Today marks the first-ever post in the Rebels on the Run blog series, a new feature in which the fabulous, rebellious, and slightly potty-mouthed NYAR coaches share their training journeys.
We’ll be blogging here every Monday and Wednesday with our own individual perspectives and stories, with the intention of both inspiring you to slay your training, and showing you the reality of what it’s like for us—our successes and failures, and how we manage all of it.
But first, who the hell am I and what exactly is Not Your Average Runner?
Great question.
Meet Jill
My name is Jill Angie (yes, that’s my real last name), and I’m the founder and CEO of Not Your Average Runner, host of the podcast by the same name, and I’m also the head coach and rebel at Run Your Best Life.
I’m a runner, triathlete, beer & pizza lover, and cat mom. I like long walks on the beach, hot chocolate by the fire, and… oh, wait—this isn’t a dating profile. Oops. Actually, I have a smart, funny, and devilishly handsome boo named Andy. He’s a runner too, and you’ll meet him soon. But first, more about me!
I started this business waaaay back in 2012. At the time, it was called Fabulously Fit Personal Training, and I worked with women in my town to help them become stronger and feel more confident in their own bodies. I did it part time at first because I already worked at a pharmaceutical company—but after about a year, I realized that I wanted to become a full-time personal trainer, so I quit that job completely (gulp) and went all in on the business.
In 2013 I wrote a book called Running With Curves, to show plus-sized women how to start running without having to lose a bunch of weight. It took off like gangbusters (over 100,000 downloads!!) and I started receiving emails almost every day from women who finally realized that it was OK for them to run, to show up in Spandex at the gym, to register for races, and even tell people what they were doing.
How Not Your Average Runner Got Its Start
That’s when I realized there was a real need in the world for this to become more than just a book and a local business. A full-on rebellion was necessary to show the world that runners come in all shapes, sizes, and speeds. Running with Curves officially became Not Your Average Runner, and the movement was underway.
We started out small, with a Facebook page, then a tiny little Facebook group centered around the book, and now we are almost 10,000 strong and growing.
I wrote more books and in 2016, I closed the doors on my training studio so I could work completely online. In 2018 I started the podcast to reach even more people.
You see, here at NYAR we have a dream of getting a million more women up and running. This year. As in 2019.
Crazy, right? That’s just how we roll over here at Not Your Average Runner. No goal is too big or unrealistic. Because the higher you aim, the higher you land.
Late last year, I realized that the NYAR rebellion was getting too big for me to manage on my own, so I brought on a team)—and enlisted the badass Jen Lamplough to help me coach and mentor even more women. You’ll meet her on Wednesday. Buckle up, though! Jen is a force to be reckoned with. Nothing gets in this woman’s way—she is completely unstoppable and inspires me daily to be the best version of myself. She’s also one of the kindest, most compassionate, and hilarious people I’ve ever met. You are going to LOVE her.
Why We’re Launching Rebels on the Run
But even with the podcast, and the books, and the Facebook group, and all the free trainings, we still felt like we could be doing MORE. Not just teaching and coaching, but actually sharing our own personal stories. Raw and real. Successes, failures, and everything in between.
Why? Because running is AWESOME and one of the great joys of our lives… but it’s not unicorns and daisies all the time. We want you to see what real runners are like behind the scenes (not just the pretty pictures we post on Instagram).
Some days we are total rock stars. Some days we struggle just to get out the fucking door. It’s all part of being a runner.
This year, I’m training for the Philly marathon in November. It will be my first marathon distance, and I’m just coming off a running hiatus for a knee injury that has completely sidelined me since last summer. I’m in the process of rebuilding everything, and there are days when I want to cry and others when I am so damn proud of myself I want to run up to total strangers and tell them I just did a one-legged squat without falling on my ass.
Jen has some pretty big goals for herself, but she’ll share them with you on Wednesday in her own words.
Meanwhile, welcome to the family, and I hope you enjoy our shenanigans!
xoxo,
Jill
