Ep #2: What It Means to Be a Runner

Welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you’re a woman who is midlife and plus sized and you want to start running but don’t know how, or if it’s even possible, you’re in the right place. Using proven strategies and real-life experience, certified running and life coach Jill Angie shares how you can learn to run in the body you have right now.

Hey there and welcome back to episode two of the Not Your Average Runner podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie. And I have so much good stuff in store for you today. We are actually going to be talking about some really heavy topics, like what it means to be a runner, how fast you need to be; all that kind of stuff.

We’re also going to go over how to get started on your very first run and how you can actually get your questions answered right here on the podcast, what I’m obsessed with this week – and I’m always obsessed with something – and then how you can get to try it out yourself. And of course, we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it along the way – because, did you know my middle name is Fun? It is. Well actually, it’s Elizabeth, but I like Fun a lot better; so, I’m just going to roll with that.

Anyway, so whether you’re a brand-new runner or an experienced runner, or maybe you’re actually just contemplating it because all your friends are doing it, I promise you’re in the right place. We’ve got so much good stuff for you here today.

First, I want to highlight a new feature that I’m adding. I know, it’s episode two and already I’m adding stuff. I’m just impulsive like that. But actually, truth be told, I meant to tell you about it in the first episode, but I got so damn excited talking about socks that I completely forgot. Anyway, it’s called Ask the Curvy Coach. And basically, you can email me a question and I’ll pick one each week to answer on the podcast. It’s that simple.

You’ve just got to email me your question at podcast@NotYourAverageRunner.com and I’m going to pick one every week. If I pick your question and read it out loud on air and answer it, I’m also going to send you a Not Your Average Runner car magnet; so, yay for that.

So make sure that if you have questions, send them to me. The address is podcast@NotYourAverageRunner.com. Ask the Curvy Coach – you can ask me anything. It doesn’t even have to be running related questions. You can just ask me about how awesome my cat is or why I podcast in my closet, or anything; it’s all good.

Okay, so this week, I want to really dive into the concept of what it means to be a runner. There’s a lot about being a runner that – like it means something different to everybody. But what we’re going to cover today is how fast you need to go when you’re a runner and if it’s okay to take walk breaks. So those are the two topics we’re going to cover in the next few minutes.

So, one thing I hear all the time from new runners is that they think they’re too slow. They’ll say something like, “I can’t go more than 30 seconds without stopping to walk.” Or they say, “Oh I’m a runner, but I’m really slow.” I literally hear this all the time; at least once or twice a day. In fact, there’s even a t-shirt for it, and it’s got a picture of a turtle and it says, “I run. I’m slower than a heard of turtles in peanut butter, but I run.” And yeah, it makes me laugh every time.

But I really wonder why people feel the need to announce their running speed when they say they’re a runner. Honestly, it’s only people who consider themselves slow that feel the need to do this. Because you don’t hear Olympic runners say things like, “Oh yeah, I run. I’m faster than almost any animal on the planet besides a cheetah, but I run.” No, they just get on with the business of running.

But there seems to be this myth out there that real runners – and I’m making air quotes around real runners here – that real runners have to go fast. First of all, there is no definition of what fast is and what slow is. In fact, if you look it up in the dictionary, the definition of running is literally going faster than a walk.

So there’s no speed associated with running, other than that it is faster than walking. I think that’s a super important thing to really take on board and remember that what is fast to one person is slow to another person, and vice versa.

So real runners don’t have to go any speed, and they also can stop to walk if they want to. So like I said, there’s this myth out there that you’re not actually a runner unless you can finish a 5K in less than 30 minutes without taking any walk breaks, and that’s just crazy.

First of all, running 3.1 miles, which is how far a 5K is, in under 30 minutes is actually really fast. It means you’re running each mile in less than ten minutes, just under ten minutes. And how many people do you know that can actually run three ten-minute miles in a row, right? Probably not too many.

The other thing I hear a lot is, “I’m no serious runner. I alternate walking and running.” Or, “I’m not a real runner because I walk and run in intervals. And that’s another thing that – like, if you run, momma, if you run you are a runner. So I want you to just remember that. I want that to be your mantra. If you run, you are a runner. If I run, I am a runner. Just keep repeating that to yourself.

Here’s the other thing that we do, and honestly, I think it’s more women than men that do this. If there’s any guys listening to this podcast, I’d love to hear from you and tell me if you do this next thing. But I know women do this all the time. When someone compliments them on their running, they say, “Oh I’m just a walk runner.” Or even better, they say, “I’m just a wogger,” Which is a word mash up of walker and jogger. Like somehow the walking negates the running – that it makes you not as good of a runner or not a real runner because you have to walk sometimes.

And it’s like you need to make sure other people know, “Hey, you may think I’m awesome, but you would be wrong.” It’s like we have to correct people when they complement us and say yeah you may thing that but you’re not right. I’m not nearly as awesome as you think I am.

So here’s what I want you to know: when people say to you, “Hey, it’s so cool that you’re running. I wish I could do that too.” They’re being sincere. They genuinely believe you are amazing, and they might even be a little envious because they’re actually home on the couch and they’re thinking, “This woman’s out there running. I should probably be doing that, but I’m not.”

So why do we think we need to correct other people and let them know that we’re not as awesome as they think we are? So here’s your first lesson as a runner. I want you to own your bad-assery. I mean it; own that shit. When someone says, “Hey it’s so cool that you’re a runner.” I want you to look them in the eye and say, “I know, right.” There’s no apologizing, no clarifying or qualifying or correcting. Just own it, momma. If you run, you are a runner. And runners are just ridiculously cool. So it’s the end of the story; that is it.

Okay, next lesson. So let’s talk about whether or not it’s okay to walk when you go running. So sometimes, when you go out for a run, you might actually walk. Some people plan to do this on purpose; they call it the run-walk interval approach. They run a little bit, they walk a little bit – they often use a timer so that they’re walking and running in consistent intervals. And honestly, this is how I prefer to run.

And we’re going to talk about this on the podcast for sure, because I think it’s a great way to approach running. But some people like to do it that way, some people like to run until they’re tired, and then just walk until they’re recovered and then start running again. That’s totally fine. If you choose to run in either of these ways, you’re going to be tempted to tell people that you’re a wogger. Again, it’s that walking jogger mash up word.

It’s like no, just stop. You are going to want to tell people that you’re a runner but you take walk breaks. You’re going to want to correct them when they tell you you’re awesome, because you’re basically saying, “Hey you, I’m not as awesome as you think I am.”

But here’s how I want you to think about it: if you were to go out for a walk and you threw in a few running intervals, you wouldn’t apologize to people and say, “Yeah, I’m a walker but sometimes I have to run.” No, you’d just say you went for a walk, right?

So let’s apply that to running. If you run, you’re a runner. There’s this assumption out there by non-runners that running has to look a certain way for it to count. But guess what, it doesn’t. You can do it any way you want. However, you want to do it, it’s all good.

And here’s the most important thing: everybody – everyone on this planet, even the guy who just won the Boston Marathon, has to start somewhere. So you might have a goal of running a 5K someday without stopping. I love this goal; it’s a beautiful goal. Right now, you might only be able to go for 30 seconds and have to walk the rest of the 5K. That does not mean you’re not a real runner; it means you are a beginner. That’s literally it. Nobody is born able to run a 5K.

Everyone is a beginner at some point in time. And being a beginner, I think, is really super fun. And remember, Fun is my middle name, so that’s the last word on that. Being a beginner is fun because it means you had the courage to start, the courage to act on your dreams, right. You had the imagination to see yourself – like, “Maybe that’s something I would want to do.” Ad it’s so important that you actually took the steps to make it happen, right.

So you’re a beginner; being a beginner means you stepped out of your comfort zone and said, “I’m going to do this thing that I’ve been thinking about doing. I’m not going to talk about it anymore. I’m not going to say to everybody, “Oh, I should really start running. I’ll start tomorrow or next week or next month.” You actually just said, “I’m going to stop talking about it and I’m going to start doing it.”

That’s what being a beginner means. You started, you began, you took the first step. Being a beginner means you are practicing. And by the way, for the rest of your life as a runner, you will be practicing. There is no end point. There is no, “Okay, I have achieved everything there is to achieve.” There’s always a way you can improve, always a way that you can continue deepening your practice. But as a beginner, you’re out there, every run you’re getting stronger and you’re getting fitter. You are a rock star. I just want you to own it.

So, I’m going to give you a little challenge for this week. Actually, I’m going to give you two challenges for this week. Because you’re an over achiever, you’re listening to this podcast, you’re ready to roll. Let’s do it.

So the first challenge I have for you is if somebody compliments you on your running – if somebody says, “Congratulations on that race you just ran. That’s so amazing. I wish I could do that.” Whatever they say, I want you to look them in the eye and say, “I know, right.” Just for fun, just because you’re that excellent, just respond to them instead of saying, “Yeah, but…” And then giving all your excuses, I want you to say, “I know, right; I am amazing, so cool.” That’s your first challenge.

And if you do that, I want you to post it in the Facebook group. If you’re not as member of the Facebook group – oh my gosh, I can’t believe I haven’t told you about that – you’re going to go to NotYourAverageRunner.com/jointhecommunity and get in the Facebook group immediately. And then maybe drop me a line and maybe I’ll even read it on the podcast, if you’re lucky.

So that’s your first challenge. And then your second challenge is if you haven’t actually started your running journey yet, or maybe if you’ve taken some time off and you’re getting back into it – maybe it’s been a year or two years, something like that – I want you to go for your first run this week. And I’m going to give you a super easy assignment. I just want you to warm up with five minutes of walking – and you can do this outside, you can do it on a treadmill, you can do it at the mall if you want to.

I’ve been known to go running at the mall when it’s raining outside. I’m not ashamed to admit that. So warm up for five minutes of walking and then alternate 30 seconds of jogging – and so I use the word jogging because I want you to imagine an easy, comfortable pace, faster than a walk but not sprinting. I don’t want you to be like gasping for air at the end of that 30 seconds.

So you’re going to alternate 30 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking, and you’re going to do that ten times, and then just five minutes of walking to cool down. So it’s 30 minutes total, 20 minutes of walking and running, walking and running.

That’s it. That’s going to be your first run. I promise, it’s going to be so much easier than you think, and you’re actually going to be super proud of yourself when you’re done. And you might even want to do it again in a couple of days. Don’t tell anybody, but it’s a little bit addictive.

Okay, so I need to tell you about my current obsession right now. It’s Dr Teal’s Epsom Salts. So for real, Epsom Salt is just – it’s nothing fancy – it’s just magnesium sulphate. But it has a wide range of uses and most commonly people use Epsom Salt to relieve the discomfort of tired and sore muscles. And so this is the perfect time for you to be introduced to them if you’re going to start running, because there will be days when your legs are a little bit stiff and tired because you ran really hard.

So Epsom Salts, you know, they’re great for tired and sore muscles in the bath. They can also be used to relieve cold and flu symptoms or if you have a bruise or something like that, or if you’re itching from poison ivy. Like anecdotally, they can be used for all those things.

My experience has just been with tired and sore muscles when I was training for a half marathon the very first time around I used to take a lot of Epsom Salt baths. So magnesium is a very important mineral for our health, and it actually regulates more than 300 enzymes in your body. And many people are actually deficient in it. So they say one of the reasons that soaking in an Epsom Salt is so great is because it allows you to absorb that magnesium right through your skin.

Now, there are people out there who are going to say the only real benefit of soaking in Epsom Salts is because it just gets you to relax in hot water and the water is what’s actually doing the work and its work is actually beneficial. But here’s the best part: even if that’s the case, I really don’t think there’s any harm in it. They smell good, they feel good. Your skin will be super soft when you get out of the bath, and you might feel better. So whether or not they actually work – they work for me; I love them.

And so, if you’re interested in learning more about Epsom Salts, you can actually go to this website called www.EpsomSaltCouncil.org. You can go there, do all your research on it. Don’t worry, that’s all going to be in the show notes, so you could actually just go over to the show notes and click on the link from there.

But meanwhile, I’m going to tell you about my little Epsom Salt ritual. So back to the Dr. Teal’s – what I do is, about twice a week in the evening before I go to bed – it’s part of my wind down routine, I’ve been adding about half a cup of Epsom Salts to a bubble bath. And what I do is I fill the tub with hot water, like super hot water, because I’m some sort of glutton for punishment.

I put the Epsom Salts in, I put in my favorite bubble bath, and then I get a book or sometimes I just listen to music and close my eyes a little bit, but most of the time it’s a book. And I light some candles and then I get a wine glass out, I put some ice cubes in it and I fill it with sparkling water like La Croix – Actually, I’m from the East Coast, so we have Wegmans here, and Wegmans has a great version of flavored sparkling water that’s less than half the price of Le Croix. So that’s actually what I use.

Anyway, it makes it feel super fancy. And because the bath is so hot, then I have my iced flavored water with the bubbles and I usually let my cat play in the room and wait for her to fall in the bathtub. It’s kind of funny.

So that’s sort of my little ritual. And the reason I like the Dr. Teal’s Epsom Salts specifically is many-fold, and I’m going to list my reasons right now. So first, they come in a three-pound bag, which is less than the size of a bag of sugar. It’s not a huge, huge bag, but they come in a re-sealable bag. And most of the time, if you go to the drug store to buy Epsom Salts, they come in a carton that doesn’t seal up and basically you put them underneath the sink in the bathroom and then somebody knocks it over and there’s Epsom Salts everywhere and it’s just annoying. So I like Dr. Teal’s because it comes in a really nice bag and you can seal it up. That way, because they get sealed up, they don’t get clumpy inside the bag either. It keeps the moisture out.

They’re also a little bit finer and more consistent in texture. They’re not super chunky. This means they dissolve more easily in the bathtub. And so I really like that. And finally, they actually come in lots of different scents and varieties. My current favorite is lavender, because I love lavender everything. And Dr. Teal’s also has matching bubble bath scents for a lot of the Eposm Salts, which is super nice as well.

So my current favorite is the lavender, but I’m also getting kind of addicted to this other one that’s like Himalayan pink salt and bergamot or something like that. Anyway, that’s the other one that I’ve been loving. But they also have a eucalyptus that’s really nice and a ginger. It’s all good. So just go check them out; I’d love for you to try them. Let me know what you think, because if nothing else, you’re going to have a relaxing bath and your skin’s going to be nice and silky soft afterwards. But who knows, your muscles might even recover faster.

So the link to find these on Amazon, it’s in the show notes, so hop on over there if you want to try them out. And that is it for today. Our time is up. This went really fast.

So yeah, if you like today’s podcast, I would like to invite you to actually subscribe to it, either in iTunes or whoever you get your podcasts from. Go ahead and subscribe so it gets delivered to your phone every week. That way, you never miss an episode and you never go like a month and go, “What happened? I haven’t heard it.” And you realize it hasn’t been downloading.

So go ahead and subscribe. I’d also be super honored if you would share it with a friend. Like if you like this podcast, tell your friends about it and say, “Hey, there’s a podcast out there for all of the runners that aren’t a size six that didn’t run track in high school that maybe have never felt athletic.” If that’s you and you have friends like this, share the podcast with them. Get them running, get the love out there. Of course, give it a review on iTunes as well. So that’s it for this week, and I am so glad we’re on this journey together, my friend. I wish you the happiest of running and I’ll talk to you soon, bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. If you liked what you heard and want more, head over to www.notyouraveragerunner.com to download your free one-week jumpstart plan and get started running today.