself.”

And I was very tempted to do the same, to just stick with her and be like, “Okay, well maybe I’ll do 16 miles another day.” But I decided, “I’m going to keep going. I’m going to see what happens.” And every single step hurt, probably hurt more than it actually hurt because I was having a raging pity party in my head.

And I was just bitching and moaning like, “This is so hard, marathon, dumb idea, blah, blah, blah…” right? And then I realized, “Wait, I’m going farther than I’ve ever gone before.” This kind of hit me around the 14-mile mark, “Of course this is hard. This is where the change happens. These are the miles where my body adapts and gets stronger. These are the miles I came for.”

And I started repeating that in my head. I finished my 16-mile run, I came home, I immediately recorded a podcast all about it. These are the miles I came for.

You guys, I learned a lot of lessons from that, but this is where it really gets good. So, over a year later, Andy found this thread on Reddit where people were sharing their favorite inspirational running quotes. And he’s like, “Hey, Jill, you’ve got to see this.”

And he handed me his phone and someone had quoted an entire passage from that podcast word for word. I was floored. And I’m like, “Oh, now I get it.” If I had just pretended that training is always easy for me, I for sure would not have created that show, which is episode 114 if you’re interested and I wouldn’t have connected with the over 8500 people that have listened to that show so far.

So yeah, I was like, I get it. Me showing up and just being myself and sharing the struggles, the failures along with the successes is powerful for other people because they get to learn the lessons along with me.

So I want to know, in your life, when you are feeling compelled to pretend like you never fail, like you’re perfect, like everything always goes according to plan, I really want you to think about who might benefit from seeing the failures, from seeing you mess something up, pick yourself back up, and keep going. Because you know what? In my life, the people who inspire me the most are definitely not the ones who have an easy time of it.

I don’t look at the Kardashians, who are always posting about their amazing lives, I don’t look at them and say, “Oh, so inspiring.” And they may have a lot of struggles. This is not a diss on the Kardashians. But I look at the people who maybe explode spectacularly trying to get to the place they’re going, trying to reach a goal, who just have epic failures, get back up, and keep going. Those are the people that inspire me.

I don’t look at them and think, “Oh yeah, you’re a loser for messing that up.” I think, “Wow, you’re brave and courageous and strong and that inspires me to be better.” So, how can you be that person for someone else in your life.

Okay, this last lesson – and again, I kind of tried to distill this down into stuff that I thought would be really super helpful for you. So, the last one is kind of short and sweet. And actually, this one is for me and not for you because this might not relate to you. But I’m throwing it in here just because it’s a good one, because it makes me laugh.

So, the lesson is strangers will feel like they know you really well even if you’ve never met them. This is so fun. So, I’d heard other podcasters say this but I didn’t really understand it until I had my own show and I would meet a listener in person and she’d say, “Oh my god, I feel like we’re best friends because I hear your voice in my ear all the time.”

And I’ve even been at races and been talking to somebody and somebody else overhears me and comes up and says, “Hey, are you Jill Angie? I recognized your voice. I listen to your podcast.” And it’s really, really fun when that happens because I love the idea that I am best friends with all my listeners, that I’m best friends with you.

I love the idea that we have this intimate bond because we run together or we drive together or we walk together. It feels amazing. And to me, the fact that you let me into your life in this way is something that I never expected from doing this podcast. It’s been a delightful side effect and possibly one of my favorites.

I’m so honored to be a part of your running journey and I have made some incredible friends as a result of this show. And these are women that I would never, ever have met otherwise. Literally, people I would never have met if I hadn’t done this show. And this is a bonus that I never could have predicted.

So, maybe this is a lesson for you because I think the take-home is that you never know where something will take you. If you just show up and take that first step, anything is possible, right? You never know.

If you decide you want to run a 5K, you start showing up and training, you never know what the amazing side effects of that will be. The friends that you might make, the stuff that you’re going to learn about yourself, you just don’t know. So, anything is possible. Anything. Show up.

Alright, that is it for episode 200, my friends. Thank you for joining me on this wild ride. I look forward to what the next 200 episodes will bring. I love you. Stay safe. Get your ass out there and run and I will talk to you next week.

Oh, and one last thing. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you have to check out the Rebel Runner Roadmap. It’s a 30-day online program that will teach you exactly how to start running, stick with it, and become the runner you’ve always wanted to be. Head on over to rebelrunnerroadmap.com to join. I’d love to be a part of your journey.