Ep #51: Bound and Determined – A Story of Transformation with Shawnna Dancer

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 51 of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast. I’m your host, Jill Angie, and today I am talking to Shawnna Dancer, a woman who has changed her entire life by working on her thoughts and becoming a runner. She’s one of my rock star clients and we have been working very closely together over the past year.

Watching her transform has been nothing short of inspirational. I’m not kidding you, it’s just amazing to watch what she’s doing. And she’s actually going to tell you exactly how she did it on the show and I hope that you are as inspired by her as I am.

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Jill: Hey everyone. I am here today with the one and only Shawnna Dancer, and the reason I brought Shawnna on the podcast today is because she’s a pretty amazing human being and she’s got a great story to tell about why she started running and the results that she’s gotten as a result of all that. And I just thought you people need to know just how amazing she is, so welcome to The Not Your Average Runner Podcast, Shawnna.

Shawnna: Thank you, it’s great to be here.

Jill: Oh, my pleasure. I’m super excited that you’re here too. So alright, so let’s just get right into your story because I know you’ve got a history with running or a history of thoughts and feelings about running but you’ve recently really, really gotten into it. So can you just tell us a little bit about yourself, why you started running, what it’s been like for you in the past, what it’s like for you now?

Shawnna: Sure. So I have absolutely no history with running except sixth grade cross-country and not being able to do it. So I have all these thoughts and beliefs in my head of how I couldn’t run or that I wasn’t good at it, that I’m not athletic, that I’m not coordinated, all of those things. But I’ve always wanted to be a runner and I’ve gone through periods in my life where I’ve been more active than others. I actually walked a half marathon and then complained to myself that I wasn’t fast enough. And so there’s been lots of good things with being active but I always seem to find the negative in it as well. And as for running, I’ve always wanted to do it, and so I came across your book one day on Amazon and I bought it and I went out for my first run – well, I bought all the stuff first and then I went to go try my first run and I did that first 20 second interval and my whole body felt like it was going to seize up and I was going to die.

And so I thought okay, well, I’ll just walk fast for the next 20 second interval, and I’ll keep doing that until I get fast enough and then I’ll try running again. And I did that probably three or four times over the years, never really made it past that first interval and I found you on Facebook somehow and started following you and then when you opened up the Run Your Best Life, I joined. I was in the first – one of your first members even though I have never run, even 20 seconds at one time, I joined and I paid to join. And then I lurked for however long you have had your Run Your Best Life Facebook group. And so I guess it was last December you put a post out that asked for people who were wanting to do something wild and crazy for the new year and I raised my hand and that’s when we started coaching.

Jill: Oh my gosh. So I didn’t realize that you were in Run Your Best Life from all the way back in September. So you and Suzy Rosenstein – I can’t remember what episode Suzy’s was – both joined at the same time and both were kind of like, lurking. So that’s super fun. What were some of your thoughts while you were in the group and you weren’t running but like, what were you thinking for those few months before? Because you started running running just earlier this summer, right? Because we worked together on some private coaching starting in January, like you said, but you didn’t start running running until – and when I say running running, I mean like, I don’t mean like running without walk breaks. I mean just like, going out there deliberately and saying okay, I’m going to run and see where I can get with this. So you said July.

Shawnna: Right. That’s when I started.

Jill: Okay, so between September and July, like, what were you thinking about running? Were you still like, oh, I might do it, I’m working up my courage, what was going on for you?

Shawnna: Yeah, I just really felt like a fraud, like I shouldn’t be there or I didn’t belong, that everybody was so much more advanced than me and that I was never going to catch up. Just that – I don’t know, I just had all these thoughts in my head that I couldn’t do it. And as I’ve learned, if you believe you can’t do something, you don’t do it. So that’s what was happening. But we worked together and we worked on my brain. That’s what we’ve been working on for the past year. Almost a year now, and I’ve learned that your thoughts really impact everything you do and that if you want to do something different you just change the way you think about it. And so in July, we set a goal of just me trying to put together – really my goal was to move every single day and that’s really all I was willing to commit to, but part of that was going to be finishing that damn six-week beginner course. I was bound and determined I was going to finish that six-week course. And so I went out for my first run and I did the 30 seconds and I think I told you – well, I felt kind of stupid for that first one but my body didn’t seize up, it didn’t – I didn’t die and I just kept going.

I did – I don’t even remember what it was – 10 intervals or something like that. I don’t think I even went a whole mile for the first outing, probably the first couple of weeks of outings. But each time it got better and I had lots of crazy stuff to worry about like were people looking at me and so when I first started I was going really early in the morning so that there would be fewer people to look at me. Plus, I live in Texas so it’s die hard hot here in the evenings and so morning was really all – that was the only time I was willing to get out and sweat because sweating at 79, 78, 80 degrees seems way better than trying to do it at 95 or 100. So I’ve changed literally everything about my life. I used to roll out of bed at 8:30, come into the office because I work from home, come in and start working at nine. And now I’m getting up between five and 5:30 Monday through Thursday, I’m running three times a week, I’m doing Pilates on most of the other days. And so I had set one of my goal beliefs as I love moving my body, and I wrote that down for probably four, five months and said it aloud occasionally and I recorded it and listened to it and wrote it lots and lots of times. And I think I actually finally believe it. So I think that was one of my big a-ha moments was oh my gosh, Jill Angie is not crazy, you really can believe something new about yourself. And I’ve done that with moving, with movement.

Jill: I love that so much. So there’s a lot to unpack in what you just said, and one of the things that I heard was that you didn’t just wake up one morning and change your mind because we all – I think a lot of people think like, if I need to think differently to get different results, I should just be able to change my mind. And in my experience, it’s not that easy and I know we’ve talked about this, and you really committed to – I think we started out with like, 90 days of…

Shawnna: 30.

Jill: 30 days. That’s right, the first time was 30 days. You really committed to just like, okay for 30 days I’m going to look at my thoughts, I’m going to do my thought downloads, I’m going to work on my beliefs, and it’s been how many days now? I think it’s a pretty big number.

Shawnna: 196 days in a row.

Jill: Oh my god. So like, over six months and verging on 200 days. Okay, so here’s what I want people to kind of understand. Like, talk about the first 30 days versus maybe the middle 30 days and then the most recent 30 days. How has that progressed for you?

Shawnna: So when we first started coaching, I had a lot of big goals. We had set some really big goals. And that first month I was gung-ho, I was doing them, I was doing everything you said and I was well on my way to reaching those big goals. And then I lose somebody really close to me who passed away at work and it really threw me for a loop and it kind of set me back and I just couldn’t – I don’t know. I wasn’t doing well at work, I wasn’t doing well with the work that we were doing, I just wasn’t doing very well. And I just remember you telling me that I think I had already started the downloads. You had set it as a goal of doing a download every day for 30 days and I was doing it because I will generally what I say I am going to do, especially if you give – oh, the first – there was somebody could win, remember? Like, we could – remember I could win if I posted my thought download every single day for 30 days if I made it until the 30 days I won something, which I think was a little gift card was what it was.

Jill: By the way, I still need to send that to you so thank you for that reminder.

Shawnna: I was bound and determined. I was going to win. But then when Jim died, I was still doing those thought downloads but I couldn’t do anything else. It’s like – and I remember you telling me just focus on the thought downloads, don’t worry about anything else, that’s all you need to worry about. And so that’s what I did and it was horrible. I hated it. And I was seeing all these horrible things I was saying to myself and that I was thinking and writing them down didn’t feel good. It wasn’t fun, I was having a hard time sleeping. I was doing my thought downloads right before bed and so then I would just think about them and have a hard time going to sleep. And so that was making me crazy on top of everything else. I wasn’t sleeping, so it just wasn’t really a good time.

And you just kept saying that – I mean, just little things that didn’t really feel good at the time or make me feel better, but that now I can see you were right, but things like, “What if I told you that you had to do this a whole year and then it would all be better? Would you be willing to do it?” And yes, of course I would, but on day 29 or 60 or day 90 or whatever, when is it going to get better? And gosh, I don’t know when it actually started to get better. I do – I remember you telling me like, don’t worry about changing your thoughts because that was my thing. I’d have wanted to rush ahead and okay, I see all this horrible stuff is in here so how do we change it? Like, now I want to change it. And you were just so persistent about trusting the process and you just got to keep doing it. And so I don’t – gosh, one of – we did an exercise and somehow the light bulb went off. And I was able to verbalize and write down some new things that I wanted to believe about myself. And in doing that, it was like that a-ha moment of oh my gosh, this is what she was talking about all this time, now I can focus on trying to believe these things that I want to believe about myself and make these things come true. And I was able to switch those – to start making those thought downloads work for me. And so being able to like, notice that being negative right before bed is not the right thing for me, personally, to be doing. So if I’m going to do it right before bed, I’m going to focus on the good things that happened during the day, and then just pick out one thing that I know I could have done better during the day and do my model on that. And so write down what thought caused that not so great outcome and how could I have flipped it around.

And so I will say I don’t always follow through on those intentional models. I still – obviously I’m not perfect but I’m learning to recognize when they happen and not just notice them at the very end of the day but kind of see them as they come throughout the day and start incorporating some of those modifications or redirections, things like that to try to get myself in a better place before I go all the way off the rails. So they’ve made a huge different in my life. I remember starting that new journal that I found and journaling is always something that I thought I was supposed to do, like I should be doing it, but I never could actually do it. So I had this journal that I’d never written in and I don’t know how many – I keep wanting to see how many pages are in it but I’ve almost filled it up now. And so – which I never would have thought in the very beginning. I didn’t really think I’d make it to 30, that first 30 days, that I would actually do that. But it’s been amazing. It’s been transformational.

Jill: Yeah, and I think when we first started working together, I was like, you’re not going to recognize your brain at the end of the year because we’re basically just going to give you a new brain. It’s like, a weird thing to say to somebody but that’s really – I think that’s really how it works. But it’s not super fun all the time and that’s where I think most people sort of drop off the radar is in those first few days of thought downloads or even within the first 30 days, they’re like, this sucks, I’m saying terrible things to myself, why would I want to keep doing that? It’s like they open the door on the junk closet that has all the crap in it, they turn on the light, they see the mess and they’re like, fuck that and they turn the light off and they shut the door. But you kept the door open and you kept taking things out of the closet, and I think even though it was uncomfortable, even though it was hard and even though you were like, I don’t even know if this is going to work but I’m going to see what happens, and you know, a few months down the road, it all changed.

But it took like, being willing to be uncomfortable, being willing to not feel great and to feel kind of shitty. Because here’s what’s so funny is so many people, they give up on the thought downloads when it’s uncomfortable and when they don’t like the things that they’re saying to themselves. And like, I think that’s the point in time when you need to double down, which is exactly what you did. You just said alright, I’m going to just keep doing this even though – so alright, let me ask you something about – let’s kind of bring it back a little bit to running and how have your thought downloads and all of the new mental tools that you’ve given yourself, how has that helped you? Because you just set a pretty big ass goal for yourself running wise because you’re going to be – you’ve joined Rebel Runner Unleashed. You’re going to be doing the half marathon with everybody in New Orleans, and we talked a lot about that before you signed up because you were like, I don’t know, is this the right thing for me, so can you like, tell me a little bit about what some of your fears were, how you’re feeling about running now? Like, just go ahead and tell us everything.

Shawnna: Yeah, so I think we started before I finished my six weeks. And I was already “failing” at the beginning program because I wasn’t progressing according to the plan, which if anybody doesn’t know me yet, perfectionism is one of my big downfalls that I’m really, really working on this year and learning to let some of that go. So I was really worried that I wasn’t good enough to then try to start training for a half marathon, especially one that’s coming up so quickly in February. And so I really had to do a lot of thought work around it’s okay, my time is okay, it doesn’t mean anything except the time on the clock and how much I’m willing to be out there running. I wish I was faster, I do really wish I was faster, and I do struggle with that so I really have to focus on it in my thought downloads and try to let that stuff go because it’s not helpful to me.

And so as the mileage has increased, which I just did four miles on Saturday, but the previous Saturday I was supposed to do four miles and I totally talked myself out of it before I even got out on the road. And so what Jill says about your thoughts manifesting your feelings and your actions are totally true because I started telling myself as soon as I saw the four miles on my plan, I started telling myself, oh, I can’t do that, that’s too hard, that’s going to take too long, I’m going to get sick, I’m going to get blisters, it’s going to be too hot, I’m going to have to get up too early. All of these things around why I couldn’t do it, and then when I got out to go do it, I couldn’t do it. Big shocker. So but even just saying that, it still wasn’t a horrible thing. I still went over three miles, which is amazing to think that just a couple of months ago I couldn’t even run 20 seconds at a time. So it’s just the thing with your brainwork is you just have to keep plugging along. Like, there’s never a magic light bulb moment that it completely clicks over and you’re cured. I think this will be something that I have to work on for the rest of my life, but I have the tools now and I know the things to look for and I know – a lot of times I know when it’s happening so like, I knew I was setting myself up for failure with the whole run thing because I stayed up too late, which I’ve already learned makes a run the next day miserable. So I could feel myself doing all of those things but I couldn’t quite make it all the way around to fix it before it happened. But I was able to do it this week.

Jill: So well, talk to me about this week then. What was different for you this week versus last week? So last week we know you had a lot of that inner mean girl was just going to town on you last week. How did you adjust your thinking this week so that you would get out there and do the four miles?

Shawnna: Well, I know what feels good, so I know I need to go to bed at a decent time, I know I need to get up at a decent time or it’s going to be too hot. Like, I know that. So if I don’t do those two key things, then I’m setting myself up for a miserable run because it’s going to be too hot and I’m not going to feel good on top of it. Water is the same way. I know if I don’t drink enough the day before that that run – my legs are going to be really heavy and I’m not going to feel good while it’s happening. So this week I just focused on making sure that I was getting my sleep, that I was going to bed on time, and that I was getting that water in. And then I also made sure to take – like, I still haven’t figured out the whole – we haven’t even talked about the whole fueling thing, but I’ve had a few episodes where I felt like my sugar dropped mid-run so I had some little candies, tiny little jelly candies and so I put a couple of those in a Ziploc bag and put it in my pocket and I felt that about – probably about a little less than halfway and it was like, oh my gosh, you haven’t even gone two miles yet, Shawnna, you’re being stupid. So I just took a little bite of that jelly and convinced myself that that’s all I needed and like, seriously took like, probably three millimeters of a bite.

A tiny little bite, convinced myself I was perfectly fine and kept going. I think I was just bound and determined to do it and just making sure that the inner mean girl didn’t have a chance to talk. So I do listen to podcasts now instead of music when I run because I find I pay attention better and so with the music I can ignore it a little bit more and so I tend to think a lot more about not so good stuff. So with the podcasts it kind of keeps me just enough distracted that – I mean, I still have to fight the oh my gosh, I’m tired, it’s too hot, it’s too sunny. Y’all haven’t ever seen me but I am really white and I do not like the sun at all. The sun is not my friend. So I do go and I run around my neighborhood on the shady streets. So I make sure I run on the shady side of the street and all of that. So there’s lots of things that can distract me along the way, but the podcast kind of helps keep me focused.

Jill: Yeah, I love that because it keeps your brain engaged and when your brain is engaged, doing productive things like learning a new skill or whatever you’re listening to, or even if it’s like an audiobook or something that your brain has to pay attention to and think about, you know, it can’t worry about other stuff. It’s just literally like, it can only do that one thing at a time so I love that. What are some of your favorite podcasts to listen to? I’m always looking for new podcasts.

Shawnna: I listen to you, I listen to Corinne Crabtree, and those are pretty much the only two that I’ve listened to so far. I’m a little bit afraid to get too into something that’ll give me something else to buffer with so…

Jill: I hear you.

Shawnna: So there are some – I have some on my bucket list but I haven’t actually tried anything yet. One thing that did help me Saturday was when I got to mile three, which is the farthest that I’d ever run before, I was ready to quit and come home, and I just kept telling myself it’s only one mile, a mile is not far, a mile is easy, and I put the metronome on. So you had had me download a metronome app and so I put that one and that on with the podcast works fairly well. It doesn’t work with music. I tried it with music and it was just too – the beats weren’t matching and all that and it just really fucked with my brain. So but with the podcast and the metronome it worked and that is what got me through that last mile was just making sure that my feet matched the metronome on the running part kept me going.

Jill: I love that so much. It never occurred to me to use the metronome with a podcast or a book at the same time. So…

Shawnna: It works.

Jill: Kind of blown my mind, that’s really brilliant. Because then you get to do both, right? You get to keep your feet on beat, on cadence, but you also get to listen to or have a – give your brain something to do. So that’s really cool. Love that.

Shawnna: Yeah, I noticed with music I tend to like, let’s just say it’s old lady music, and so it’s not fast. I am not really into rock or a lot of fast tempo stuff. So I think because I have a musical background and I was in band, I was keeping tempo with the music, and so when those slower songs would come on I would slow down as well. So that’s another reason why I stopped listening to music.

Jill: Yeah, and that does happen to a lot of people. I just think it’s very instinctive to let your feet go to the beat of the music so if the beat of the music is like, 120 beats per minute, you’re going to go really slow. If it’s like 180 beats per minute, you know, you’re going to be moving pretty quickly so there’s definitely an art to that. Okay, that’s like, so awesome. And I guess what is the thing you’re most proud of of all the work that you’ve done on yourself the last nine months or so?

Shawnna: I think it’s – well, it’s definitely self-confidence. My willingness to try new things and to put myself out there, which I’ve always done to some extent. I don’t always give myself credit for those things, but I am an introvert and I am an over-thinker and so I worry – and I’m a worrier, which I’m not supposed to say anymore, I know, but let’s just say it, I am. That will be a new thought that we have to work on. So the first month probably I worried about what people thought and that they could see my fat jiggling and my arms and it took several weeks to get me into a tank top and then it took more weeks to get me to run after the sun came up so that people could see me. I worried about all of that stupid stuff when actually what I’ve learned now is that I see the same people every morning, they smile at me, they wave. I know that if I see this certain gentleman and he’s not at the spot that I expect him to be, that I left too late and I know I’m going to have to hurry and I’m going to be a little late for work. So it’s like, I can plan my morning around the people that I see on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. And that’s really cool. That’s really, really cool. And that same gentleman, I remember him from when I was training for my half marathon. He was one of the people that I saw every morning. And so there’s no reason for me to be afraid of what he’s going to think. He was probably just thinking, where have you been all these years? Why haven’t I seen you?

Jill: Yeah, you might have been part of his morning routine and then you disappeared and he’s like, where did she go?

Shawnna: Right. So I really do force myself to raise my eyes and wave and say good morning whenever I pass someone. So I still don’t like if I run late enough that I hit all those stupid school people, I will say that. That’s too many people. One of the streets I run on is where people park before they get in the carpool line, so they’re all lined up on the street. So the first time I wore the tank top and I’m running down this street and there’s just car after car after car after car filled with people who have nothing to do but look at me run past them, so that was a huge hurdle.

Jill: But here’s what’s so funny is you know most of them are sitting in their car with their face in their phone and not even looking at you.

Shawnna: Probably.

Jill: And I also want to point out like, you could have just turned around and run the other way when you saw the long line of cars but you didn’t. You kept going. This is like…

Shawnna: I did because it was closer to get home that way.

Jill: I know, right? I just think that’s kind of fun to recognize is that like, Shawnna 1.0 or six months ago you might have said no way, I’m going to take the long way home because I don’t want these people to see me, and instead you said, well, it is what it is and you kept running. It’s kind of awesome. Okay, so confidence is a big one that you’re proud of. Is there anything else you’re proud of?

Shawnna: Yes, I’ve always been a thinker, but I love that I’m a doer now. I feel so much more accomplished and I feel like whatever dream I come up with for myself I can make it happen if I really, really want it, which I didn’t have before. So that’s a big one. Learning to trust and I’m still learning that because I struggle with it, but just learning to trust the process, learning to trust other people, learning to trust myself, all of that has increased and grown and I can feel myself growing and becoming a better person because of it. One of the biggest is learning to allow myself the same grace that I give other people when they make mistakes or fall down, learning to give that to myself when I’m not perfect. I think that’s something that will serve me well for the rest of my life.

Jill: Yeah, so good. Because we really – most people don’t realize how much harder they are on themselves that they are on other people. Did I say that right? Yeah.

Shawnna: Yeah, no, you did.

Jill: Yeah, and I mean we should be giving ourselves grace before we give it to anybody else, I think. The beatings must stop. The beatings that we give ourselves. Okay, so half marathon for you in February and this is going to be your first running half marathon. What other goals do you have for yourself, say, for the next six months to a year to two years?

Shawnna: I am going to continue to lose weight and I will be keeping it off. I will not be losing this weight ever again because I’m going to do it the right way with my brain and not my willpower. So that is a big goal. I have some big things at work that I’m doing so just making sure that I actually – if I do them and I do them right, it’s going to be some really cool stuff that I’m doing at work. And what else? Next year in Junior League I have a big role that I’ll be stepping into, so I’m really excited about just becoming the best version of me that I can be so that when I take on that role, things should go a lot better for me. So I’m really excited about that as well and that will start next June.

Jill: That’s so exciting. That’s so exciting. I love that, just becoming the best version of yourself is just like, I think that in and of itself is such an amazing goal because it takes a lot of hard work, it takes a lot of soul searching, and it’s also like a work in progress. You become the best version of yourself and then you look at that and say okay, how am I going to uplevel that? How am I going to uplevel that? So it’s kind of like – you kind of almost fall in love with the work that you do on yourself. Like, fall in love with the concept of always looking to what’s the next big thing, what’s the next exciting thing. Does that resonate with you at all? It seems like you’re that kind of a person, that you’re always like what’s the next thing for me?

Shawnna: It does. It totally does. And just being able to – I think even, you know, that one belief – I keep coming back to it, but that one belief about I love moving my body, I love the Shawnna that comes home from exercising, whether it’s coming in from a run or coming in from a walk or coming back from Pilates class. I love the way I feel when it’s over. And so that’s part of what kept me going all summer even though it’s been super wicked hot and not really fun while it was happening. But I loved that and I am pretty competitive but with the running as well as the – I’ve noticed it with the Pilates as well. I can see myself getting better, I can see myself getting stronger, and those things, it motivates me to keep going and to see how far I can go.

Jill: I love that. I just cannot wait to see you cross that finish line in February because I think it’s going to be a totally different experience than the last time around where you were kind of struggling with it. So I’m just so excited. I’m just so excited. It has been my pleasure for the past nine months to just watch you evolve and not just like – not just watch you evolve but evolve in such a profound way and instead of relying on – like a lot of times we think, oh, if I just had this one thing, if I could just buy this one thing or if I could just weigh this much, or if I could just run this fast then I could feel better. Like, you’ve just decided to feel better and then everything else is falling into place as a result.

Shawnna: Right. And we talked about it before I started. I know I can do big things and I know I can do anything I put my mind to, but the weight thing and the being an athletic person, I’ve never excelled at that. Never. And even that’s not true. I lose 150 pounds one time. So I know I can lose weight but I’ve never been able to keep it all off and I’ve spent the last probably 10 years losing the same 40 pounds over and over and just every couple of years, oh my gosh, I’m going to lose weight again and I would lose that 40 pounds and never be able to make it past it. And it’s because I wasn’t focusing on fixing the things that were really wrong with me. And I can really see the changes that we’ve made, I can take those and I can apply them to anything that I want to do in the future. And so I would just encourage anybody who’s listening to this, you know, if you have struggled with something, whether it’s your weight or work or running or whatever it is, you can take the concepts that Jill teaches and apply them and they can make a profound difference in your life. They can.

Jill: They have with you, for sure. I love it. And here’s the thing, I didn’t invent these tools, I’m just teaching them. This is like, just how the universe works and I’m just teaching it to you guys. So thank you so much for saying that because I do think that you’re such a great example of someone who’s willing to just trust the process and keep applying the tools and see just amazing results in a pretty short time. Like, nine months I think is a pretty short time to have this big turnaround, but then also to be like, oh, not only that, not only did I do all this stuff in nine months but there’s no fucking end to what I can accomplish.

Like, that is like, having that deep belief that you can do whatever you want is so powerful. And I see that in you now. When we first started working together, I know you were very frustrated a lot of the time. You were like, I just want to feel better, I just want to be out of this misery, but like, you can take somebody out of misery or you can teach them the tools to change their life and I think opting for that second one is so much more powerful. So it’s just been my pleasure to see you evolve and I just – like I said, I can’t wait to watch you cross that finish line in February. I think it’s going to be even more – like, after that, I’m just like, what is Shawnna going to accomplish next? Because shit’s about to get real. Okay, so I have a couple more questions for you. The first – and this is just like, I want you to share some of your hesitations before you joined Run Your Best Life. I know – like, are there any things that you were like, I don’t know if I should do it and then you were surprised because you were more capable than you thought or – I’m not explaining this very well. But like, were the reasons you thought I’m not going to join Run Your Best Life and how did you get past those reasons?

Shawnna: I mean, I’m probably not the right person to ask that particular question because I did join like, right when you first could, and I joined because it was something that I really, really, really wanted and I felt like your book and your Facebook group resonated with me and I felt like if I could follow those principles, I could get to where I wanted to go. But what’s different I think about the Run Your Best Life group is that you get those calls. And so you get to go to the coaching calls and you get one-on-one attention with you as well as you get to start making connections with the other ladies who come on the coaching calls and you become your own little cheerleader group. And I know we have that on the podcast group as well, I totally get that and I love both of the Facebook groups, but on the Run Your Best Life one, it’s a little bit of a smaller group and you get to learn from the other ladies, you get to learn directly from Jill and those things make all the difference in the world. I think it’s just that one-on-one attention that you can get for what, an hour a week? A couple of hours a month? Whatever it is, because even if you’re not the one being coached right at that time, they’re likely – the other people are likely talking about something that you can take and apply to your own life or your own running situation.

Jill: Yeah, and that’s a great point. Because I do think people benefit from seeing other people get coached on that same issue. And one of the things I love about how you’re showing up in that group now and there – when you see somebody asking questions of like, hey, I’m struggling with this, and it’s something that you’ve worked through, I see you showing up and helping the other people in the group with those thoughts. And so that’s one thing that I love about Run Your Best Life now is there’s quite a few of you that have been in the group for several months so it’s not just like – so you get personalized attention from me but you also get personalized attention from people that have been coached by me and that have seen success. And so you know, if there’s somebody out there that’s on the fence like, you can actually ask Shawnna ask questions in the group and be like, hey, I know you struggled with this, how did you get through it? Because there are some women in that group that are just like, super active because they know how powerful this work is and they’re excited to share it and help other people and initiate new people into the methods. So it’s just kind of a win-win-win. So my last question for you is who would you recommend coaching to in general and why?

Shawnna: I would recommend it to anybody, personally, because I think anybody could actually take the lessons and apply them to your life. But I think particularly if there’s somebody out there who wants something and hasn’t been able to get there on their own, coaching would help with that. If there’s someone out there – I mean, I don’t know how typical I am but I literally lurked for months, if not years before I ever spoke up or did anything active in the group. I just sat there and read the posts for the most part but didn’t do anything. So if you are that person and I know you’re out there because Suzy was that same person as well, so there’s got to be more of us. So if you’re out there, just speak up and ask for help and take that first step. Get the beginner course and you’ll be amazed that you get past that first interval – it’s horrible, that first 30 seconds sucks. It totally does, but you can get through it and then you get to walk for a minute – or actually 90 seconds and then you have to do it again and you only have to do it 10 times.

And so it’s totally doable. So if you’ve ever tried a running program before – because I had tried it before as well and they were always too hard for me because it always started at like, run a minute or run – it ramped up so fast I could never keep up with it and so I felt like a failure. So if you think you’ve failed before and you haven’t been able to do this, I promise you, you can because I am the person who hasn’t – I literally haven’t run since the sixth grade, I swear to god. And I told Jill Angie when we first started why – because you told me when you first run, don’t run like you’re going to be late for a bus or like you’re being chased by a bear. Just run half of that or whatever it was you said and my response to you was, “Why wouldn’t you just wait for the next bus? Why would you chase after a bus? That makes no sense to me.” And so part of the reason I do this now is because I want a fighting chance to make it away from the bear and I’ve never felt like – I’ve always felt like, well, the bear’s just going to catch me so why try and now I know that’s not true. So if you are out there and you’re like me and you don’t chase after a bus or you just resign to the fact that the bear is going to catch you, I promise you that’s not true. The bear may still catch us but at least we have a fighting chance now.

Jill: We’re going to make the bear sweat a little.

Shawnna: Exactly. We’ll make it work for it.

Jill: I love that so much, oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much for joining me today and like, talking about your experience and you guys, like, Shawnna’s just amazing. She’s one of the hardest working clients I’ve ever had. She just shows up and does the fucking work and it’s really paying off for her. But I always say like, even if you do like, a quarter of what Shawnna’s done, you will feel better eventually, right? It might not be the next day, it might not be a week later, but like, if you’re persistent, you know, doing thought work gets results. So any last words, Shawnna? Anything that you like, if somebody is like, thinking about starting to run, I don’t know, what advice would you give them? Aside from joining Run Your Best Life because we all know that’s the best advice.

Shawnna: I mean, you just have to do it. There’s really no other way around it. And one thing that I can say is that the first time I ran, I literally felt like my whole body seized up and I was going to die. That is no joke and I’m not exaggerating. That’s how I felt. And so then I didn’t run again for another year and then I kept wanting it and so I kept trying it. And once I started the beginning program in July, after about a week I think, I ran that first interval and I felt like a gazelle. It’s like it all made sense and I didn’t feel silly or stupid or like I’m running on my toes and I look weird. Like, all of that went away for that first 30 seconds. And then you know, a couple weeks later it would last for two intervals or three intervals. And that’s about all it’s lasted. Like, I don’t really feel like a gazelle after the third or fourth interval but you can get that feeling and that feeling is what keeps me going, is how can I work harder or work hard enough to be able to feel like that gazelle for five intervals or six intervals or for 45 seconds instead of 30 seconds. And I know I’ll get there, I just have to keep trying. So just keep trying but you have to actually do it. You have to actually get out of your house and put your shoes on and go do it. And please don’t be like me and buy all the stuff on Amazon before you go. Just put your shoes on and go. That’s all you have to do.

Jill: I love that so much. Yup. Reading a book, watching a webinar, they’re awesome, but you have to run to be a runner. That’s the important thing. You can listen to all the podcasts but unless you put your shoes on and go out the door, it takes that one last step. Well, thank you so much Shawnna for joining me today again. It meant a lot to me to be able to share your story and your success with everyone and how can – if people want to connect with you, are you on Instagram at all or Facebook? Is there a way they can connect with you or are you more of a private social media person?

Shawnna: I am on Instagram and I believe it’s just Shawnna.dancer because I wasn’t original when I did that. And I’m pretty sure I’m the only Shawnna Dancer on Facebook or Instagram or probably anywhere in the world.

Jill: And of course, you can always connect with her in the Run Your Best Life group.

Shawnna: Yes. You can always connect with me there, and I’m on Twitter as well, but I’m actually on Twitter more than I’m – I haven’t figured out Instagram. So if you ever want to like, do an Instagram coaching webinar, something like that, I suck at Instagram.

Jill: I’m totally down with that. I suck at Twitter so maybe we can trade. I don’t understand Twitter. I’m on it because I think my podcast producer tweets out the podcast every time. Other than that, I have no idea what I’m doing on Twitter so.

Shawnna: I get to be snarky and say things that I probably wouldn’t say in person. So I find that fun. I probably use it a little bit like people do Instagram, so there’s a couple of people that I follow that I like, that I find inspiring, but I also use it to get my news and I like the political side of it. So I kind of get into that. So I have very eclectic Twitter things that I follow. So if you follow me, you’ll find out all the crazy things that I do like that make no sense whatsoever.

Jill: Well, what’s your Twitter handle so we could all follow you?

Shawnna: It’s sdancer77.

Jill: Sdancer77. Alright, got it. Very exciting. Alright, my friends, it’s been a pleasure and I can’t wait for this episode to air. Thank you.

Shawnna: Thank you, Jill. Bye.

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Oh my god, wasn’t that amazing? I just love her so much. And I want you to know that the transformation Shawnna created for herself is available to you too. I mean, it really just starts with joining Run Your Best Life. And you can do that at runyourbestlife.com. So I’m talking to you, lurking in the Facebook group, listening to the podcast but not putting your damn shoes on. What are you waiting for? Get in that group right now because we are doing some life-changing epic shit over there. That’s runyourbestlife.com. I will be looking for you. Until next week, 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.