Ep #34: Self-Care for Consistency with Julie Fountain

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 34 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and today I am speaking with another total rockstar rebel runner, Julie Fountain.

Julie is a busy IT professional who in just two and a half years has gone from sedentary cat mom to training for her first half marathon. And she says if she can do it, you can too. Now, her journey has been quite inspirational to me, and like, honestly, I just think that she’s got so much dedication and so much heart that it’s going to be inspirational to you as well. And I hope you love her as much as I do. So without further ado, here’s Julie.

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Jill: Hey rebels, I am here with Julie Fountain, who is a member of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast community, and she’s kind of a badass rebel runner, and she’s going to talk with me all about her story of how she got started with running and what she’s been doing with it and just some of the amazing things that she’s accomplished over the past few years. So welcome, Julie, it is a pleasure to have you here. How are you today?

Julie: I’m great. It’s great to be here.

Jill: So my first question for you – because this is a question that I ask almost everybody, but I think it’s important to know because everybody has a different reason. When did you start running and why did you start running? Because you’ve been doing it for a while.

Julie: I’ve been running about two and a half years, and really, I sort of stumbled into it accidentally. I was on a – and still am on a weight loss journey that I started when I turned 40 back in 2014. I tried to lose weight for years and I was ready to try again. And kind of had learned some lessons about what hadn’t worked for me in the past, and so I struck out again to lose some weight and my starting weight was 315 pounds. So I – through just controlling my nutrition and my diet, I lose about 15 pounds and I knew that if I wanted to continue to lose weight I really needed to start incorporating some exercise. So I started walking, and that was fine but it was also kind of boring. So I joined a gym and I tried a few different things. I tried yoga, which I still do occasionally, tried Zumba, which I was terribly bad at because I have no coordination, but it was fine and I would do it now except the class schedule has changed. I mean, I’m terrible at it but it was fun and enjoyed it. I did like, HIIT classes and all that was fine but I really wanted something that I could have – that didn’t require coordination, didn’t require throwing or catching a ball.

Jill: I hear you.

Julie: And that I could just do with a minimum amount of gear and do whenever I wanted and really running was the answer. And I thought back to when I had tried running in the past, which was like, college, and was terrible at it so immediately quit, which – that’s a pattern in my life. So I thought, well, let me just try it again. But I was kind of – I mean, this sounds crazy to me now but at the time I was like, I really don’t know how to run. Like, I really have no idea. I mean, there’s got to be more to it than just running. There’s – you know, I’m a data person, I work in IT, I analyze things for a living and so I was like, there’s got to be more to it. So I literally Googled how to run for beginners or beginning running, how to begin running, because what I was looking for was not just put your shoes on and get out there because there’s tons of that. But I wanted someone to tell me the mechanics of like, where my feet should be, and where my arms should be and the basics of form. I found that at notyouraveragerunner.com.

Jill: Oh my gosh, did you really?

Julie: Yeah.

Jill: That’s so funny. You guys, I had no idea. I can’t even remember how we found each other, that’s so funny. Thank you for letting me know.

Julie: Yeah, that’s how because I needed someone to tell me how to run and you did that.

Jill: Fabulous. That’s super fun.

Julie: Yeah, so I signed up for your beginning to run course that you offer, your like, six-week free class that you offer and that was how I started. I would go out in the mornings at like – because I live in Louisiana, that’s the accent, and it’s super hot here like 90% of the year, so I would go out at like, 6am in like, my cotton leggings and my cotton t-shirt and I would run my little intervals in my Asics gym shoes until they literally fell apart and I had to hold them together with duct tape and decided to get new shoes.

Jill: I love this. I love this story.

Julie: But yeah, that’s how I started. That’s how I started running, and that was the spring of 2016.

Jill: Oh wow, so it has been over two years. So I find it so interesting because you said in the beginning, oh, I stop and start, I’m really good at quitting. Like, why do you think it stuck this time around? What was different for you?

Julie: Well, in general, I think in my life I have just been working on consistency, not just in fitness and exercise but in other areas of my life as well. I’ve just been working on making a commitment to myself and following through with it. So with my eating and my job and you know, my chores around the house, just everything, I just decided when I turned 40 it was time to get my life together.

Jill: I love that. So do you think that developing consistency – like, developing that skill of consistency and keeping commitments to yourself in running helped you in other areas or did you do it in other areas and it helped you with running?

Julie: Well, I think it all kind of mixed together. Really where it started was with the nutrition and the food because I really had to get control of my eating before anything else was able to fall into place for me. And I have. I mean, I’ve lost 109 pounds now since I turned 40, and I’m about to turn 44. So it’s been slow, which is fine. I don’t care how long it takes. So yeah, it’s really been – what it is is self-care. Sometimes you hear the term self-care and you think of like, bubble baths and glasses of wine. But there’s really much more to it than that. It’s really about treating yourself with respect. The same respect that you would show a friend. Like, if I told one of my friends I was going to do something for her, I would do it. And I deserve that same respect, so that’s been a good thing.

Jill: I love that so much. It’s like, self-care is basically making a commitment to yourself and not flaking on it.

Julie: Right.

Jill: Right? It’s just not flaking on yourself. And so like, I think that concept to a lot of people, like you said is people think self-care is all about bubble baths and it’s all about glasses of wine, and for sure that is on the list of self-care, but like a lot of times, self-care isn’t exactly comfortable. It’s going out and going for a run at six o clock in the morning because it’s on your schedule and you made that commitment. Or it’s doing strength training when it’s hard or stretching when it doesn’t feel good. Or it’s saying, hey, I’ve got a race tomorrow, it’s probably not the best time for me to go out for pizza and beer. It’s literally making the hard decisions in your life.

Julie: It’s grocery shopping so you have decent food and don’t have to rely on take out.

Jill: Yeah, exactly. So it’s not always sexy, it doesn’t always look like pleasure and decadence and indulgence. It really is just doing the – I want to say menial – it’s not menial, but doing those like, commonplace, not exciting things that allow you to do things like running a half marathon or training for a half marathon, which I – like, I really want to get to that because I know that you’ve just started recently. And so you started running two and a half years ago and now you are in the process of training for your first half, which I think it’s in October, right? Am I correct?

Julie: October the 27th.

Jill: Oh my gosh, I love this. It’ll happen. So talk to me a little bit about what that journey’s been like because I think to start running two years ago and then to be looking at your first half marathon in under three years, it’s pretty amazing. A lot of people can’t wrap their head around that.

Julie: Well, I’ll tell you, I don’t know any better. I was never an athlete, never followed any sports of any kind, I was a bookworm as a kid. So I’ve never followed – I mean, I don’t know anything about running or athletics or what’s normal in that world. Like, I completely don’t know anything. And so to me, I’ve just been going at my own pace and this happens to be where I’ve found myself. So after I did your six-week program, I just kept running intervals, and I would – every week, I had an interval timer on my phone, and every week I would tweak it a little bit so that there was a little bit more running, like, maybe 15 seconds longer running interval, and either leave the walk interval the same or maybe reduce the walk interval by 15 seconds. I mean, it was very, very gradual tweaking to increase my running and decrease the walking. And then I sort of hit a wall after about a year. I was doing two and three mile runs, I ran my first 5K in the fall of – October of 2016, and it’s local 5K called the Heroes Run, which is a charity for first responders. And I did that in intervals, which was fine, but I really wanted to break free of the intervals and just start running flat out, and I just – I kind of hit like, this wall where I just couldn’t. I couldn’t figure out how to do that. And what I eventually figured out is that that wall was not physical. It was mental. I was completely capable of running a mile, which was my goal from the very beginning. The whole reason I started running – I mean, I was bored with walking and I was looking for fitness, but my goal from the very beginning was to be able to run a mile. Like, that is just a standard kind of fitness thing that I felt like someone who is fit should be able to do, should be able to run a mile. Like, all the fitness tests or whatever, you know…

Jill: When you’re in school, they’re like, you got to run the mile.

Julie: Right. And I had had that test in school and failed it, which is like, the only test I probably ever failed because I was an excellent student.

Jill: Yeah. How frustrating too, you’re like, why can’t I figure this out, right? When you’re a high achiever to not be able to figure out that one thing is very, very frustrating.

Julie: Well, it turns out if you don’t exercise at all for years, you can’t just start and run a mile. So I had set out to run – I mean, that was like, my original goal was to be able to run a mile, so here I was a year into running, and I couldn’t do it. I still couldn’t do it. So I kind of sought Google again, came to the rescue, I found the From Fat to Finish Line documentary, which is awesome, I recommend it. And it’s a great movie. And they also have a Facebook group which is very large and very populated. There’s a lot of people in there, it can be kind of overwhelming, but it’s also a good source of information. But they had a little subgroup that they were calling Run Your First Mile, and so I joined that group and they just provide like, a weekly schedule and they just gradually build you up to where – you run so many minutes and then you run so many minutes. It’s kind of like Couch to 5K. But it’s a mile. So I did that. And so June the 1st of 2017, I ran my first mile with no walk breaks, not on a treadmill because I had run a treadmill mile, but to me that didn’t count. Because I’m an overachiever. So June the 1st 2017 was my first mile.

Jill: June the 1st 2017, I love that. So it’s been like, a little over a year then. That’s amazing. Okay.

Julie: And the thing is I realized – I mean, I was so excited. When I got to like, 0.9 of that mile, I was crying because I was so excited because I knew I was going to make it. But afterwards, when I kind of had time to process it, I realized that I could have done it sooner. I could have done it way sooner. It was all in my head preventing me.

Jill: What do you think were some of the thoughts that were going through your mind that were preventing you? just in case there’s somebody out there thinking the same thing and you can like, break that block for them.

Julie: You know, I would think things like, “You’re not an athlete. Hello, you weigh 230 pounds, you don’t know what you’re doing,” those kinds of self-defeating thoughts.

Jill: So that’s interesting because those thoughts didn’t have anything to do with, “This is hard, I don’t know if I can go that far,” and everything to do with your viewing yourself as an athlete or not.

Julie: Right.

Jill: That is fascinating. Did you ever think to yourself about like, maybe you’d get to a half a mile and be like, oh, this is too hard, I need to stop, or was it all like, the other types of thoughts about your self-image as an athlete?

Julie: Well, sometimes it was just hard. I mean, you know, running is hard.

Jill: It is.

Julie: Especially in the summer when it’s hot. You know, sometimes I would just feel so out of breath, which was another thing that I had to learn was to slow down. That was a big component of it. I was running too fast to maintain a whole mile. So slowing down helped me a lot. And people had told me like, on the internet, there are so many people offering advice and so many people had told me to slow down and I was just like, oh, this is just the speed I run. No, I totally needed to slow down.

Jill: Yes, you get to choose the speed at which you run. It’s so fun. But our bodies fall into a really nice rhythm and we get into that…

Julie: I have actual control of my feet and my legs.

Jill: You are not a marionette.

Julie: So yeah, so after I broke that mental barrier of running that first mile, it was like, oh, now it’s on. Because then I ran two miles, and then I ran three miles, and then I ran six miles.

Jill: Oh my gosh, that’s so good. That’s so good. Okay, so when did you decide to train for your first half and like, what made you decide you were ready? Why did you pick the half marathon that you did?

Julie: Okay, well so one of the things that I did in 2017 is I ran a local 5K, one 5K every month for the full year. It was just a goal I set for myself, I thought it would be fun and it was a ton of fun. I made friends, I did Couch to 5K twice with some local groups here that there’s one from the local running store and then there’s one at my gym. And so I made running buddies. That was a great idea and I loved it. But I kind of got burned out on the 5K distance. Like, I could run a 5K in my sleep now. So many. Because I continued – I’ve run several this year as well but I wanted to challenge myself a little bit and do something a little bit harder, so I did a five-mile race, which was challenging because it was at night and it was in December and it was cold and it was windy, and it was dark. And because I’m slow, I asked the race director to give me an early start, which they were happy to do. Because what they do is they bus you out five miles down this parkway and then you have to run back if you want to get in your car and go home. So…

Jill: That’s one way to make sure everybody finishes.

Julie: So I had an early start and so I started 20 minutes ahead of the rest of the group because they’re all like, these like, skinny elite military runners because I live near an air force base and so there’s a lot of military people here and they’re all in excellent shape. So it’s like, me and the military, and I had this early start so I was running by myself in the dark in the cold in the wind for 20 minutes before the first person passed me. But I ran the five miles, that full distance. And I was like, okay, if I can do five miles, and I can do it in these conditions, I’m ready for more.

Jill: Yeah.

Julie: So then I ran a 10K, then I ran a 15K, which was…

Jill: Oh, I remember that.

Julie: Which was so much fun. I ran the Hot Chocolate in Dallas with my cousin, which was so much fun. She’s not a runner but she has since become a runner and now she’s out running 10Ks. But she wanted to do it just for fun with me. She’s very physically fit, she’s very active so she was able to do it. I mean, she did some walking but she was able to run it. That was a challenging race because that was – I had never done that distance and I had had – I had missed some of my training because I had been traveling and I had gotten caught up in hurricane – not hurricane, winter storm Grayson, the blizzard that hit the east coast. I had gotten trapped there so I had missed a week and a half of training. And then I got sick, I don’t know, it was like the world was conspiring against me to keep me from running that 15K, but I did it. I ended up having to walk about two miles of it, but I did it. So after I did that, I was like, okay, what’s next? Because I’ve just kind of – I guess I’m a goal-oriented person. I always want to have something on the horizon to work towards. So I started thinking about doing a half, and also you know, I keep seeing people posting in the community, in your podcast community and in other communities that I’m in and on Instagram of like, all these great races they’re doing and they all look so happy and they’re so cute and I’m like, I want to do that. So I started looking for half marathons and I knew that I wanted to do Rock n Roll New Orleans. So I – and I am signed up to do that in February, but there’s also – I thought, you know, for my first half marathon, I would really like to do one that’s here, local to me. Because New Orleans is – I have to travel. It’s a few hours away. I live in the north part of Louisiana. So I was like, let me look and see what’s local. Well, the first 5K I did, that Heroes Run 5K, they did a 5K and a 10K. And I thought, I’ll run that 10K for sure when they have it this year, but I got to looking at it and they’re doing a half this year instead of the 10K. They’re doing a 5K and a half. So I’m like, I’ve got to do that. I mean, that was my first 5K so now it’s going to be my first half. So that’s the one that I’m signed up for.

Jill: I feel like the universe just had your back. Like, the universe just said, okay, we’re just going to hold off and as soon as she’s ready we’re going to make this half marathon available. That’s perfect.

Julie: So yeah, that’s going to be my first half. And it’s you know, right here in town, it’s literally just a couple of miles from my house, and yeah.

Jill: And so that’s in October and I know you just did – we were talking before we started recording that you did an eight-mile run this morning, which, like, I’m applauding you for running eight miles in the Louisiana heat in the middle of July. It’s kind of insane. But when did you start – when would you say you started training?

Julie: I started training – I’m doing your 5K to Half training plan that you have, and I think I just completed week eight. Is that the week that I completed? Week seven or week eight, so that’s how long I’ve been doing it. I’m about – I guess I’m about halfway through the training plan.

Jill: Oh, nice. Okay, so what have been – I mean, so you did eight miles this morning, which is almost your longest run to date, right? Your longest run to date has been nine miles at the Hot Chocolate.

Julie: Right. Longest is nine miles. I’ll be doing that, and I haven’t run eight miles, that’s the longest distance for me because after my 15K where I ran the nine miles back in February, I really didn’t run any long distances. I think the longest run after that for a while was I think a ran a 10K in the spring and then I mostly just did three or four miles.

Jill: Oh, okay.

Julie: So yeah, building up the miles now and I’m feeling it.

Jill: Yeah, well, so talk to me about – so you are – when you were doing your 5Ks, you were doing them without any walk breaks. You had like, built yourself up to that. Then you built yourself up to running five miles without any walk breaks. Are you still doing that or have you built in walk breaks to your half marathon training?

Julie: I have built in walk breaks into the half marathon training. I had to really think long and hard about that because I had this thing in my head where even though I know it’s okay to walk and all runners walk, I had this thing in my head where, you know, it doesn’t count if I’m not running it straight out, which that’s just me and I just needed to get over myself. It totally counts as running. I assure you, I ran eight miles this morning. But I really knew that I could not do the kind of distances I want to do if I didn’t work on some walk breaks because I just did not – there yet athletically. When I did the 15K, I ran the first five miles straight out, and then I took a short walk break and then I ran just about two more miles. But the thing is when I hit that seven-mile mark, I hit a wall physically and I was just done. And the rest of that race was just me kind of limping along. I mean, I would run some and walk some and run some and walk some, but I was not pleased with the last two miles of that race. And I really – and I know that if I had planned it better, if I had incorporated walking earlier, that I could have had a better outcome.

Jill: Yeah.

Julie: So that was a lesson that I had to learn the hard way. So now what I do is if I’m running less than five miles, I just run it. I just run it flat out. And actually, what I’ve been doing for some of my really short runs like three miles is I’ve been adding in some sprint intervals because I am trying to work a little bit on speed. Because I mean, I’m a slow runner and I’m okay with being a slow runner. But there are some races that I’d like to do that have some cutoffs. I just have some thoughts about the future, I’d like to just get just a little bit faster. I’m not looking to BQ, but I’d like to get a little bit faster. So I’ve been working on some sprint intervals in my short runs, but in my long runs, if it’s more than five miles, then I’m doing intervals. And you and I had to negotiate my intervals.

Jill: I remember that.

Julie: You were like, Julie – you were trying to convince me that I really needed to do some intervals, and I was like, okay, fine, I’ll do it. I’ll do 10-minute run, one-minute walk, and you’re like, okay, how about three-minute run. So we had to negotiate and I think we ended up at like, six-minute run, one-minute walk. Which is what I have been doing a lot. I’ve also done some sevens. Since it’s gotten really good and hot, like, we’ve been hitting triple digits, I have done five-minute run, one-minute walk and today I did four-minute run, one-minute walk. Because it’s hot. It’s hot and it’s humid, and the humidity is almost worse that the heat. Because the humidity just means you can’t sweat properly. Your body can’t cool itself off.

Jill: Well, and here’s the thing. For every 10 degrees that the temperature goes up, your body reacts by going about a minute per mile slower. And so if you’re doing – and I know this translates into intervals because if you’re running a 13-minute mile, say, at 60 degrees, then at 70, 75 degrees, you’re going to be more like a 14-minute mile. And then another 10 to 15 degrees above that, you’re going to be at a 15-minute mile. And so I think that translates over to intervals as well, and I don’t know – I should ask Jeff Galloway what the formula is but for sure I know that I am unable to maintain longer intervals when it’s really hot out because my body is just like, no, this is not happening. And so I tend to do by effort level. So as long as I’m working at the effort level that feels – that I desire, then I’m less concerned about pace. I’m less concerned about my interval because I just know that I’m working hard. But like, you’re seeing that exact phenomenon happen because like, your body will slow you down.

Julie: This morning it was 90 degrees and I ran 15-minute miles, which is slow for me.

Jill: So okay, let me ask you this. Like, what goal would you chase? I try to ask this of everybody. What goal would you chase if you knew you could not fail?

Julie: I think I’d really like to do some race-cations. Like, do some half marathons in like, all over the world kind of cities. Like, I want to go run a half marathon in like, Dubai or somewhere, you know?

Jill: Talk about hot.

Julie: I want to run Tokyo. I don’t know. I’d like to combine some travel and some half marathons.

Jill: Oh, that sounds really fun. Let’s just do that. You should just do that.

Julie: Well, I probably will.

Jill: I think I need to do some race retreats in some of these fantastic places and just be like, yeah, let’s do a race retreat in Dubai. The Rock n Roll Dubai.

Julie: Yeah, my husband likes – he’s not a runner but he likes to travel, so I could like, talk him into let’s go to Paris, and oh, by the way, I’m going to run a half marathon while we’re there.

Jill: I love this. So what advice – if you could tell somebody that’s listening to this and they’re thinking like, oh gosh, you know, that all sounds great for you but it’s going to be too hard for me, like, what advice would you give that person?

Julie: I would say, first of all, if I can do it, literally anyone else can do it. There is nothing super special magical about me. I am an ordinary, middle aged, overweight woman. I just decided I was going to run, and so I started running. That’s literally the only thing that’s different about me versus someone else.

Jill: I love that. Let’s just take a moment. What you said, the only thing different about you is that I just decided I was going to run. Like, that’s super powerful because I think everything we do in our lives starts with the decision, and if you just decide you’re going to start to run, well, then there you go. You’re a runner. It’s literally that simple.

Julie: Yeah, well or not making a decision. You know, just staying on the couch, that also was a decision.

Jill: For sure, it is. Not deciding is still a decision for sure.

Julie: The other thing that I tell people a lot and this isn’t really running advice so much as weight loss advice because people constantly ask me now, you know, how did you lose your weight or how do I lose weight, or I can’t lose weight. One thing they say is I can’t lose weight like you because I can’t run. I just can’t do that. The first thing I say is first of all, you cannot outrun your fork. You don’t have to run to lose weight. In fact, honestly, running probably has slowed my weight loss down because running makes you hungry. To me, they’re two separate goals. Two separate things. I started running because I was trying to burn some calories and I ended up falling in love with it. It could have just as easily been like, yeah, hate this, I’m going to stick with Zumba. What I tell people is if weight loss if your goal then you’ve got to get your eating under control. Don’t worry about running.

Jill: I think running is something you do to help you deal with emotions, to make your body more fit, to just kind of like, build…

Julie: It has incredible benefits. I mean, it’s been great for my cardiac fitness. My resting heart race is like – I guess I’m an athlete now because my resting heart race says so. When I’m running, I sleep better. I feel better, I swear my skin is better, you know? But it does not make you lose weight.

Jill: It doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Julie: And anything great for my mental health, I mean, I’ll tell you some of the best runs I’ve had is when I’ve had a rough day at work and I have like, just been furious and mad, so I had just like, run it off. Like, literally run it right out of me.

Jill: It’s hard to continue to hold strong emotions in your body when you’re running because it’s like either or.

Julie: Well, sometimes when I have some problem in life that I need to really kind of think about, I will be like, I’m going to think about that on my run tomorrow morning, and my runs will be almost meditative because I will be just – I’ll just be – my feet get in this rhythm and I’m pounding the pavement and I’m turning things over in my head at the same time. And I come to some really good like, thoughts and conclusions about life that way.

Jill: So good. Yeah, I agree. I think most people who are lifetime runners have that same experience that like – because there’s times when I wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll just be really worried about something and I’ll think, you know what, you’re just not going to think about that now. You’re running at seven o clock in the morning, like, you can worry all you want when you’re out running. And then of course I go out running and it’s impossible to worry because it’s like, feel so good. So then you start getting into constructive solutions instead of just like, oh my god, oh my god, what’s going to happen if this happens or you know…

Julie: Yeah, you can strip those emotions away.

Jill: Yeah, so good. Okay, so I have a couple more questions for you before we end because this has been a great – I feel like I know you a little bit better now. Because we’ve been working together for a little bit and you’ve been an active Run Your Best Life member since I opened the group last September, and I – like, I would love to know what you have found valuable about the group because you’re a very active member in the group. You come to almost all the calls and you implement the things and you’re having some success. So like, what do you love about that group? If somebody was considering becoming a member, what would you tell them?

Julie: I love that group so much, Jill. One of the things I love about the group is the size of the group. It’s a small group. I think there’s less than 50 members maybe or around 50…

Jill: It’s about 75, but yeah.

Julie: Well, it feels small anyway.

Jill: It’s not like, 10,000 like some of the other groups out there.

Julie: Exactly. It’s not overwhelming and I know that you’re there and if I post something, you’re most likely going to see it and respond to it because it’s a manageable size, and that actually makes a big difference to me. I don’t like to just be kind of out there, a number in the crowd.

Jill: Right, right.

Julie: And there are some really great people in this group. I mean, and all levels of ability. We’ve got Stephanie who’s doing triathlons and she’s very accomplished and you’ve got me, I’m kind of in the middle, and then we’ve got some newbies who are asking those beginner questions like what kind of shoes do I need to wear and is it okay if I do this, which yes, whatever the question is, yes. Yeah, and I like that because you can kind of get some perspective and see where you are and where you want to be and it’s wonderful.

Jill: Oh, that’s so fun. And you’re right about that. There is a lot of variety in skill level, but I think what everybody has in common – first of all, it’s all women. And the second thing of course is that everybody is in some way, shape, or form, not your average runner, or has been in that place at some point in their life. And so everybody can relate and everybody – and it’s very uplifting I guess. So usually when you post something in the group, somebody else is like, yup, I’ve been there, and this is what I did.

Julie: Yeah, and you get a lot of really – you can get really good practical advice about things like shoes and gear and intervals, but also just, you know, that you’re doing great and just that encouragement and you can do it. Any time I post a run in there, I know I’m going to get a you did great, good job. I know I’m going to get that stuff, and they genuinely mean it. It’s just nice people in there.

Jill: I know, right? Well, and I think part of it too is because we are on video calls with each other once a week, like, you guys get to know each other in a much more deep way than you do in just a random free Facebook group because this group like, everybody there is like, super committed to their own improvement and they’re not there just to observe. They’re all there to learn and to work and to better themselves. And so I think because you guys have been able to get to know each other on video, there’s like such a nice connection that when somebody says like, “I have a race this weekend I’m a little bit worried about it,” then that Saturday morning somebody else is posting like, hey, how did your race go? I hope it went okay. So it’s accountability, people are following up with you, and yeah, it’s super fun. It’s the best group on the internet in my opinion.

Julie: It’s nice to have a place where you can just really nerd out and talk about running because my friends who aren’t runners are so sick of hearing about it.

Jill: Exactly. Exactly. So good. Okay, well, so my final question for you is like, I know that you’re on Facebook, I know that you’re on Instagram. You post some really good stuff on Instagram. S if people wanted to follow you and like, watch your half marathon training and just like, learn more about what you’ve done over the past few years, how can they find you?

Julie: Instagram is probably the best place. I don’t really post that much about running on my personal Facebook feed because my family’s just over it. They’re supportive, they come to my races, but yeah, everybody’s sick of seeing my run selfies on their personal Facebook feed.

Jill: I love this.

Julie: I’ve kind of moved all that to Instagram. So they can follow me on Instagram. It’s @juliek710 with no dots or dashes or anything.

Jill: Fabulous. And like, I just love the popsicle series of photos are some of my favorites.

Julie: Like, those popsicles are the best popsicles in the world. Because nobody knows what we’re talking about, I’ll fill them in. So this year I joined a local running club which I had never done before and I had a little bit of apprehensiveness about it. But they started what they call a Summer Fun Run series of I think, 10 runs on Thursday evenings all summer long, and I was like, that does sound like fun and it would be a good way to meet some other runners and so I joined and I’ve been doing this Summer Fun Run series. Well, so this is Louisiana, and even at 6:45 in the evening, which is when we go out, Thursday night when we went out, the heat index was 109 at 6:45.

Jill: That’s hot.

Julie: Yeah, it’s hot. So we run and we – it varies. We run through local parks around town and we do about three miles, and then at the end you get popsicles. So I always post a selfie with my popsicle. The blue ones are my favorite. And talk about how hot and hard and sweaty it was. It was a lot of work for that really delicious popsicle.

Jill: Right, it’s a lot of work for your popsicle, for sure. But totally worth it. Totally worth it. And actually, I know we’re trying to wrap up but I realized we did not talk about your experience running with other people and what that was like for you because I know you and I had quite a few conversations before you went to that first 5K, you were nervous about it. So how did you – you were having a freak out.

Julie: Yeah. Well, I don’t really mind so much running with other people. Like, I’ve run so many 5Ks and there’s always people, you know, and there’s always people – I don’t finish last but I’m certainly not first. I’m like, back middle of the back end. I’m faster than the walkers, most of them. Some of them still beat me, and I’m faster than most of the people with like, strollers and dogs, but otherwise I’m not faster than anyone else. So I don’t really mind running like, the local 5Ks, but most of those are for charity. And most of them have a lot of walkers. So the run club was different. I’ve been kind of stalking them on Facebook for a while and they are like, real runners, right? Like I’m not a real runner, which is totally stupid, I’m totally a real runner. But in my head, it was they’re real runners, they’re like, hardcore. Like, they look very fit and they’re running like – like, there is a lady in there, she’s one of the officers of the club. She ran Boston. She had a BQ and she ran Boston, and you know, come on. And it wasn’t like she gave money to a charity and got to run. She earned that spot. You know what I mean? So I felt a little bit intimidated – more than a little bit intimidated by joining this group and going to this run. So for the first run I was like, I just had like, a panic that day. Plus, I was just having a bad day. Like, I was like – you know, sometimes you have like, stuff going on at work or whatever and it just kind of comes to a head and you pick a thing to be the focus. So that’s what happened. So yeah, I was totally worried about being the only fat person there because you know, I’ve lost 100 pounds but I’m still fat. And I’m going to be the oldest person there, I’m going to be the only fat person there, I’m going to be slow, and they’re like, all going to be standing around waiting on me to finish. And there won’t be any popsicles left. None of that was true. None of that was true. I was not the fattest, I was not the oldest, I was not the slowest, and there was plenty of popsicles. And nobody even really noticed when I crossed the finish line except for the guy handing me the little slip of paper with my time on it.

Jill: Right. How fun is that, right? And nobody got eaten by an alligator either.

Julie: Right, yeah, that first one was along the river and so you had asked me what’s the worst-case scenario and I was like, well, if I fell in the river that would probably be the worst because I would be embarrassing. Not because I would be eaten by an alligator.

Jill: Right. Why is nobody concerned about alligators? It’s Louisiana. Up north, we’re like, we just have this…

Julie: They’re more scared of you than you are them.

Jill: I don’t know. They have big teeth. I am very intimidated of them. But I think that like…

Julie: I did not fall in the river and no alligators were even seen that night.

Jill: It’s beautiful. Everything went swimmingly.

Julie: I’ve done like, six of this series now, and so, yeah…

Jill: Six, oh my gosh. So you’re basically a real runner now at this point.

Julie: I’m basically a real runner, yeah.

Jill: I bet if you didn’t show up they’d be like, “Hey, where’s Julie?”

Julie: Yeah, they’ll be like, “Where’s the girl that always wears a skirt? A skirt and a ball cap, where is she?”

Jill: Do you run in Skirt Sports or Sparkle Skirts?

Julie: I prefer Skirt Sports now. My first skirt was a Sparkle Skirt, which I still have and still wear, but the Skirt Sports ones just fit me a little bit better. My Sparkle Skirt, the shorts in it tend to ride up a little bit, and I’m told it’s because I maybe needed to order a size smaller. And when I ordered it it fit but I have lost a little bit of weight since then, so maybe it’s just my sides are just a little bit leaner and so it’s riding up a little bit. My Skirt Sports, the shorts stay in place a little bit better.

Jill: Yeah, it is all about – the skirts are cute no matter what, but the shorts have to stay put.

Julie: Yeah, and the other thing about the Sparkle Skirt is it’s a little bit – it’s cut a little bit differently. It’s a bit more swingy. Like, the skirt is fuller cut so it has more of a swing to it, which is cute, and it’s fun, but my own personal preference is the Skirt Sports cut which is a little bit more closely cut. It’s more of a straight cut. More like an A-line. I just think it’s cuter.

Jill: I totally get it. Totally get it. Okay, well I love that. So you guys, you can find Julie at juliek710, that’s on Instagram, and also if you ever want to talk to her live on a call, if you join Run Your Best Life, she’s a very active member of the group in there and she’s been there long enough now that she’s actually helping a lot of the newer members kind of find their place as well. So it’s…

Julie: Yeah, I help them by tagging you.

Jill: Yeah, you’re like, Jill, did you see this? But that’s really…

Julie: Interesting question, I don’t know the answer.

Jill: It’s important to have a community where like, the longer standing members of the community are helping the new folks, and I think that’s one of the things I love so much about Run Your Best Life is how those of you that have been there for almost a year are always super helpful with them, with new folks coming in. So it’s a very welcoming place.

Julie: I can’t believe it’s been almost a year. I didn’t realize that until you said September.

Jill: September 1st, yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Julie: Do something to celebrate.

Jill: I know, we will have to do something to celebrate. So yeah, okay, well, so thank you so much for joining me today. This has been like, super fun and I’m glad your run went well this morning.

Julie: Thank you. It’s hot and humid but I live…

Jill: Two weeks from now it’ll be nine miles and then after that it’ll be uncharted territory.

Julie: That’s true. I was thinking about that this morning. I was like, the eighth mile this morning was pretty rough. That last mile was tough, and I was like, how am I ever going to do nine miles from now and I was like, okay, run the mile you’re in, stop thinking about it.

Jill: Yes, exactly. Yeah, right? That’s totally like – let’s not worry about two weeks from now, let’s worry about right now. So good. Alright my friend, have an amazing afternoon and thanks again for joining us and telling your story. I’ll talk to you soon.

Julie: That was fun.

Jill: Alright.

Hey rebels, I hope you enjoyed my chat with Julie, and if you want to see more of her journey, you can actually follow her on Instagram at juliek710. And I swear, she has the cutest profile picture. She’s wearing a Wonder Woman crown, it makes me smile every time I see it. So it’s juliek710. You can also find the link to her Instagram in the show notes at notyouraveragerunner.com/34, and you can also connect with her in the Run Your Best Life group.

So if you want to get results like Julie or you just want to see what it’s all about and why we’re all raving about it so much, head on over to runyourbestlife.com to join and I look forward to seeing you there. Until next week, 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.