Ep #32: In the Pursuit of Running Shoes with Amanda Mueller

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 32 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and today I am speaking with one of my favorite rockstar rebel runners, Amanda Mueller. Now, Amanda has been a runner for several years, and she’s been a client of mine for the past two, but her story starts well before all of that.

She actually started out intending to lose weight and lose a ton of it. But running really was not on her radar. She never expected to become a runner, but there was a pair of shoes, and I’m going to let her tell you the whole story. But suffice to say, along the way, she really discovered a passion for it, fell in love with running, and 140 pounds, 15 half marathons and over 50 races later, she is now following her passion and has opened her own coaching business.

So Amanda’s journey has been very inspirational to me, to her clients, to all of her running friends that are on the internet, and I am proud to not only call her a client but a good friend as well. And I hope you love her as much as I do. Now, without further ado, here’s Amanda.

—

Jill: Hey everyone. Well, I’m here this week with Amanda Mueller who is just an amazing rockstar rebel runner, and she’s been a client of mine for a few years and she’s just fabulous, and I really thought that you guys need to hear her story. So I’m interviewing her today so she can talk about how she came to be a runner, the obstacles that she faced, how she got past it, where it’s taken her, and we’re just going to hear all about it. So Amanda, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome to the podcast, and would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself? Like, what kind of story do you have to share with us today?

Amanda: Well thank you, Jill. I’m pleased – thrilled to be here. It’s just a pleasure having worked with you for a couple of years and the difference that I feel like it’s made for me not just in my running but in my everyday life. So do you want me to go ahead and tell my story or?

Jill: Yeah, let’s hear it. Let’s start with when did you start running and why did you start running?

Amanda: Alright. I started running in the spring of 2013. And it kind of started – I was – we’re big Disney fans at my house, and I was in a Disney store with my 12-year-old, and he found a phone case, and he flipped it over and said, “Oh look mom, skinny Minnie.” Now, at that point, in my mind, first off, I’m not skinny. I’m not at my goal weight, but it struck a chord. A week later, two weeks later, I’m online, I find a pair of Minnie Mouse running shoes. And I want them because I’m now skinny Minnie in my head. So I say to my husband, “I’m going to buy these shoes on eBay,” and my husband said, “No you’re not.” He said, “If you want them, you have to earn them just like everyone else.” And I thought about it for a minute and went, alright, so I kind of looked into it a little bit. And the next race that was coming up was a 10-mile race. It was the Disney Tower of Terror, and I’m like, okay. Now, granted, I’ve not even done a 5K, I’ve done nothing. But I was like, damn, I want those shoes.

Jill: I love this so much.

Amanda: So you know, being the little naïve, I’m like, alright, I downloaded the running plan that Disney had to offer, which was a Jeff Galloway, so it was a run-walk and thought, “I might be able to do this.” Now, I still didn’t sign up. I started watching. At that point, Disney didn’t sell out all their races all the time, and so they had a – like a marker, and it was going down, and it got down to about 40% and I started panicking because I’ve run a little bit now, but maybe eight times, and I’m like, I don’t know if I can do this. And I just jumped on one day and went, I’m in. And there was no turning back, and I can remember training and doing some runs, and I was working with a personal trainer at the time and I remember him saying, “Don’t you think you should do a 5K first?” And I was like, “Yeah, probably.” So I did an untimed 5K, like, one of those color runs just because. But I was diligent about my training. It had me running, I want to say, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and for whatever reason, I didn’t want to run on the weekend. And I think there was some mental to that, there’s people out there who might see me. And at that point, my husband was in a position where he was somewhat close to me and so those long runs, the longest run being nine miles, which I laugh at now, but he had to bring me water. So he would take off Friday morning and bring me water, so I ran Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and he would bring me water. So the day I came home and was in tears, my husband’s like, “What’s wrong?” I said, “Oh my god, I just ran nine miles.” And when I say ran nine miles, I’m like most of your listeners. It wasn’t straight out run. It was run-walk. And my husband just looked at me like, duh, you can do this. And I was like, okay, maybe I can. And now we’re like, two or three weeks before the race and I am scared to death but I was like, I am not a quitter with something like this and so I just went at it. It was a nighttime race so it started – I want to say it started at 10 o clock at night. Now, it’s my first Disney race, I have no concept of how big they are at that point, and I can remember him – he could finally see me in the crowds. I finally got to a point where he could see me, and we were starting at Hollywood Studios, and as we’re starting, we’re starting to move, he’s like, “Yeah, the first corral went, it’s going to be a while before you start running.” So a race that was to start at – I don’t remember if it started at 10 or 11 at night, it was probably almost an hour before I started. And so it was two in the morning when I finished. I mean, it was…

Jill: And had you trained in the evenings at all?

Amanda: No.

Jill: Right, of course.

Amanda: No, but that never crossed my mind that that was important. It was just about if I could do the miles or not do the miles. And once I hit Hollywood Studios, I didn’t even look at the map. So when I hit Hollywood Studios as we’re finishing, because we finished in Hollywood Studios, of course right by Tower of Terror because it was the Tower of Terror 10 mile. But I hit the back side of Hollywood Studios and I was a mess. I was just in tears. And it was all about the fact that I was going to finish and oh my god, those balloon ladies didn’t catch me.

Jill: Damn balloon ladies.

Amanda: Because that was my biggest fear was those balloon ladies catching me.

Jill: I love that like, your terror of the whole Tower of Terror race was to be caught by the balloon ladies, right? Those poor balloon ladies. I’m sure they’re lovely people, right? But we’re just so terrified of them.

Amanda: Yeah, they were my zombies.

Jill: They were your zombies. So here’s what I love about that story, and what I think a lot of runners do is they don’t know what they don’t know. Like, they’re driven by this – in your case, the shoes, which I love. They’re just like, I need to have this thing, I want this race medal, I want to do what everybody else is doing, I want this pair of shoes, and they sign up for something and they don’t have any idea what they’re getting into. And what I love is you had so much support from your husband, so you were able to – like, the challenges that a lot of people face is like, you created a support system for yourself. I’m fascinated by – like, you waited until you lose weight to start running. And so tell everybody how much weight you lost.

Amanda: I’ve lost 140 pounds, and at this point have capped it off for – it’ll be five years towards the end of this month. So almost five years at this point. I still at that point, didn’t know that I would ever hit my goal. I did not think – it never crossed my mind as a heavy woman to run. And I was probably – when I did the race, I was probably close to – you know, 10 or 15 pounds heavier than what I thought was average, but I looked at myself as I’m still the fat woman at the start line because there was so much inner doubt and shame, fear, you name it, it was all there.

Jill: Right, so when you thought about running at that point in your journey, did you have a belief that you had to run the whole thing or you had to be skinny? Like, what kinds of beliefs did you have about runners before you started?

Amanda: Before I started, yes, I thought I had to run the whole thing, for sure, because a real runner does not run the whole thing. And it took me a long time before I would say I was a runner. I would always tell people, “Yeah, I’m a run-walker.” And now I just tell, “No, I’m a runner.” And then if they say, “You run the whole thing,” then I may say, “Well, actually, in reality, I run-walk it. But,” and explain how that works. Yes, runners were skinny, runners were not heavy. There were no heavy runners, which is why I think I ran on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays because there were a lot less people that I was going to cross paths with. And I ran in my local town that in my mind is small. It’s a suburb, but I never did trails or paths or anything like that. Everything was out on the open road. And so I think there was a lot of – I felt like somebody was going to have to teach me how to run. I wasn’t sure I even knew how to run. Hadn’t run since high school.

Jill: Right, isn’t that funny though? We think we don’t know how to run. It’s like, your body knows what to do. It’s your mind that doesn’t know how to run.

Amanda: Exactly. In my mind, you know, there were a lot of those runs that were really rough. In the fact – first off, I wasn’t real bright some days and I would run – I had the ability, I would – I had started lifting weights, and so I was over where my trainer was and I would run there because I knew nobody would know me. But now that’s in the middle of the freaking day, and I can remember in the middle of July, people going, “I can’t believe you’re running in this heat.” And I was like, “Oh, it’s just what I do,” because in my mind, it didn’t matter. Now I appreciate an early morning run where it’s 60 as opposed to 85.

Jill: Yeah, for sure. And it’s so funny too because I was just talking to somebody else about this who when she started running, she ran – she lives in North Carolina and she ran in the summer when she started, and she would run in the afternoon and it was really hot and she didn’t know any better. And then she ran through the winter and realized it’s so much easier to run when it’s cooler. And now it’s the second summer she’s running and she’s pissed. She’s just like, why is it so much harder? And it’s like, it’s actually the same effort level, it’s just that now she has something to compare it too. So when you started you just didn’t have anything else to compare it to, which is fabulous.

Amanda: No, and the night that we ran, it never – I mean, I think when I started and when I finished, it was in the high 70s in Florida, which means it’s humid, and it was in October so it wasn’t like their humidity had started coming down yet.

Jill: So you really trained really well for that race.

Amanda: I really did. I mean, there are a lot of stories around that race because I was a bucket case, but it didn’t matter when it was all said and done. In line for my shoes, I met this man who was very fast, and I want to say he was in like, the B corral or something like that. But he was just like, you did the training, you’re going to be fine. And it was – I was so caught up in myself that to have this gentleman – I mean, he was my age, who was like, you’re going to be fine, don’t worry about it, you’ve got this, and my husband’s just looking at me just smiling going, I’ve been telling you this.

Jill: Sometimes we have to hear it from a stranger.

Amanda: Yeah.

Jill: Because a stranger doesn’t have to love you and doesn’t have to say nice things.

Amanda: Exactly.

Jill: It’s like, oh, they must be telling me the truth.

Amanda: It’s one of my favorite pictures. I have a picture of him just before we went into the corrals because we met up that night. He was a wonderful person just because he was just like, “Yep, you know, I want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”

Jill: That’s awesome. Runners are awesome people. They really, really are.

Amanda: Oh, they are, which is part of the reason that I think I love doing them and I keep doing them.

Jill: Okay, so tell me this. I want to know if there was a point in time – because you said when you first started running, you were really caught – aware of where you were running because you didn’t want to be seen. So was there a point in time where you realized that nobody’s looking at you, that it’s okay to run in a tank top and show off your arms? Like, how did that evolve for you? Because I know now you just go out and – you just posted a bikini picture on Facebook recently, right? And so, talk to me about how that’s evolved for you because I know a lot of my listeners struggle with the same thing. And I want to point out too, like, so you’re pretty much at your goal weight right now but you still have quite a bit of loose skin that you’re kind of trying to decide…

Amanda: Yeah, I am not a toned, fit person when you start talking about seeing the bikini picture. But I did that for me clients so that they could see what it does look like with skin and it is still possible and I’m here to tell you I just bought my second bikini so.

Jill: Yay.

Amanda: And this one actually fits better.

Jill: The first one is super cute though. It’s like a little Minnie Mouse bikini, it’s adorable.

Amanda: Yes, exactly, which is why I had to have it.

Jill: So what was the moment for you though when you realized like, oh hey, nobody is going to die. I’m not going to die if I show off my arms in public?

Amanda: I think the big thing that started happening was as I realized, I think the second summer, I’m in that heat and I still didn’t run – I wasn’t getting up early and running because god forbid I have to get up early. I mean, you know, that was just where my mind was at that point. I realized that okay, running in pants that didn’t fit, running in the cotton t-shirts – I had bought a handful of things for the race. So I ran in a pair of – I did my race in a pair of running shorts and a tank top. But I had one pair of running shorts so I didn’t train in running shorts. I was training in what I would call – they weren’t men’s basketball shorts but they were like a men’s basketball short. And they were hot. And I was real active at that point with the Boy Scouts and I was at summer camp and there was a mom there who also was running, and so we would have to run – like, I would run one day and she would run the next. And I’m like, she’s wearing running shorts around these boys. I mean, I was like, wow, impressive. Now, she was – in my mind, she was a little thing but it didn’t matter. I was just like, oh interesting. So I started buying running shorts, and I’ll tell you what, as soon as the weather is warm enough, I’m in my running shorts. Now, I will say I do run in Sparkle Skirts now because when I do a race most of the time I run in a Sparkle Skirt, and that is just because they’re just pure fun in my mind.

Jill: But when you say running shorts, do you mean like tights that are above the knee? Almost like bike shorts? Do you mean like those…?

Amanda: No, running shorts.

Jill: Oh my goodness. Girl, I love this. How did I not know this about you? Because they’re short.

Amanda: I am finding them now that are slightly longer and I do – I can tell you that those are the ones I’m going to grab especially if I’m doing a group run because I am just more comfortable. But with that being said, it’s funny how many people will go, “I never think to run in shorts,” you know, like, women who I would look at and go, “Why aren’t you in shorts?” And the tank tops I think they happened because when I would go to a running expo or something like that, they always had these cute tank tops that had the running race on them and I’m like, “I need one of those.” So you know, you can’t just buy them and let them get dusty on a shelf. And so now I live in them, and to be honest with you, I have bought – I mean, I wear them pretty much all summer out and about because I don’t think anything of it. And if somebody wants to say something about the skin that hangs off of my arms, the first thing I’ll say to them is, “At this point, they’re my badge of honor because I’ve lost all this freaking weight and I want to show it off.”

Jill: Yeah, oh, I love that. I love that so much. It’s like, I don’t want to hide this, I want everyone to see it and know that like, hey, this is possible for you too.

Amanda: Yeah, exactly. My second – I think it was my second Disney race, you actually – the pictures of me were really interesting and that is when I really realized that I actually had extra skin on my legs because you could see it in the pictures. And I still – those are some of my favorite pictures because like I said, it is my badge of honor. I earned this skin and I’m okay with it.

Jill: Yeah, I love that. And so like, let’s talk a little bit about that because – and this is something we really don’t talk about on the podcast at all, but you’ve lost 140 pounds, and you had to get used to two things. One is living in a much smaller body, A, which I think is a pretty big mindfuck to begin with, and then B, living in a body that has loose skin. So talk to me about the kind of work that you did on yourself to come to the point where you’re super proud of it and you feel amazing about it.

Amanda: You know, that is what actually probably took me the longest, and there are still days where it’s only probably been within the last year where I’ve really – I will look in the mirror and go, “Yeah, I could do this.” See, two years ago, had you asked me to put on a bikini, I would have laughed at you because you would have never seen me in anything that was going to even remotely show my crotch because then you’re going to see more than you want to see. I mean, that was my mind. And it was all about my thinking and what I was seeing. I’ve done some things where I’ve stood in front of a mirror and just said, “Wow. Impressive.” I’ve spent time looking at these pictures of me where I see the skin and I’m like, “You look pretty good.” I mean, I’ve learned how to accept a compliment, I’ve learned how to compliment myself. And it took a lot of using your model or The Life Coach School model to get me to that point because I was still seeing the fat lady. And so when somebody would say, “Wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight,” that’s one of my – still to this day, I love when somebody who hasn’t seen me in ages and they hear me speak and they flip around and they’re like, “Holy – I would have never recognized you,” and I giggle now. Before I was almost embarrassed. Where now I just giggle and say, “Oh, thank you,” because I know what they’re saying.

Jill: And it’s a process too, right? Like, you don’t just get down to a smaller body and then automatically love it. You have to actively work on it, don’t you?

Amanda: I do, and I still do, and I think – so when I came to you, I had started gaining weight back and I think so much of that was because I wasn’t seeing what everybody else was seeing. I think the other thing that was happening, because I wasn’t accepting me, most people now have seen me at my smaller weight, so I’m not getting all the kudos that I was getting. And so I wasn’t liking not getting – I was enjoying the kudos. I won’t lie. I was loving the justification from everybody else. And so I had to figure out – I think I started gaining weight – I mean, I didn’t realize this until probably about six months ago that I started gaining weight because I truly believed that nobody’s noticing me, what’s it matter? It wasn’t until I started noticing and I went, “Wait, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks, it’s what I think.” And that’s when the big shift change started. And truly, sometimes I have to look at the pictures. I have to look at the pictures of what I call fat Amanda, and sometimes I have to look at the pictures of me in those early days of running to just appreciate what I’ve done because I never – you know, I laugh because the first half marathon that I did, my whole family was there. So when I did my 10-mile, it was just my husband and I. When I did the full half, the first full half, everybody was there, and they were at the finish line, and I can remember my oldest who is an avid swimmer saying to me, “Oh, so when are you going to do a marathon?” And I said, “Hell no.” And as you know, hell no means uh-huh, right, someday. So from that point, three years later, I’m training for a marathon, have done one, and literally before I had finished training for that one was signing up for the second one.

Jill: It’s amazing what happens when you get your mind out of your own way. It’s fabulous. And that’s what – so for anybody that’s listening to this like, so Amanda and I started working together – I think it’s almost exactly two years now and when you and I started working together, you were still a Weight Watchers coach, and you hired me. You’re like, I just want to get faster. And so I’m like, alright, let’s do this. So two years later, you are faster. A lot faster, but I think what’s really happened is your whole like – because we’ve done so much coaching not just on your running but on your whole mindset, I think that’s why you’re faster, and I think that’s why you’re just like, open to so much more, to like, I don’t think you would have done that full marathon if we hadn’t worked on helping you see those possibilities. But like, talk to me about how you’re different now versus two years ago when we first met, and I also want you to talk about what you’re doing, like, how you’ve started – I’m going to spoil it for you because she started her own business and it’s amazing. So like, talk to me about that journey of the past two years.

Amanda: So yeah, I came to you, it was purely about I want to be faster because I thought to be a true runner, you have to be fast. And I would even say, even six months ago, I was still saying that. And it’s interesting, I’m running with a running group now and there’s a gal who – we’re in pace groups, and so my pace group, there’s a gal in there and every time a new person joins our group, of course, because we’re all training for the Chicago marathon, so any time anybody joins, the question is, “Oh, is this your first marathon?” And she’s like, “No, I’ve done 10.” There’s that part of me that’s like, you’ve done 10? The first week, this was truly how my – where my brain went. You’ve done 10 and you’re in this pace group.

Jill: Fascinating.

Amanda: Because we are the slowest pace group that this club does. And I’m like, interesting. She has no interest in being faster.

Jill: That’s fascinating. That’s fun. That’s really fun, I think.

Amanda: And her whole goal, she told me – I spent some time actually just her and I were running together last week for a while and she told me she goes her whole goal is to run marathons as long as she can.

Jill: Yeah. That’s a really awesome goal, right? Like, if you base your whole reason for feeling good about yourself on you have to keep getting faster, you have to keep improving, like, at some point, you’re not going to get any faster, you’re going to hit your limit and then you’re screwed, right?

Amanda: Exactly. And I think that’s why I actually enjoy some of the training that I’m doing now because yesterday I had one of those runs, we all have them, that was ick, and it was probably close to a 15-minute mile and when I was done I was like, oh well, it’s time on feet, I’m done, it’s okay. And I truly was okay with it. But I haven’t always been that way, and part of that was the mind shift. So you mentioned that I was working for Weight Watchers and the longer I worked with you, and we had been together maybe a month at that point, and I was already starting to see that there was more than one way to do something. And I wasn’t liking the fact that I was being asked to only think in this box. And that was where my shift really came in. Now, that, and I was getting paid peanuts. And the other piece of that was you know, management, things like that, but there was a big part of me that just wasn’t – I was working for Weight Watchers because I wanted to help women lose weight. I wanted women to find themselves. I still do. So when you said, why are you working for somebody else, why not do this yourself, when we had a call that was completely separate of running, and I’m like, I don’t know, why not? Because you knew I had a passion and my whole goal is to help other women see that where they’re at right now is okay while helping them lose weight. And I’ve been in business now for almost – well, getting closer to – not quite two years, about a year and a half, I guess. And my whole – everyone I talk to, it’s all about being comfortable where you’re at today is going to make you a lot more successful tomorrow. And I had to come to terms with that with my running. And so I see a lot of parallel with that, and it’s funny that you say yeah, I’ve gotten a lot faster but that a lot faster has happened in the last nine months. It didn’t happen in that first year.

Jill: Right, because you were so focused on that that whole year, you were like, “Why am I not getting faster? Why am I not getting faster?” And once you said, “Alright, you know what, maybe I don’t need to get any faster,” it was like a switch flipped and suddenly you started to get faster. Like, I think you were literally – because you were so focused on what you were not, you couldn’t see the possibilities of what you could be. So once you stopped looking backwards – and we’ve been talking a lot about this in the Facebook group and you know, in the podcast that everybody listened to a couple days ago, which is basically like stop looking backwards and you can actually start spending your energy creating something new, and that’s exactly what you did.

Amanda: And that’s what I’m trying to help women do with their weight loss is not use their past as evidence of what they can or cannot do.

Jill: Right. And that’s just so powerful. Even if they don’t lose a single pound, just getting that lesson is just – it’s everything.

Amanda: It is, and you know, one of the women that I have worked with now for quite a while hasn’t lost a whole lot of weight, but I’ll tell you what, I had the opportunity to speak with her last night and she’s so much more confident in herself. She now believes that she is a key component to her team at work. When we started, that wasn’t the case. She truly believed that the only way she was going to make a difference at work was to lose weight.

Jill: Isn’t that fascinating? Oh, if I were just skinner my life would be perfect. It’s like no, you’ll just be in smaller jeans. Everything else will be exactly the same. It’s all the other stuff, and I think that’s why life coaching is so important. It’s why I do life coaching with all my running clients, it’s why you do life coaching with all your weight loss clients because you know, wanting to get faster is great but like, it’s really the whole inner mean girl that permeates our lives that we need to work on, whether it’s for running, whether it’s for weight loss, for whatever it is. Like, that’s what’s holding us back. It has nothing to do with the other stuff.

Amanda: Yeah. And it is – at this point, it is a passion. It is truly my goal to help women understand where they’re at today so that they can be where they want to be tomorrow.

Jill: I love that so much. Okay, so we need to wrap up soon but I know that you’ve got something coming up where you’re actually going to – you’re doing like a free challenge or something like that?

Amanda: I am. I’m really excited. So when I started my business, you know, you’ve got to find ways to get clients, and one of the first things I did was I offered a challenge, and I kind of just threw it out there to see what would happen. And a lot of my clients have come off these challenges, and what I do is I send a daily email, I do a Facebook live daily, just a little bit of encouragement. Each challenge is slightly different but a lot the same. And it’s all about taking small steps, it’s why I try to teach a little bit about what’s going to happen and things like that. I’m getting ready to leave on vacation so the next challenge isn’t starting until July 30th, but I opened everything up so that by the time this goes live you can actually sign up for the challenge if you’re interested, and you would do that by going to amandamuellercoaching.com/challenge. And there you’re going to give me your name and email and you’ll get a follow up email.

Jill: So what are you going to help them do over this five-day challenge?

Amanda: For most people it’s a little bit of a jumpstart with weight loss and start some of the mind work that it takes to get the weight to start going in the direction you want it to go. And for some people that direction may not be a weight loss. They want to maintain. And I always find the summer, everybody is in a different place and so for some people, in the summer, it is purely to maintain so that they’re not playing catch up. And so we’re going to talk about that. We’re going to talk about how to plan for tomorrow so that you can eat what you want to eat because I’m here to tell you that you can lose weight and eat ice cream. Yeah, you can’t do it every day or maybe you can’t have as much as you might have had in the past, but you can. And so it’s things like that. And my coaching is all about each individual person, and so sometimes when I get into the challenge I’ll find that I flip it slightly because the group itself is leading me a different direction, but we’ll do a lot of the thought work around weight loss and then what do you need to do to actually reach the goals you might have for yourself.

Jill: So good. So basically, if somebody joins your challenge, they’re going to get a taste of what it’s like to do a little of the mindset work that leads to successful results in weight loss and elsewhere in their life. They’re going to get life tools, not just weight loss tools.

Amanda: Exactly. Life tools, weight loss tools, and the other thing I always offer to everyone who goes through it is a free coaching session where we will get on the phone and whatever you believe is your biggest hang-up, I’m going to help coach you through it.

Jill: I love that. So if nothing else, if you want a free coaching session, just go sign up for this, right? You got nothing to lose.

Amanda: And the nice thing is if you go in and sign up for it, you could literally get the coaching session before the challenge ever starts.

Jill: I love this. Fabulous. Okay, so what we’re going to do is we’re going to put links to all of this stuff in the show notes so that you can just head on over there and click on it to sign up for the challenge or check out everything that Amanda’s got going on because I will tell you what: it is amazing, you never know where running is going to lead you. So running has led Amanda to some pretty amazing places and now she’s got her own business helping other women do what she did. And it’s been – I know, so we’ve worked together for two years, I know that we’ve just kind of signed on to work for another year together, you’re going to be part of the Rebel Runner program and do the New Orleans half marathon with us.

Amanda: Which I can’t wait.

Jill: Oh my god, it’s going to be so fun. So if anybody’s curious about that and you want to see Amanda in action, you can always sign up for the program or sign up to have a consultation with me about that program at talktojill.com. We’ll just hop on the phone for 10 minutes, talk about whether it makes sense for you. But I mean, honestly, I’ve watched Amanda grow as a runner. Like, she came to me already having done some half marathons and already being a pretty consistent runner, but in the past two years, like, she’s taken, I want to say, three minutes off your mile time?

Amanda: Yeah, at least three.

Jill: You were like, 13, 14- minute mile when we started working together and I know that last – on our coaching call yesterday in the group, you were like, yeah, I just ran a 10-minute mile. So…

Amanda: Which I would have never guessed. I mean, it was a 10:14 mile, I was floored.

Jill: I mean, stop it, that’s amazing. And so like, and that is really what working with a coach can do for you. It helps you get out of your own way so that you can really achieve these results. Amanda’s doing all the work, but I think what coaching has done for you is it’s gotten you like super focused and out of your own way so that you can really see what your body’s capable of. And it has been a pleasure and an honor to be part of your journey for the past two years, and I’m like, super excited to see where the next year takes you. Because obviously, we know there’s another marathon in your future in a few months but like, I’m just going to say it out loud, Ironman. I know, and once we say it out loud…

Amanda: I know, and it actually has been a lifetime bucket.

Jill: I know. Let’s just do that. Let’s just get busy with that. So anyway, I love to torture my clients and just tell them the big goals that I want for them and they’re like, okay. But really, you have to want it for yourself and I know. You did a triathlon last summer, was that your…

Amanda: Yeah, I did my first triathlon last summer.

Jill: Okay, right.

Amanda: I loved it.

Jill: Oh, triathlons are super fun. We’re going to have a triathlete on in a couple weeks and talk all about what it’s like to be a plus sized triathlete in a not so plus sized world. So anyway, but make sure you guys go check out Amanda’s challenge. Like, she’s the real deal. She trained at the same life coach school that I trained at and so you know, her philosophy is all about managing your mind so that you can get amazing results. I’ve seen her get amazing results. She knows what she’s doing so go check out her challenge. All the information is in the show notes, and I will talk to you next week. Thank you so much Amanda for joining me.

Amanda: Thank you for having me.

Jill: Bye everyone.

Hey rebels, I hope you enjoyed my chat with Amanda. And if you want to get more of her magic, you can find it all at her website, which is amandamuellercoaching.com, on her Facebook page, which is facebook.com/amandamuellercoaching, or on Instagram where her handle is amandamoves_food.

And if you want to check out the free challenge that we talked about on this episode, you can grab that at amandamuellercoaching.com/challenge. And I really recommend that you try it out. If you’re interested in learning about how to lose weight without crazy diets, without all that just stuff that makes us crazy basically, Amanda’s got some amazing tools that will really help you. So go check out her challenge, amandamuellercoaching.com/challenge and all of these links are going to be in the show notes at notyouraveragerunner.com/32.

I’ll talk to you next week. Until then, happy running.

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.