Ep #40: The Secret to Manifesting Your Dreams with Cassie Parks

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, rebels, you are listening to episode number 40 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and today I am speaking with the one and only Cassie Parks. And we are going to dive right into the topic of using visualization techniques to make you a better runner and rock your race day experience.

Now, Cassie is an author, a coach, a master manifestor, and a champagne lover, and that’s just one of the many things that we have in common. And we’re actually going to talk a lot about what it means to be all of those things, but for right now, all you need to know is that her superpower is helping her clients welcome more money into their lives. She’s written books on the topics of money, lifestyle design and business, and she coaches athletes on using her techniques to improve their performance.

She’s also written two female empowerment fiction novellas, which we’re going to talk about in the show, and she hosts two podcasts, The More Money Show and she also co-hosts the Manifest It Now Podcast. She’s a busy girl and I’m so grateful that she took a few minutes out of her day to spend with me on this interview and to share all of her knowledge with you because I promise, it’s going to help you as a runner and kind of as a human.

So without further ado, here’s my friend Cassie.

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Jill: Hey rebels, so I’m here today with one of my favorite people on the planet, Ms. Cassie Parks, and she is going to talk to us about visualization techniques to help you run a better race. And like, she’s just kind of a ninja at this kind of stuff so I’m going to let her do a lot of talking. I’m just going to ask questions and try to learn along with y’all, but Cassie, welcome and thank you so much for joining me today. And what I’d love is if you could like, tell us a little bit about what you do and how you help people achieve their goals because you’re really good at it.

Cassie: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be on the podcast, of course, you’re one of my favorite people on the planet so this is super fun, and I love The Not Your Average Runner, so awesome.

Jill: You are a not so average runner.

Cassie: I am a not your average runner. I am. And I love it. Like, I mean, I love who you are and what you give to the world. It’s so fun. I could talk about you all day, but you asked me to talk…

Jill: I’m the same. I know, please talk about yourself, I know all about me.

Cassie: Right, I know. Yeah, so I help people really get into seeing and being able to like, taste and feel whatever it is that they want. So whether that’s a running goal or if it’s with – I work with a softball team, I’ve worked with soccer teams, like, I work with athletes both individually and in teams to really be able to almost touch before they get there what it is that they want. So whatever that goal is, whether it’s a race, whether – I’m so proud of my 12-year-old softball team that I work with, they just won nationals.

Jill: Oh my god.

Cassie: I know, it’s like…

Jill: That’s amazing.

Cassie: I know, I was watching it on Facebook because it was in Iowa and I’m like yay and just kept watching them get closer and closer. So fun.

Jill: Okay, so basically you help people sort of visualize their success? Do I have that right?

Cassie: Yeah. So I take visualization to even more – even deeper. So visualize and then I do something called scripting, which takes visualization to this really – this place that works your brain in a different way. So I was an athlete, I loved the concept of visualization but what I did find when I was an athlete is that you want to change certain things when you’re visualizing because if you’re like, average – so if I wanted to change my like, bats and I wanted to be more confident, like, often I was just visualizing this same version of myself going up to bat. Well, that version of myself, like, didn’t have a 400 batting average. She had a 300 batting average, right? So I mean, I didn’t learn this until after I was outside of playing for myself, but then I like, got it. I’m like, oh, they do all these visualization studies on premier athletes. Like, the best of the best who are used to running. So when they study their brain and you’re like, oh, all the same things fire, that totally makes sense, and I think when we add as not – you know, not like the Tiger Woods of the world athletes, like when it’s you know, like, you and I, we have do to some things, there are things we can do – we don’t have to – that make our brains like, primed to perform better.

Jill: Oh, that sounds amazing. Okay. So my like, brain is exploding with questions right now. Okay, so break it down for me. Imagine it’s somebody who – let’s even take the race out of it. Maybe this is somebody who just wants to, you know, learn how to run a little bit faster and they want to practice – like a lot of times when runners want to get faster, they think they just need to take longer strides, and I always say, actually, shorten your stride and take more steps, right? And that actually feels really weird and uncomfortable to most people because it just kind of goes against what they’ve been taught. So it’s like, not easy for them to implement that as practice. So like, would you be able to help somebody visualize what it’s like to physically run differently?

Cassie: Yes. So I’d want to get in touch with what does that mean. So it might mean like, if we’re talking about faster, that means in theory like, what your past thing is faster. Like, I run across the street, there’s like a park that I run around, so I’m going to come up to like, the flowers faster and then I’m going to come up to the trees faster. Like, so I’d incorporate that. I would also incorporate like, go out and practice. Like, what does that shorter stride feel like so you know like, does your foot bounce different, does your – do you want to move your arms faster, like, whatever it is so that you can get that real life feeling so you could take that into your visualization. And then practice it and then it’s going to become more in your body. Does that make sense?

Jill: It does, and so what you’re saying is the visualization doesn’t happen while you’re doing the activity.

Cassie: Yes, no, do it like, before.

Jill: My brain is exploding right now. So like, talk to me about that. So like, most people think like, oh, if I’m going to get better at running, I need to go out and practice running and you’re saying, hey, you can practice it in your mind. Is that kind of what you’re saying.

Cassie: Absolutely, yes. And yeah, I’m saying you can absolutely practice it in your mind and that is much more likely to make you get that skill quicker.

Jill: Oh my god.

Cassie: I love like, yes. I can see your brain exploding right now.

Jill: Right, I’m just like, wait, what? Because I mean, I’ve used the visualization technique for – like, when I ran my first retreat or when I did my very first retreat, and so I would like, I would sit down and kind of imagine like, this is how I want it to look, this is how I want it to feel, these are the people I’m imagining there. But it literally never occurred to me that I could do the same thing just with running. Okay, so talk me through. So when you say like, you’d imagine getting to the trees faster or getting – like, give me a little sample of what it would be like if I were to do that visualization for myself.

Cassie: So I would – and this is where you want to do some prep work for it versus just like, sit down right now after this podcast and visualize. You want to go kind of see, okay, what do I notice on my run, what would come up faster, what do I always – like I notice the corners. I notice when I get to the playground, I always notice that. So what do you notice? You want to build the information funnel so we can really like, prep your brain to make this really easy. And like I said, you want to go practice that shorter stride and really pay attention like, what does that feel like. So just go out and practice it versus like, for the sake of the run but like, to notice, okay, what does that feel like, what else is happening in my body so you can really tap that stuff in. And then when you’ve gathered some data, like, close your eyes and start – and I like to write this down first because any way we can get the information into our brain makes it easier to visualize, makes it easier to translate back to the real-life scenario, right? So write that down. And then visualize thinking about – give me an example of what might happen when you shorten your stride if you’ve been going for like, a longer stride.

Jill: Well, first of all, it’s going to feel a little awkward because it’s going to feel like, mentally you’re going to think you’re going slower even though you’re going to shorten your stride and then take more steps per minute. So you literally have to move your feet faster. It engages your glutes more and you’re going to land differently on your feet. Like, you’ll be more likely to land maybe on your mid-foot, maybe even your forefoot than you would be like if you’re doing a longer stride you’re more likely to land on your heel.

Cassie: Okay. So I’d close my eyes and I’d visualize like, okay, starting the run. So for me, it’s starts at a certain corner because I walk to that place, and then I would visualize like, okay, feeling in my body those shorter steps, feeling that mid-foot or front foot, like, hit the pavement, like, visualize really feeling that. Like, what does that feel like and where do I feel it? And then sort of seeing things come up faster.

Jill: Wow. So it’s like, okay, I get to the house on the corner a little bit faster, I get to, you know, my neighbor’s mailbox a little bit faster, or if you’re on a track, you know, like, I make a trip around the track a little bit faster.

Cassie: Yeah.

Jill: I love that. And really that’s so cool. And so alright, talk to me a little bit because you mentioned, oh, you might write it down ahead of time. What do you mean by that?

Cassie: So I would – like, I’d go gather all the data. Like, really test out, okay, do I hit my mid-foot or my forefront, like, and kind of what some things or sensations that – like you said, the glutes. Like, I feel it in my glutes. I feel like my feet are going faster. I might visualize – that makes me think of the Flintstones for some reasons.

Jill: I always imagine it’s like a Corgi. If you’ve ever seen a Corgi run with their tiny little legs go really fast. It’s what I like to envision.

Cassie: Yeah, so I’d like, envision that and then I’d like, write that down. Okay, like, run like a Corgi. Getting to this mailbox faster, getting to my neighbor’s house faster, feeling it in my glutes. Like, really take notice of everything when you sort of go gather the data. Then write that all down, then close your eyes and visualize, okay, what does that feel like. And you mentioned like, the shorter stride is going to feel awkward at first and if you take this and you do the visualization, you can visualize and feel it inside your body like, oh, this feels really good. You can also add that in. That it feels like, amazing, oh yeah, this feels normal, this feels better. You can even put that into your visualization. I feel so powerful. However you want to feel when you’re taking that shorter stride versus maybe you know it’s going to be awkward so okay cool, do I want to feel more powerful, do I want to feel faster, do I want to feel more excited, do I want to feel happier? Whatever that is.

Jill: You just mentally practice feeling however you want to feel rather than just defaulting to this feels weird and awkward.

Cassie: Yes.

Jill: Love that. So okay, this is so cool because I’ve always thought of visualization as like, okay, visualize taking the perfect golf shot or I visualize crossing the finish line of my race, and I’m always teaching my clients like, yeah, visualize the end goal, but this is actually like visualizing just literally the steps you’re going to take along the way.

Cassie: Yes.

Jill: That’s so fun. Oh my gosh. Okay, so let’s talk a little bit about the writing down of it because I think you have a name for that activity.

Cassie: Yes. So I would – you can even take this like, what we talked about further into scripting, which is what I teach my clients. So that’s a very detailed writing down and tapping into the feelings process. And I love it. And so often my clients will even like, script their runs in, right? And I remember we like, actually did this too in the park like, how does it feel in running through the park and all that. And so scripting is – you can do it verbally or writing it down. I usually write it down, but it’s stating something as if it’s already happened. So it’s like remembering it was yesterday. So often we go to like, okay, if I want to win the race, or you know, whatever, cross the finish line, I’m going to cross the finish line and we visualize that, which is awesome and does help us get there. But what also can help get there is like, acting as if you did that race yesterday.

Jill: Like you’re sitting down and telling your best friend about how it went over coffee.

Cassie: Yes, I love that.

Jill: Oh my god. So yeah, because then you put yourself in the position of being the person who’s already accomplished it and you get to experience what it’s like to be that person.

Cassie: Yes, absolutely.

Jill: Oh my god, that’s so fun.

Cassie: Yeah, and there’s cool things that happen in your brain. So when you – sometimes if you visualize like some listeners might have had this experience where you visualize crossing the race but there’s something in your brain like your inner mean girl’s like, oh you can’t cross it, you’re not going to make it, you’re still going to be at the back of the pack, like all that stuff because you’re visualizing that forward. But when you visualize it and you talk about it, you script it in the past, it’s already happened. Your brain shuts that stuff down. When you say like, I finished the race yesterday, I felt awesome, so excited, I am so grateful that I finished, like, there’s just this argument that doesn’t come up because it’s like, in the past and your brain doesn’t argue with that for some reason.

Jill: It’s like your inner mean girl can’t say you’re not going to do that because you’re like, no, no, it’s already done.

Cassie: Right, exactly. I already did it. I’m telling you how it went, not how it’s going to go. So don’t argue with me.

Jill: That is so cool, and that’s such like a great little hack because like, our brains are fascinating, aren’t they? The bullshit tricks that our brain pulls on us is like, really? If brains were animals, they would be cats. I am positive. They would just be walking around knocking shit off tables and hissing at you. Okay, so like, how often would you do this kind of scripting activity?

Cassie: So I do it, like four to five times a week.

Jill: Wow.

Cassie: Yeah. And you can – if you’re wanting to do it for a race, you can do it five minutes to two hours. Like, I like to get – I would do the whole race first. Like, depending you know, and really starting with when you wake up and you put your shoes on and you get to the race and like, the whole experience because that also builds it up in your brain to like, oh yeah, this is true. It’s not just like, oh, I finished the race. It’s like, I woke up and I got ready and I made it to the race and I started the race and I finished the race.

Jill: Yeah, like scripting the whole experience because like yeah, anybody can cross the finish line but you need to…

Cassie: I was thinking of your Boston marathon picture.

Jill: Exactly. I like – I took a picture of myself, for anybody who didn’t see my Instagram, I posted a picture of myself like, crossing the finish line of the Boston marathon because they leave it up all year round, and anybody can come take a picture. And so I was like, oh, I’m going to put this on my vision board but literally, anybody can cross a finish line. It’s like, running the marathon that you’re telling me to script, right? It’s not that finish line. So I just love that distinction because I think so often too, we think the goal is the finish line but really the goal is – at least for me with these long distances races, the goal is the experience of actually doing the race. The goal is the experience of completing all of the training in the months leading up to it because that’s the hard part. Like, the finish line is like, the sprinkles or the jimmies, depending on what part of the country you’re from, on top of the sundae and everything else that comes before it including the months of training is really what you need to be scripting and what you need to be like, envisioning.

Cassie: Yes.

Jill: Oh god, I love this so much. Okay, so we’ve talked about how you can apply this to different running skills, like specifically the skill of running faster, but there’s a lot of different – if you’re trying to change your gate, if you’re trying to become a mid-foot lander instead of a heel striker, or if you’re trying to change how you move your arms or your breathing or whatever, you can totally envision that. You can use visioning and scripting to picture the accomplishment on race day. What about – so this is going to be – there are going to be some people on this podcast that have never heard the word I’m about to say but you teach the whole concept of manifesting what you want and like, how would you – first of all, what is that and how would you apply that to running? How would you apply that to athletics?

Cassie: Oh, I love it. So manifesting is just it’s creating what you want by attracting that experience, which happens by becoming the person, right? I use this example all the time when I talk about it. If you run, you’re a runner. Like, you say that, right? Like, that’s what makes it so…

Jill: No exceptions.

Cassie: No exceptions. And so that’s a really good example of something that plays into manifesting. If you behave like a person – I teach about money a lot – if you behave like a person who has money, like, money will find you. So it works in the same sort of vein. Like, when you’re saying if you’re a runner you run, it’s like you decide it. It’s kind of the opposite I guess, but if you do the things that attract money or make you faster, you will become faster. You’ll attract that experience. And part of that is because you get your brain out of the way. When you become that person, when you own that, you’re shutting down that inner mean girl, you’re shutting down all the things that say you can’t or get in your way, or you don’t even see like, the roadblocks because you’re not being that person who has roadblocks.

Jill: Yeah, I’m a little speechless right now. I’m like, you guys can’t see the video because Cassie and I are over video, but like, my jaw just dropped and then I was like, okay. But yeah, it’s so true because it’s like, if you run, you are a runner. So if you just decide I’m a runner, then you just automatically start doing the things that runners do, which is getting up at five o clock in the morning sometimes and going for a run, which is wearing a tank top on a hot day and showing your arms because runners like to be efficient, runners need to wear the gear that’s going to make them perform the best. Runners stick to a training plan, runners sign up for races. So if you just decide I’m a runner, you manifest all the things in your life that runners do. It’s so fun.

Cassie: It is so fun.

Jill: It’s interesting what you said about attracting – like, we attract what we think about – I think you just said something to that effect because a lot of my clients come to me and they say, oh, you know, people yell things at me out car windows when I’m out running, or people make comments about, oh, you’re too fat to be a runner, whatever, and I say like, for the most part, that never happens to me. And I don’t think it’s because I’m, you know, a special unicorn. I think it’s because it’s not in my brain that that’s a possibility that anybody would ever say that to me. I mean, I know intellectually, but it’s never something I focus on. And so even if people do say those things, and they might, I just don’t hear them.

Cassie: Right. Like, even you might hear like, “Go girl,” because your brain is so primed to like, I’m a runner and people love that and this is what I do, right?

Jill: It’s fascinating. Because manifesting to me, the way I understand it is basically we get what we focus on.

Cassie: Yes, exactly.

Jill: So if you’re focusing on what people might say to you, if you’re focusing on people having negative opinions, you’re going to be able to find evidence of negative opinions. If you focus on being a runner and just doing your thing, you’re probably not going to hear other people’s opinions, you’re just going to be so focused on I’m a runner so this is what I do.

Cassie: Yes. And I would add what you focus on and what you’re being. And so how that applies to running is like, if your self-talk is like, oh man, I’m not a fast runner, I’m not really a runner, like, the whole time you’re getting ready, like, yeah, you’re going to go out there and probably somebody’s going to be like, oh, you can’t be a runner, you don’t have the body type of a runner because you’ve been saying that. So we also get – you know, it’s who we’re being. But if you like, jump out of bed and lace up your shoes and you walk out of your house like I imagine Jill Angie does when she goes for a run – actually, I know she does because I’ve run with her. We’ve run out of my house together, where you just walk out and you totally own the fact that you’re a runner, like, yeah, you’re not going to hear those, you’re not going to get that stuff because you’re being a runner. There’s no part of you that’s, oh, maybe I’m not a runner. You’re a full-on runner.

Jill: Yeah, it’s like literally nobody else is going to question it. If you just decide people are like, oh, okay. It’s fascinating.

Cassie: I mean, this is the same thing people use to get backstage, right? They decide they belong backstage at a concert and the security guard doesn’t notice, right?

Jill: Right. Yeah, the whole concept of manifesting is like, I think a really underutilized tool in our world. So okay, what’s the best thing you’ve ever manifested for yourself, and I think I know the answer to, but I want to hear what you say.

Cassie: Oh man…

Jill: Because I call you the master manifestor.

Cassie: I know. I am, right? I was thinking about one time at dinner when like, I manifested people moving. But that’s not the best thing. So the best thing – so hard. I mean, I manifested retiring at 32.

Jill: Alright.

Cassie: Yeah. But like, I think the best thing is the property that I manifested that allowed me to retire at 32. I mean, were you going to say living at the Four Seasons?

Jill: I was going to say living at the Four Seasons.

Cassie: That was an awesome manifestation and I did love that a lot. And like, I go back to the house just because it was so – it was the first big thing, I think.

Jill: Right, it was the first evidence you had that like, oh my god, this shit works.

Cassie: Yeah, on a big scale, right? Like, I knew that it worked here and there, $40 like, this and that, but that house, because I had wanted, I had decided, like, I had done all the work and I had said, okay, I’m going to manifest a one-bedroom apartment where I rent it out and it pays the mortgage on a two-bedroom place. And it came in the form of not two apartments but the same property that I bought with my sister, which had four units on it. It split up perfectly. Like, she got exactly what she wanted, I got exactly what I wanted, and the one-bedroom carriage house paid the entire mortgage.

Jill: Damn.

Cassie: Yeah.

Jill: And so how did you manifest that? What were the steps that you took? Because I know people are going to be like, okay, how do I do that for myself?

Cassie: Right. So I got really clear about what I wanted and for me, that was to have the option of go to work or not. And I started acting as if and engaging being that person. So I didn’t go to work and complain about being there. Like, I would go to work and practice that being a choice. Every time I wasn’t at work, I would enjoy my freedom as much as possible. I wouldn’t be like, oh man, I got to go back to work on Monday. And I worked a job where I had a nine-80 schedule so I had every other Friday off. So on that Friday, I didn’t go do errands like most of my co-workers. Like, I didn’t get my stuff done. I played as if I didn’t have to go to work. I treated that as like, I don’t go to work on any Friday. And so did what I would want to do, which often included like, a long walk run, like, two hours, back then I would totally just go along the river and enjoy two hours and come back and have coffee. So I really engaged being that person. And then I let stuff find me. I followed what I call inspiration. So when something little would pop up in my head, it’s like, oh okay, check out this real estate site today just because, and then that kind of led on a path to this one property, which led on a path to another property. And just really focusing on what I wanted instead of complaining about the job that I had.

Jill: And so here’s what I think is so great about this because I teach the whole concept of the thought model, the self-coaching model that I talked about in earlier episodes of the podcast, which is basically your thoughts create your emotions, and your emotions drive your actions, which create your results. And like, this process of manifesting is basically the same thing, right? It’s like, a different way of providing some sort of construct around this idea that your thoughts, the way you think, the beliefs that you have are what creates everything in your life. And so you know, you decided like, I’m not going to give brain space to these thoughts, I hate my job, I don’t want to be here because it was not creating the results for you of retiring at 32. It would create the results of being miserable and feeling trapped, right? And so you just worked on changing your thoughts. Now, were you scripting every day that whole time? How would you script your – that first apartment building that you bought, or the first property that you bought?

Cassie: So I wasn’t scripting – I was scripting in my mind back then and I was really getting in touch with what I call my future self. But I didn’t start like, really going into scripting until after I quit my job. I was practicing everything I teach now about being my future self. So if I would do it now, I would actually just script about like, waking up and doing what I want and what’s the day that I want. Because I go out past it. So I knew that I wanted like, once it became clear, like, okay, it’s going to be apartments or it’s going to be whatever, but I don’t script the exact thing. I script the life I want to be living, what I want to be doing versus how exactly it’s going to happen.

Jill: So you just said a term that I love, which was future self. Can you talk about what that means to you? Because I think this is really important for my runners who – they want to be – they’re like, oh, I just want to be a runner, I want to be that person, and they don’t know how to get there. And I think the concept of future self can be really helpful.

Cassie: Yes, absolutely. So I always go five years out as my future self, which can apply to running too. Who are you going to be when you’ve ran for five years? Because that’s very different. And when you put it that far out, you know like, this applies to both what I do with manifesting money and business and running. If it’s five years out, you’re not like, in this huge rush to have to be like, a super-fast runner today. If you’re like…

Jill: So good.

Cassie: Right? Like, you have space, you have five years to become this runner that you dream of being or running that ultimate – whether it’s a marathon or whatever, you might want to take that long but that’s okay, but maybe five years from now you’re somebody who’s run 10 marathons. Like, when you can tap into that version of your future self, that runner who you are five years from now, you’re no longer being the person who’s like, nervous about getting started or like, what – when you play with that five-year version, like, let’s just say somebody who’s run 10 marathons, if that’s somebody’s goal, that person acts different. Like, she puts her shoes on different every day if you’ve run 10 marathons, and so then you just…

Jill: She sleeps in her shoes, damn it.

Cassie: Right? I love that. Yeah. And so if you think about okay, who would I be, how can I act more like my future runner self. So I’m just going to use that. Somebody wants to run 10 marathons, that’s why it keeps coming up.

Jill: If you are that person and you’re listening to this podcast, please email me.

Cassie: Yes, please.

Jill: We need to hear about this.

Cassie: Yeah, but yeah, you don’t go outside and ever have the thought that somebody’s not going to tell you you’re a runner because you’ve run all these races. So when you tap into that person, you think about, okay, how does my future runner self think? How does she act? What does she wear? Like, she’s definitely over the no tank to thing, right?

Jill: Oh yeah, she is. How does my future self think? What does she wear? What are some other questions? Like, if you were to sit down and write a one page description as if you were describing this person to yourself, like, what are some of the questions you would ask?

Cassie: I would ask like, what does she do? What does she think? What does she own? And so that can go for clothes, that can go as well as like, other thoughts or problems that come up, and what does she believe?

Jill: I love that. What does she believe?

Cassie: What does she believe? And I’d write those four questions on a piece of paper and then I would like, just jot down the answers. Like, what does she think? What does she own? What does she do? And what does she believe?

Jill: What does she think? What does she own? What does she do? And what does she believe? And here’s what I love about those four questions: none of them was, what does her body look like? Because it’s irrelevant, right?

Cassie: Exactly.

Jill: It’s irrelevant.

Cassie: Yes. Irrelevant.

Jill: So I love that it didn’t even come into your mind. That’s just not relevant. So those are really great questions. I think I’m going to – I’m totally going to be like, scripting my future self from today I think because it applies to just – so one of my personal goals is through the Not Your Average Runner effort, I’m putting together this huge team and I really want us to get a million women, a million Not Your Average Runner women up and running. And like, that’s not going to happen overnight, right? But I have to start – like, who is the woman that can make that happen? If I had helped a million women start running, what would I be thinking? What would I own? I’d probably own a Tesla, just to be clear. Let’s just say I want to own a Tesla no matter what. But what would I think, what would I own, what would I do, and what would I believe? Like, what would the person who’s helped a million women start running – I love that. I’m totally going to go to work on that.

Cassie: Oh good, I’m excited. Send it to me so I can see it.

Jill: I will send it to you. You can be like, no, no, no, you’re not thinking big enough.

Cassie: Like, would she really think this if she’s helped a million women? Because that’s the key, right? Is like, put it at the top. So whoever your runner self is in five years, you know, Jill’s is helped a million Not Your Average Runners, right? Really remember that person. How does she think? What does she believe? What does she do? What does she own? Right? And the thing you said like, once you said of course she owns a Tesla, but she also like, I think you already do this, but I think this is good for your Not Your Average Runners is like, she owns like, awesome running gear. Not like, average running gear. Like, she owns – right?

Jill: Exactly. Exactly, yeah. Although I almost said she’s shopping at Lululemon but I don’t – sorry Lululemon, but I don’t like you guys. And I have my reasons. And it has to do with your sizes end at a 12 and it’s very not inclusive. But you’re right, it’s like, the woman that’s helped a million people start running doesn’t, you know, run in like, stuff that she found at Goodwill. Like, she goes to Athleta and she buys like, the shirt that she absolutely loves because it makes her feel so good when she’s out there running. Stuff like that, although there’s nothing wrong with shopping at Goodwill. I’ve got plenty of Goodwill things.

Cassie: Yeah.

Jill: Yeah, for sure, that was probably a bad example, but yeah, I love that so much. Okay, so we’re almost out of time, but before we get into like, how people can find more of you and your amazingness, I have a challenge for everybody that’s listening to this podcast right now. And that is this: I want you to answer those four questions that Cassie just gave you. So can you repeat them one more time, Cassie?

Cassie: Yeah. And I’ll say, step one is like, identify who your future runner self is because that’s important. It’s important to be like, okay, she’s – I don’t know, ran a 5K for the last five years in a row, or she’s training for a half marathon, whatever it is.

Jill: What has she accomplished? Is she somebody who runs three times a week and she’s done that for five years? Or is she training for an Ironman? Where do you fall on the spectrum, for sure?

Cassie: Yes, and wherever you fall is awesome. Make it you.

Jill: Exactly. It needs to be unique to you. Doing an Ironman is somebody else’s goal, like, that’s not one of my goals, I don’t identify with that, but I know other people that do and I don’t identify with running 10 marathons but I could certainly identify with like, oh yeah, I’m somebody who runs a marathon a year. So whatever – or some of you might identify with like, hey, I just want to be somebody who can go out and run five miles and not think about it, just be at that level, or somebody who runs three times a week without fail, somebody who always gets up and does her run. So wherever you fall on the continuum is fine. So okay, what are the four questions after you’ve identified your person?

Cassie: What does she do? What does she own? What does she think? And what does she believe?

Jill: I love that. Okay, so you guys, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to figure out who your future self is, what she’s accomplished, what if your avatar of yourself in five years, and then answer those four questions, and what I want you to do is post them in the Not Your Average Runner Podcast community, the Facebook group because Cassie is a member of that group.

Cassie: I am. I’m so excited.

Jill: If you post them in there, she might actually comment on them.

Cassie: Yes. I’m like, so excited about this.

Jill: I know. So I really want you to do that. So let’s come up with a hashtag so people can use that hashtag in that group. Do you want to be like #futureself…

Cassie: #futurerunnerself or…

Jill: #futurerunnerself, I love this. So #futurerunnerself and go ahead and like, post what you came up with out of this exercise because I think it’s going to be super, super valuable. I love this. Alright, Cassie’s looking at me right now and she’s like, wait, did you just…

Cassie: Love it.

Jill: So good. I’ll help you guys with it too. Alright, so Cassie, can you just like, give an overview? So what your main thing that you do with people is you actually help people manifest shit tons of money?

Cassie: That’s what I do, yeah.

Jill: That’s what she does. So if you guys – it’s not just running. If you guys want to like, manifest shit tons of money, maybe that should be our hashtag. Manifest shit tons of money.

Cassie: Yes.

Jill: So tell – like, can you give us like, the scoop on how people can find you, how they can work with you. I mean, if you guys have enough money, awesome, don’t look Cassie up, but if you could use a little more…

Cassie: Yeah, and you’d like it to be fun and easy, yeah, so you can go to cassieparks.com and just play around or because you’re listening to a podcast, I’m assuming you like podcasts. So you could check out the More Money Podcast, which is in the beginning, it’s me teaching a lot about manifesting money and business and things like that, and right now it’s stories of people who are growing and manifesting more money, changing their lives and businesses, and you get to follow them. I call it like, positive reality podcasting because you get to follow their journey and hear like, when they hit bumps and when they have successes, and so that’s super fun. And then yeah, if you’re really into manifesting or you really want to know more about that, I also have a fun podcast I do with one of my good friends, Ginny Gane, and it’s the Manifest It Now Podcast.

Jill: Oh my god, and that’s a really, really good – all of your podcasts are good, but the two of you are like, so super fun together.

Cassie: Thank you.

Jill: Okay, so cassieparks.com. We’ll have links to the podcasts, we’ll have links to your website and then anything else that you can think of.

Cassie: Yes, awesome.

Jill: You’ve got a lot of books too. What’s your favorite book to recommend to people? Because you’ve written what, 10, 12?

Cassie: Close. Yeah, I mean, I think it’s eight or nine right now.

Jill: Jesus.

Cassie: Yeah.

Jill: I love this so much. And you guys, I need to stop and just recognize here. How many fiction books have you written? Three?

Cassie: There’s two out right now.

Jill: So right, so like, she’s written several books on you know, manifesting more money, manifesting the life you want and so, let’s talk about that and then I want to talk about your fiction books as well. So what’s your favorite non-fiction book to recommend that you’ve written?

Cassie: Manifest $10,000 because it’s been proven – you know, like, you can pick up that book and people manifest money. There’s tons of stories of people who manifested over $10,000 in 90 days just by reading and following the book. So I love that. I love to teach people but I also love that you can do it without me too.

Jill: Yeah, and your book has very specific instructions on exactly what to do too. It’s not like, script every day. It’s like, do these exact things every day. And I have heard some of the stories of the people that you’ve worked with and they’re just like, yeah, on day 90, $10,000 showed up unexpectedly and I’m like, damn, that’s just pretty badass. So go get her book, it’s on Amazon. I think it’s in Barnes & Noble too, right?

Cassie: Yeah, it is. Order it in Barnes & Noble.

Jill: Yeah, but it’s a good book. I have a signed copy, of course. You guys, I was just on vacation with Cassie, what is it – been like two months ago I guess. We were down in Fort Myers together and she had some copies of her book and I was like, I get a signed copy, so I was very grateful about that. But let’s talk about your fiction books because I’ve read them both and I love the characters that you write about, they’re very relatable. So what are your fiction books and are they available on audio? Because my runners love Audible books.

Cassie: They aren’t, but that would be good to do.

Jill: You should do the voices too. I’m just running your business for you now. So what are the books? Tell us about – I need to shut up and let you talk.

Cassie: No, you’re good. So they’re part of The City Girl Series, and the first one is called Own It, and the second one is called Choose Me, and these are – how would you describe them?

Jill: It’s a good question. I mean, when I’ve read them both, I have felt like I’ve really related to the characters because they’re stories about – they’re not like, oh, all unicorns and daisy, happy ending stories. They’re like, realistic, like, the characters, they grow as people and you don’t necessarily like, snap their fingers and get what they want like in regular fiction. Like, they actually like, learn more about themselves and become like, more dimensional humans I guess as a result of the storyline, which is I think really cool because most of the time – not that I’m dissing fiction out there because I read a ton of it, but like, everything always wraps up in a nice package at the end, and sometimes in an unrealistic way and I think your books are like, not that they have not happy endings, but the ending are unexpected and I find them very satisfying.

Cassie: Yeah, awesome, me too. They’re like – I do, I think they’re closer to real life. They’re closer to like – we get what we want in steps versus like, it just all magically gets tied up at the end. And yeah, so they’re about – Own It is about owning what you want. What do you fucking want in your life? Like go for it and own it and Choose Me, it’s really about learning how to choose yourself in a fun story.

Jill: Yeah, so good. And I mean, your characters learn how to use manifesting, of course.

Cassie: They totally learn how to use manifesting.

Jill: And here is the other fun part is so when Cassie was writing the first book, it was a couple years ago and I was – I think I was staying with you and we went out for a run and you were pointing out like, different things. You were pointing out this apartment building that – or this apartment that you had looked at possibly renting and just different bits and pieces of interest, and then a few months later I read the first draft of the book and I was like, hey, I know where that is, she talked about that. And it was so – so if you live in Denver, if you’re familiar with Denver, like, a lot of the landmarks in Cassie’s books are going to be really familiar to you, so it even brings it a little bit more to life because it’s really – it’s not just a story about the characters. It’s a story about – the city is kind of a character in your book, I guess.

Cassie: Yes. I love that you said that. It so is because for me, the city is part of my story. It’s about like, owning what I love and what I wanted and not being like, trapped in this, well, it’s more expensive so I shouldn’t do it bullshit.

Jill: I know, so good. So good. Alright my friend, is there anything else that you want everybody to know about you?

Cassie: Just to keep running. Like, if you feel called like, I would love, check out the More Money Podcast or Manifest It Now, and all the books are on Amazon so you can just go to Amazon and type in Cassie Parks and find all of them on manifesting and business and you can find the fiction ones as well.

Jill: So good. Alright, thank you so much for joining me today, it’s always a pleasure and I’m glad we got to catch up, talk about manifesting and money and running and more running and city girls.

Cassie: Me too. Thank you.

Jill: Thank you.

Hey rebels, I hope you enjoyed my chat with Cassie. And if you want to find out more about what she does, check out her website at cassieparks.com or subscribe to her podcast, the More Money Show or Manifest It Now. All the links to do that as well as to find her books on Amazon will be in the show notes at notyouraveragerunner.com/40. Until next week.

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.