Welcome to the very first episode of The Not Your Average Runner Podcast! I’m Jill Angie and I will be your guide through this wonderful journey of getting started running, learning how to stick with it, and… maybe even falling in love with it!
If you’ve ever called yourself plus size, curvy, fat, over-weight, chunky, voluptuous or maybe even Rubenesque, this is the running podcast for you. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be athletic for just once in your freaking life, this is the running podcast for you. If you’ve ever thought that you’re too old, too overweight, too… whatever, this is the running podcast for you!
On this first episode, I introduce myself and my personal journey as a runner who doesn’t look like everyone else at the starting line. I walk you through how this podcast is going to work for you and what you can expect from our time together.
So grab your earbuds, get ready to kick that inner mean girl to the curb, and begin running like the amazing woman that you are.
If you want to get a leg up on getting started with running, make sure to download my free Jump-Start Guide. It includes your first week of workouts along with my top tips to help you get started.
What You’ll Learn From this Episode:
- My personal story and my experience with running.
- Who this podcast is for and who I coach.
- What you can expect from this show.
- My new favorite brand of running socks.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
- Not Your Average Runner: Why You’re Not Too Fat to Run and the Skinny on How to Start Today by Jill Angie
- Not Your Average 5K: A Practical 8-Week Training Plan for Beginning Runners by Jill Angie
- Not Your Average Half Marathon: A Practical Training Plan for Beginning Runners by Jill Angie
- Balega Blister Resist Quarter Athletic Running Socks
Full Episode Transcript:
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.
Well hello there beautiful. I would like to welcome you to the very first episode of the Not Your Average Runner podcast. And as the lovely Brooke said in her introduction, my name is Jill Angie and I’m in your ear today to talk about running. Now, if you’re not a runner yet, I don’t want you to worry. That’s exactly what this podcast is all about. I’m going to teach you how to get started, how to stick with it, and don’t tell anybody, but maybe even fall in love with it just a little bit.
Now, I know you might be skeptical, and I totally get it. I just want you to hear me out. In fact – okay wait, before we go any further, let’s be absolutely clear on who this podcast is actually for. So if you’ve ever called yourself or considered yourself to be maybe plus size or curvy, fat, fluffy, overweight, sturdy, chunky, voluptuous, maybe even rubenesque, this is the podcast for you. Maybe you’ve always wondered what it would be like to feel athletic just for once in your freaking life. This is definitely the running podcast for you.
Now, if you thought, “Hey, it might be kind of cool to do a 5k, but that’s pretty much just for skinny athletic people who never eat dessert”, this is absolutely the running podcast for you. Now, if you’re sitting there listening, or maybe you’re out walking and listening, or driving, and you’re thinking, “That’s all great Jill, but I’m too old, too overweight, or slow, or fill in the blank with whatever to be a runner”, again, I cannot stress this enough, this is the running podcast for you.
Okay, I’m glad we got that all straightened out. So here’s how this gig is going to go. Today is a meet and greet. It’s the short and sweet, “Hi, nice to meet you, let’s have a little small talk”, that’s the kind of episode this is. Then for the next several weeks after that, I’m going to give you a bite sized running lesson in every episode. It’s just one thing you can implement to get yourself started. And they’re going to build on each other, so at the end of like, eight weeks, you are going to be calling yourself a runner. And you’re going to be super proud of yourself. So I promise not to overwhelm you with a ton of technical stuff. We’re just going to do real talk and real advice to get you up and running.
Now, after that initial eight weeks or so, we’re going to start exploring other running related topics, lots of them, and I’m actually going to be interviewing some amazing guests who will share their own experiences and expertise, and here’s the great thing. I know some really bad ass folks in the world of running. Some of my friends have been in Runner’s World, and if they can get out there and do it, I know you can do it too. And so that’s what this podcast is going to be all about. We’re going to get you up and running in the first eight or so episodes, and then the sky is the limit.
Now, in addition to a running lesson or an interview every week, I’m also going to be giving you the low down on whatever gear or gadget or podcast or food or whatever book, anything that I’m currently obsessed with and I get obsessed with things all the time. I love health and fitness and running anything. So I get excited over that stuff and I’m going to share it all with you.
Now, after all of that stuff, if you like what you’ve heard so far, I want to encourage you to hop on over to iTunes, and this is a shameless plug right now. Hop on over to iTunes and give it a review. Give the podcast a review. Each week I’ll actually be reading a couple of those, so if you want to hear your name mentioned right here on the podcast, this is it. This is your chance to be famous. And like Oprah, I might even give away some Not Your Average Runner gear if I pick your review to include on the podcast. And so you get a headband, and you get a headband, and you get a water bottle. So just in case you needed any extra incentive to do a review, you may get some free swag as a result. So that’s my shameless plug for the reviews.
And now it’s time for us to move on to what will normally be the main section of the podcast where I’m going to teach you all about how to start running in the body you have right now. And we’re actually going to do that in the next episode, episode number two, where I’m going to give you the basics on how to prepare and try out your very first run.
But before we do all of that, I thought you might be wondering who the heck I am to be giving you all this advice in the first place. So like I said earlier, my name is Jill Angie, I’m the girl with two first names, I am sort of a legend in my own mind, but I also have some other qualifications. And the first one is that I’ve actually been a runner for about 20 years. I started running when I was 29 and I just turned 50 in 2017, so I’ve been doing this for a while. And at no point during my running career have I ever been even close to a size six. My weight has actually been all over the map during that time, my highest I was 272 pounds, and I was still a runner. I’ve done a ton of half marathons and triathlons and other races, and I know what it’s like to go out there and compete in these events when you don’t look like the rest of the people.
So I’ve been there, I’ve done that. I’m a running coach, I’m a personal trainer, and I’ve even written three books on running. And so I’m going to give you another really quick shameless plug. You can get any of them on Amazon, and if you’re brand new to this podcast, which you are, because this is episode one, I suggest you start with a book I call Not Your Average Runner, which is basically how to get started and do amazing things in the body that you have right now. There’s also Not Your Average 5k and Not Your Average Half Marathon, and those are for folks that have been running for a little bit longer and are ready to move on to something else. And like I said, you can get those on Amazon.
Okay, that shameless plug is over. And let’s just talk a little bit more about who I coach. So you know, in the past 20 years, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve tested everything out on myself. Some have been successful and some things have been not so successful. And so I’ve distilled all of that down into what you need to do to get started right now, and along the way, over the past few years, I’ve actually coached hundreds of women of all shapes, sizes and ages from getting off the couch, all the way to becoming like, multiple marathon runners.
And this is my favorite story of all time. I even have one client who hired me three years ago because she didn’t believe I could teach her to run. She saw you know, something on Facebook that said I could teach anybody to run, and she thought, “You know what, this girl’s crazy. She’s overweight, she had just turned 50, she’d never in her life been athletic”, and she just flat out didn’t believe me. So she literally hired me to prove me wrong, which is so much fun, and that was in September 2015, and she did a 5k training program that I put out there and I’m proud to say in October 2017 she just ran the Chicago marathon. So that’s awesome.
So the reason I’m telling you this story is because helping women become runners when they never thought it was something they could do, to basically blow their own minds with what they have managed to accomplish, doing that is my jam. It is what I was put on this planet to do and I’m really good at it. And as a bonus, I’m also a life coach, which means not only do I teach women to run, but I also help them with their inner mean girl. And you know what the inner mean girl is, right? It’s that sneaky little voice in your head that tells you you can’t. Says you’re too fat, you’re too old, you’re too slow, people are going to look at you and laugh, you have no business showing up going outside in spandex.
All of those awful things that we say to ourselves in our heads, that’s the inner mean girl. And I know that they’re just lies. They’re just stories that she’s telling you, and sure, they sound legitimate, but I promise you don’t have to believe them. And as a life coach, like, that’s what I specialize in, is helping women recognize their inner mean girl, kick her to the curb so that you can just get out the door and start running like the amazing woman you are. So I know where you are right now, I’ve been there, I’ve gotten through it. I want to help you do the same and that’s exactly why I started this podcast. I want to help as many women as possible start their own running journey, build their confidence and just feel like rock stars.
So that’s what the podcast is going to be about, and this is the section of the podcast where I tell you what I’m currently obsessed with. So we’re going to switch gears a little bit. My current obsession right now is Balega Blister Resist quarter athletic running socks. And I know that’s a mouthful, but here’s the story. So I have kind of weird feet. They’re really long and skinny and my heels are usually really narrow in all of my running shoes, and what happens is I love the look of those no show socks, the ones that barely peek over the edge of your shoe, but because my heels are so skinny, those socks get sucked right into my shoe, like in the first quarter mile, and then they end up bunched around my toes, which sucks and I hate it. And if anything, I’m just the most chill person you’re ever going to meet, but the one thing that can send me from zero to enraged in about three seconds is socks that fall down on my feet.
It’s a silly thing to get upset over, but if you’re one of those people who has the same problem, you feel my pain. So anyway, because I can’t wear no show socks, I wear what’s call quarter height socks, which means they come basically up to my ankles, maybe just a little higher. They’re about an inch above the edge of my shoes. And so that’s what I wear, quarter height socks, but now, most of them seem to come in white, and for me, I don’t know about you, but for me, within about two or three workouts, my white socks are always dirty. They’re spattered with mud, I don’t know if I’m just a sloppy runner or if I have a tendency to run in muddy areas, but anyway, within a couple washes, like, my socks don’t look pristine white anymore, and then that drives me crazy. So I have to wear socks that have a darker color to them.
And then finally, I hate thin socks because for me, I seem to wear holes in them really fast and they tend to give me blisters. And so I need quarter height socks that are not white, and have some cushioning and thickness to them. So these Balega socks, the Balega Blister Resist quarter athletic running socks meet all of my qualifications. They come in darker colors, they have a nice bit of padding around the heels, they actually have some nice support around the mid-foot, and they actually come up just high enough over my ankle so that they stay up without being so high that they look weird.
I have them in pink and grey and black, and every time they come out in a new color I buy a few of them. And they actually – if you don’t need thick socks, they come in a thinner version with even more colors. So those are my favorite socks right now. They’re not cheap, they’re like 15 bucks a pair on Amazon, which is probably about the same price as you’re going to see them at a running store, but if you’re like me and you’re obsessed with Amazon prime, then you can get them in like, two days without ever having to leave your house. You’ll learn that I love Amazon prime.
But anyway, 15 bucks a pair but I have never ever worn through a pair and I mean, I have some that are five years old, they’re still going strong, and I’ve spent $20 on socks and had them fall apart in less than a month. So I highly recommend these socks, and you can get the Amazon link and the description of the socks in the show notes. And that’s kind of it for episode one. I know this was sort of short and sweet, but I promise we’re going to get into the meat of things in episode two.
So while you are waiting for episode two to download, so hopefully you’re going to listen to it right away, I do have a free one week jumpstart plan that’s going to give you a leg up – you see what I just did there? I love puns too, in addition to Amazon prime, so look forward to some puns over the next few episodes. But anyway, I have a free one-week jumpstart plan that I created to basically give you your first week of workouts, along with a bunch of tips to help you get started. And I promise they’re super easy, and anyone can do them.
So if you want to get that jumpstart plan, just head on over to www.notyouraveragerunner.com/start. Download it today. You just have to put in your email address, so go over there right now and I will wait for you. Okay, and after you’ve done that, check your email for the plan, make sure you confirm your email so that you get the follow up emails because after you download the program, I’ll be dropping in on you to give you some additional guidance and keep you motivated and check in just to see how you’re doing.
So seriously, go right now, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. It’s www.notyouraveragerunner.com/start. Okay, and while you’re at it, I want you to just roll right into episode two where I’m going to teach you exactly what you need to do for your very first run. Okay, I am so glad we’re on this journey together, my friend. It’s been my pleasure to be in your ear today. I hope you found something valuable and I hope that we’re going to be together for a long time talking about running.
Now, get out there and run. Take care, 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.
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