For Real, Though

Exactly a month after they ran ten miles of the New York City Marathon together, Tina and Elyse Kopecky connected to talk about eating to support your running, how "healthy" eating can become unhealthy, dealing with a picky eater, and how to set the tone for your entire day.

Elyse is a mom, a trail runner, and with her co-author, elite runner Shalane Flanagan, a three-time New York Timesbestselling author.

"I did want to run a marathon at one point in my life, just to experience it."

Elyse was a competitive runner in college, but she suffered from low bone density and stress fractures, amenorrhea, compartment syndrome, and I.B.S. By the time she graduated, she was burned out on racing and had no desire to get back on a starting line. "I still had a love for running and got really into trail running," she says, "but just running casually, like going for five mile runs with friends at a slow pace."

As time went on though, she wanted to run a marathon. It happened that her 40th birthday coincided with the New York City Marathon's 50th anniversary and her friend Shalane Flanagan completing the six world marathon majors in six weeks, finishing in New York. Clearly it was the race that she had to do.

"I wanted to prove to myself that all the nutrition advice that I was giving everyone else would work for myself."

She was nervous going into training: "If I ended up with a stress fracture while marathon training, I would think I was a fraud, like none of my nutrition was working." But it did work; she ran the entire 26.2 miles without ever hitting a wall. She used to think that she couldn't eat before running because she has a sensitive stomach, but training for the marathon taught her that eating before a run actually helps her.

"When I'm marathon training, I'm like a grizzly bear."

Elyse says that people would be surprised if they saw how much she ate when she was marathon training. It wasn't easy because I.B.S. limits the foods that she can tolerate. She had to cook constantly, which was the hardest part of training. "The miles are the easy part; that doesn't take up as much time," she says.

That doesn't mean that she only eats "healthy" foods. During training, she found that she needed gels and sports drinks, because "sometimes foods that seem less healthy are the ones that are going to fuel me the best."

Everyone has to find what works for them, but the important thing is to take in enough fuel. Elyse observes, "I used to think that I wasn't a long distance runner because I never felt good past five miles, but now I realize that it was because I wasn't eating enough beforehand to feel good past five miles."

"I think I was meant to have a picky kid so that I could relate more to parents and who knows, maybe this will result in a book down the road."

Some people, like Elyse, can't eat certain things because of health issues. Others, like her son, just don't like them. Her daughter will try anything and has "an incredible palate." Elyse says that "with her being my first kid, I was like, I don't understand what's wrong with parents, like why they can't figure out how to feed children."

Her son is a different story. She's figured out what he will eat, and makes sure that he has healthy, balanced meals, even if that means preparing the same dishes over and over. "They're not vegetables," she acknowledges, "but I think parents get caught up that it has to be vegetables. There are a lot of nutritious foods that are not vegetables."

"I think I need to put it out there more on social that I do eat normal. Like my family does go out for tacos, we do get pizza take-out on Fridays."

There are a lot of Run Fast. Eat Slow fans in Bend, OR, where Elyse lives, and they frequently stop to talk to her at the supermarket. She jokes with Shalane, "I don't want them looking at my cart because I have tortilla chips in there, and ice cream, and beer." She emphasizes though, that it is a joke.

"I want people to know if you think you're eating perfectly, you probably aren't. If you're stressing that much to where your diet is perfect every single day, then maybe you're not enjoying food, and it gets to a point where it's unhealthy to eat overly healthy."

"The more you restrict yourself, the more you're going to want that food."

Because she allows herself to enjoy all foods, Elyse doesn't develop a craving for something because she's been depriving herself of it. That allows her to easily avoid overindulging over the holidays, which is a pitfall for so many people. She likes having something sweet every day, but she tries to make sure that it's something healthy, like homemade muffins or cookies made with butter. "I think that food is meant to be enjoyed and everything should taste delicious," she says, "even healthy food."

"We believe that how you start your day impacts your whole day."

Elyse and Shalane's new book, Rise and Run, is subtitled, Recipes, Rituals, and Runs to Fuel Your Day. The title reflects their belief that, as Elyse says, "how you start your day impacts your whole day, and that's everything from your mindset in the morning, to getting outside and getting the first rays of sunlight and setting your circadian rhythm by moving outside. That doesn't mean you have to go for a 10 mile run, but even just a two mile walk in the morning at first light can really impact your entire day in a positive way."

The book is full of advice about training and how to start your day more mindfully, and of course, delicious, nourishing recipes. As Elyse says, "the biggest part of starting your day right is what you eat in the morning."

Elyse's website

Run Fast. Eat Slow. website

Rise and Run

Elyse's Instagram

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Tracksmith is a Boston based company that truly cares about the quality of their running clothes. Running can be demanding on our clothes; they definitely go through wear and tear to where we may be purchasing new clothes constantly. Tracksmith designers work with the finest materials and keep you in mind as a runner, with spots for your keys, phone, and fuel. You can go here to check out my favorites!

Go here and use the code TINA15, and Tracksmith will donate 5% of your purchase to Runners for Public Lands, and you'll get free shipping!

Zencastr is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how. I've tried all different platforms, I've tried all different types of things and I am obsessed with Zencastr. I love it. I encourage everyone I know to use it because it is just so easy.

Go here to get 30% off your first three months.

We know there are so many podcasts you could listen to, and we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that the topic will resonate with them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • If you are struggling through something a guest mentions, chances are others are too, and you will help them feel less alone.
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people.

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe? You can find out here.

"Thank you" to Elyse. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Tina hoped to share a Together Run through Boston before flying to the UK, but rain meant this was not possible. Instead, Cynthia leads us through a guided run with a special twist. As a runner pianist who balances between these two disciplines, Cynthia gives us something unique and enjoyable to try for this run

Join us for a check in with nature, body scan, senses check in, check in mentally and emotionally and onto a conversation. This week, Tina discusses

Part meditation, part reflection, part check-in, join Tina for #togetherrun33

--

No sponsors today, trying to keep this authentic and like really running with a friend. If you want to support Tina and the Running For Real team:

Through a monthly donation on Patreon. To sign up, click here.

You can share on social media and let others know about what you are loving in these together runs.

You can leave a review on iTunes.

Apple (iTunes) Podcast | Sticher | Castbox | Overcast | Spotify | Google Play | iHeartradio |

We know there are so many podcasts you could be listening to, but we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that topic will relate to them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe, you can find out here.

Thank you for joining, we look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Although she's only 25, Lucy Bartholomew has been competing in ultras for a decade. She ran her first, the Surf Coast Century 100k, alongside her father, and the successes kept coming. In 2017 she raced in fifteen ultras and was the first place female in eight of them.

The following year she ran her first 100 mile race, Western States, and finished third in the women's race. All of those medals came at a cost, however, and for a time she lost her love of running. Today she talks about how she regained her joy in the sport and now appreciates it more fully than she ever did before.

"People asked what happened when the numbers went up, but when the numbers were so low that I was clearly unwell, no one asked any questions. In fact I was put on a pedestal."

Lucy participated in a project at a heart institute in 2018, the year she triumphed at Western States. Her numbers were incredibly low - body fat under 12% and a heart rate so slow that it didn't register on the lab's equipment. The doctors were amazed and impressed; it was "like a hall of fame moment," she recalls.

But those levels were impossible to maintain, and when she went back a year later, the numbers were all higher. She was stronger and healthier, but the reaction was, "oh, you're out of that elite athlete percentile and you're like, normal, God forbid." " I remember sitting there," she says, "and just being like, my photo's just gone off the wall of fame, and I'm now this normal human, which is just not good enough for their standards."

"Overnight I gained 50,000 followers on Instagram. So 50,000 people started following me and they started following a version of Lucy that was not sustainable."

After Lucy crossed the Western States' finish line in 2018, she suddenly had tens of thousands of new followers, who only knew her at her thinnest. When she gained weight after the race, people's comments made her start to question herself. "It just puts a grain of sand into your mind, just kind of like, am I doing everything wrong?" By the end of 2019, that grain of sand had become a sandcastle.

"I think that I had lost the race of Western States before I had even begun."

Running Western States in 2018 had been a joyful experience. She remembers an article that was written about her, saying how super-stoked she was. "And I was," she says, "I was just like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm in this position. I didn't come here to lead the race. I'm in front of Courtney freaking Dauwalter, like what is going on?"

When she ran it again the next year, everything had changed. She was in the worst headspace of her life, and says, "if I have one regret in my running career - I don't use the word regret - but I disrespected that race. I ran it, but I didn't love it. I despised the fact that I was out there. I endured it, which the previous year, I enjoyed it, not endured."

She hadn't looked at her watch for the first nine hours of the 2018 race because she was loving it so much. But in 2019, she says, "I looked at my watch for the first time probably a mile in and went, 'is that all we've done?'"

"I don't love this anymore, and I've always said that I would stop the moment that I outrun my love for running."

In retrospect, she knew that she should have rested after the 2018 Western States, but she kept racing. "Then the Christmas season I chilled out a little bit," she says, "had my three days off for the year, God forbid." She resumed her schedule of back-to-back ultras in the new year. Thinking about her racing calendar, she says, "I'm like, you are an absolute goose, Lucy. Who do you think you are, standing on all those start lines and doing that to your body?"

"I learned from Western States that I won't stand on the start line if my head and heart aren't in it."

Lucy had raced the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) seven times and loved it, but when she arrived in Chamonix in 2019, she says, "I was like, I really just want to sit at a cafe and chill out, and sit in the river and do something else. I just want to get the chairlift up. Like, do we have to run?"

"To be a great runner, you have to have the ability to run but then also to be able to cheer on others."

She dropped out of the UTMB, but instead of sulking because "this was just turning into the absolute crumble of the year," she decided to support the people who were racing. She explains that when she was younger and would spectate as her dad raced, "I started to realize that you can be on the sideline and you can just be miserable about the fact that you're not in the race or you can be on the sideline and you can make people's day."

She left Chamonix feeling proud that she'd respected herself enough to pull out of the race, and happy that "I was able to still be a part of the sport that I love, because whilst I wasn't loving the act of running, I love the philosophy and the community of running, and that's more important to me than any race ever."

"It was just the most beautiful experience that put me in a position where it was kind of like, this is what matters."

The lockdowns in Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic gave Lucy an opportunity to reset. After only being allowed one hour of running a day, 5 km from her house, she was ready for a challenge.

She and two friends decided to run the extremely difficult Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory of Australia. There were times on the trail that were "really, really tough," but at the end, when the community came out for the finish, she realized that "this is why I love this sport and this is what I want to do. I want to tell stories and I want to show places to people and I want to create community."

The past few months presented Lucy with a different kind of challenge. She was diagnosed with cancer in one eye and has undergone surgery to remove the tumor. But the love and support she received when she revealed her diagnosis on social media have made her realize that people care about her as a person, not only about her appearance and her ability as a runner. Now she's eager to get back out on the trails.

"I can be a part of the community and I can be out where I love, in nature, and that's kind of what I've taken away from a really challenging few months."

Lucy's Instagram

"Running Out," the documentary about Lucy running the Larapinta Trail

Lucy's website

Lucy's podcast interview with Dylan Bowman

Tracksmith is a Boston based company that truly cares about the quality of their running clothes. Running can be demanding on our clothes; they definitely go through wear and tear to where we may be purchasing new clothes constantly. Tracksmith designers work with the finest materials and keep you in mind as a runner, with spots for your keys, phone, and fuel. You can go here to check out my favorites!

Go here and use the code TINA15, and Tracksmith will donate 5% of your purchase to Runners for Public Lands, and you'll get free shipping!

Have you not been feeling yourself lately? Gone down a lot of avenues but haven't really found clear solutions? That is where InsideTracker can come in for you. I have trusted this company for years to show me where I may be lacking and if I need a few tweaks here and there. I count on InsideTracker to help me decipher the science behind it all.

Go here to get 25% off site wide!

Zencastr is an all-in-one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how. I've tried all different platforms, I've tried all different types of things and I am obsessed with Zencastr. I love it. I encourage everyone I know to use it because it is just so easy.

Go here to get 30% off your first three months.

We know there are so many podcasts you could listen to, and we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that the topic will resonate with them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • If you are struggling through something a guest mentions, chances are others are too, and you will help them feel less alone.
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people.

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe? You can find out here.

"Thank you" to Lucy. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Join Tina for one of her first runs post covid, and while she still feels tired, the conversation is still strong. This is another good example of giving yourself compassion during physically stressful times. Join us for a check in with nature, body scan, senses check in, check in mentally and emotionally and onto a conversation. This week, Tina discusses what it is like to have you the listener know so much about her while knowing very little about you. She discusses the good and bad of this situation

Part meditation, part reflection, part check-in, join Tina for #togetherrun32

No sponsors today, trying to keep this authentic and like really running with a friend. If you want to support Tina and the Running For Real team:

Through a monthly donation on Patreon. To sign up, click here.

You can share on social media and let others know about what you are loving in these together runs.

You can leave a review on iTunes.

We know there are so many podcasts you could be listening to, but we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that topic will relate to them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe, you can find out here.

Thank you for joining, we look forward to hearing your thoughts.

What is the world's longest footrace? The answer might surprise you. It doesn't cross the Sahara desert, or follow the Iditarod trail. It takes place in Queens, NY, and covers only a tiny portion of that borough - one 883m block, to be precise.

The Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race circles that block 5,649 times, and runners have 52 days in which to complete it. That's the equivalent of running two marathons every day for 7 ½ weeks. Harita Davies has completed it three times, only the second woman to achieve that feat, finishing it this year in 50 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes and 14 seconds.

"After I had that physical movement and the kind of adrenaline and everything that the team sport and just the movement brings, I would feel great, you know?"

Harita struggled with depression as a teenager, but found relief in sports. There were times that she'd stay in bed all day, then drag herself to a 5:00 p.m. water polo match in her pajamas, thinking "God, we have to play water polo," but within a few minutes of playing, her depression would lift. "I always remember," she says, "how that to me was like a miracle."

"Having this goal is so incredibly rewarding when you achieve it."

Doing an Outward Bound course in her native New Zealand when she was 18 was a "huge influence" in Harita's life. Learning how to do new things and working with others helped her find something strong within herself. The course culminated in a half marathon, and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to complete it. When she did, "it wasn't that I thought 'I'm going to become a runner now,' but I was like, 'wow, that was an accomplishment.'"

"It was kind of a no brainer; it was like you start meditating and you start running."

A couple of years later,she went to a meditation class that followed the philosophy of Sri Chinmoy. He advocated athleticism, and the combination of meditation and exercise resonated with her. "I just started meditating and I started running," she recalls, "and the two of them have been the solid points in my life… from then on, I've never had the one without the other."

"I really couldn't run for more than a couple of miles for quite a few years. I would just be exhausted. And so that was a really, really challenging time for me because running had always been such an important part of my happiness and my peace and my identity."

By 2007, Harita was running ultramarathons. After one multi-day race, she didn't recover well, and the endometriosis from which she'd suffered for years became much worse. She was unable to run for five years, but it led to an unexpected discovery. Since she couldn't run, she had to walk. "I was always like, I hate walking, you know, I'm someone who runs and I don't like walking," she says, but she realized that "yeah, well maybe you need to learn to like walking." She wound up not just liking it, but loving it.

"We limit ourselves so much by the way we define ourselves without even really thinking that much about it."

The mental shift that came about when she had to stop running made her realize how "we so often put ourselves into a cage in the way that we define our happiness and what we need in our lives."

Despite her health issues, Harita decided to do the Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace Run, the world's largest peace torch relay. She spent three months running around the United States, and by the end of it, the endometriosis had gone away.

"It really all came down to being happy and following my heart and following my inspiration and not being bound by what I felt like I should do or what was the right thing to do."

After the Peace Run, she no longer saw running as something that she needed to do, but as a blessing. In 2017, following her heart and inspiration led her to enter the 3100 Mile Race.

At the start line, she thought, "this is outrageous; I can't believe it's me who's standing here," and says, "I was surprisingly surrendered to just having a disastrous experience my first time." Not only was it not a disaster, she completed it and did better than she had ever imagined she would. More importantly, it made her realize that by running it, she was part of something bigger.

It takes a huge village to put on the race, and the runner's role, obviously, is to run. But as Harita points out, "there's no way you'd be able to do it without all these other people playing their role. And in the end that is just such a beautiful thing and that's a huge part of the beauty of this race is that we all play our roles and in the end it creates something."

"I felt like this in a way added almost responsibility to womankind to do my best."

The second and third times that Harita ran the race, she was the only woman and felt an added obligation to excel. She'd come to realize that as a woman there were elements that were very different than they were for men, but she couldn't really identify what they were. She contacted Dr. Stacy Sims, an expert in human performance, particuarly sex differences. They worked together on Harita's nutrition and hydration for the 2021 race, which resulted in her smashing her previous record by 20 hours and 11 minutes.

"There's no way that I thought that I could do this and I could, so whatever your dreams are, whatever impossible fantasies in the back of your mind, just start and give it a go because you have no idea of your capacity until you try."

Tina's interview with Sanjay Rawal

Tina's interview with Latoya Shauntay Snell

Dr. Stacy Sims' website

Dr. Sims' book, Roar

Tracksmith is a Boston based company that truly cares about the quality of their running clothes. Running can be demanding on our clothes; they definitely go through wear and tear to where we may be purchasing new clothes constantly. Tracksmith designers work with the finest materials and keep you in mind as a runner, with spots for your keys, phone, and fuel. You can go here to check out my favorites!

Go here and use the code TINA15, and Tracksmith will donate 5% of your purchase to Runners for Public Lands, and you'll get free shipping!

Thank you, UCAN. I have been talking about them for years and they are my ONLY source for fueling while I am training and racing. And without fail, I have a product of UCAN every day, whether it is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar or their delicious Cookies and Cream Protein Powder. I am also excited to share with you a NEW product, a gel! It's fueled with Superstarch and ready to go wherever you are headed.

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Thanks for listening!

We know there are so many podcasts you could listen to, and we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that the topic will resonate with them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • If you are struggling through something a guest mentions, chances are others are too, and you will help them feel less alone.
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people.

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe? You can find out here.

"Thank you" to Harita. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

No together run today. I explain why, and give you a few important updates I think we all need to keep in mind as we go into the holiday season. As always, honest, unedited, and real.

Links I mentioned:

• Together runs archives
• Partners discount codes
• Gift guide with non traditional ideas

Accept where you are now to get to where you want to be. Long-term fulfillment is more valuable than short-term gain. Progress is nonlinear. Those are valuable principles for runners to follow, but they're relevant to every aspect of your life, as Brad Stulberg explains in his new book, The Practice of Groundedness.

Everyone could benefit from practicing groundedness, but Brad's model for success is especially pertinent for driven, type-A people, which describes many runners. Following his advice will help you become a better runner and person.

"Many people these days… are feeling a constant coming up short in a sense of never enoughness. I call this heroic individualism and I define it as a game of one-upmanship against self and others."

So many people feel as though they always need to do more, achieve more. That could mean breaking a goal time in a race or getting a promotion, but whatever it is, it's accompanied by the belief that once you achieve it, you'll feel fulfilled. The solution to that arrival fallacy, Brad says, is what he calls "groundedness, which is a sense of strength and stability from where you are."

"Groundedness does not eliminate goal setting or striving or even ambition, but what it does is, it situates it so that it's more durable and sturdy because it comes from a place of enoughness."

Brad points to research that says that "if you play not to lose, you tend not to perform as well as playing to win... When we are feeling unmoored or frantic or like we need to do something and then we'll finally be content, generally you do that from a place of playing not to lose." If instead you feel as though where you are right now is enough but you want to get better, then you start playing to win. That's more likely to lead to a flow state or being in the zone, and is associated with more sustainable peak performance.

"We often confuse excitement and ease, even though they're very different things."

Excitement, Brad explains, is "feeling that rush in your body of how great it's going to feel if you nail that workout in two weeks, or you PR that race... Ease, on the other hand, is what you get when you're present in the middle of a workout and your sense of self just kind of melts away because you're just flowing into the run."

"Excitement, if you actually feel physiologically what that's like, is a lot closer to anxiety than to happiness, whereas ease is a lot closer to happiness than anxiety."

Excitable runners believe that if they nail a workout, they'll be happy all day, and they're filled with self-doubt if they miss a workout or don't hit their paces. A more easeful runner, Brad says, "is someone who can look at the entire process of improvement, of self discovery, of learning about themselves as a person, as an athlete, and kind of settle into the training." He offers Eliud Kipchoge as "the ultimate embodiment of ease."

"Yeah, you're faster when you're lighter, but you're slower when you're on the couch with a stress fracture."

Being an easeful, rather than an excitable, runner can mean the difference between long-term success and burnout. The excitable approach may work for a few training cycles, but it will be unsustainable in the long term.

"Those hits of excitement are really powerful. But if you do those things over and over and over again, you start to feel like crap."

Whether it's in running or other aspects of your life, you need to learn how to not give in to the craving for excitement. Outside of running, that might mean ignoring the urge to check your phone to see if you've gotten an email or a "like" on your social media. Instead, work on staying grounded and present in the moment, and not allowing yourself to be distracted by the momentary high of an affirmation online.

That doesn't mean that you have to disconnect entirely. Brad believes that "trying to have a goal of just being present always… is really hard in the 21st century and I think you set yourself up for a lot of failure and then a lot of self judgment if you have such a goal." Instead, set aside blocks of time when you want to be fully present, and eventually you'll find that those blocks can get longer and longer. It may not be easy at first, but it will be worth it. As Brad says,

"No one ever looks back and says a really happy moment was having a viral post. So I think it's really important to remember this."

Brad's website

The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul

Brad's Twitter

Have you not been feeling yourself lately? Gone down a lot of avenues but haven't really found clear solutions? That is where InsideTracker can come in for you. I have trusted this company for years to show me where I may be lacking and if I need a few tweaks here and there. I count on InsideTracker to help me decipher the science behind it all.

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AG1 is a simple and easy way to get 75 vitamins, minerals, and whole food source ingredients to help strengthen your immune system. It's simple to make and it tastes good!

Go here to get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D and five FREE travel packs with your subscription.

Zencastr is an all in one podcast production suite that gives you studio quality audio and video without needing all the technical know-how. I've tried all different platforms, I've tried all different types of things and I am obsessed with Zencastr. I love it. I encourage everyone I know to use it because it is just so easy.

Go here and use the code "runningforreal" to get 30% off for the first three months!

We know there are so many podcasts you could listen to, and we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that the topic will resonate with them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • If you are struggling through something a guest mentions, chances are others are too, and you will help them feel less alone.
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people.

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe? You can find out here.

"Thank you" to Brad. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Join Tina for a unique together walk (while you run) as she takes her time off running and is unable to compete in her 50k due to her children having Covid 19 (and now Tina has it too). You become Tina's therapist in this raw, vulnerable, open time together as she works through her feelings about missing her goal race becuase of her kids being sick. If this is your first together run, one of the others would be a better fit, but if you are a regular listener, or have learned to care about Tina and her journey, this together walk will be a way to connect.

Part meditation, part reflection, part check-in, join Tina for #togetherrun31

No sponsors today, trying to keep this authentic and like really running with a friend. If you want to support Tina and the Running For Real team:

Through a monthly donation on Patreon. To sign up, click here.

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Guarina Lopez is a storyteller who uses not only words but also images to share stories of the land and indigenous communities. A member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe of Tucson, AZ, she currently resides on the present and ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank in Washington, D.C. She's a runner; the founder of Native Women Ride; a writer, photographer and filmmaker; and our guest on today's episode.

"There's always storytelling; it's all over, you just have to listen for it."

As Guarina explains, "we come from storytelling traditions because a lot of times our languages weren't translated into English for the wider populace." When she wanted information about her heritage, she had to ask somebody, and then, she says, "I never just got an answer, I got a story."

Her father was a great storyteller, which, she believes, "really kind of broadened the way that I heard the words. So when I think of storytelling and language, before I write things down, oftentimes on my run I will hear the way words sound, like these words sound beautiful together, or it'll just appear in my mind."

"I think that I was photographing a lot of things I was trying to understand, or things that I was passionate about."

Guarina was already drawing and writing stories as a child, and then at age 12, she picked up a camera. Her mother was homeless for a long time, and she began taking pictures of unhoused people, "capturing stories that I was trying to figure out that ended up being related to my life."

She started by shooting in 35mm, but eventually switched to a heavier, medium format camera. Photographing people was harder, and she had to think about composition in a different way, so she started to photograph the land. A pivotal moment occurred when she was on a road trip through the Pacific Northwest.

"That's when I really made the shift of the way that I think about land, and how we use it and how we see it and perceive it is different."

While driving through Oregon, she pulled over and "there was an abandoned lumberyard and it almost brought me to tears because I I saw all of these trees that had been killed for nothing, but they were stacked up in all these beautiful, like modern kinds of ways, just slats over slat over slat. And so there were all these gorgeous lines. And so I was at once mesmerized by the beauty of the natural shapes, and then angered, because why would you do this?"

"It just stopped me in my tracks and I thought, this is the land fighting back. These are the trees saying, you know, 'this is our place.'"

Guarina moved to Washington, D.C. and was overwhelmed by the greenery and the resurgence of life of the plants there. When she goes running and comes across a tree breaking through the sidewalk, she says, "I'm just like, 'yes!' because that is what you do'" - even though she knows it will probably trip her up on her next run. In her daily life, she tries to create a relationship, "whether it's with the land, or the waters, or the animals."

"You can't just completely erase everything. That's not how Mother Nature works."

The U.S. and much of the world has become accustomed to extracting as much as possible from the earth. Indigenous peoples, on the other hand, believe that you "only take what you need, and then you see the natural resurgence and natural growth processes of animals and plants and the entire ecosystem."

"I want to tell stories and I think the stories that need to be told are the ones that have never been told."

Stories are told about people who have done amazing things, but as Guarina says, "if that's the only person that's representing their particular community, it's really not representative." We need to recognize that everyone has a unique story, that "we're all just ordinary people, but you never know what stories people have." It's worthwhile to learn them. That, she says, "is where you'll find the thing you don't know."

Guarina finds much of her inspiration when she's out for a run. After the first two miles or so, she says, "stories come to mind. I start thinking about what I want to teach, what I want to write about, what I don't know about."

"Nature will always provide no matter where you are, and nature will never fail. You know, I will never know enough. I will never know it all. And it changes from day to day. And so my process when I go out there and run is to think about how can I make my day better, and the run, the run itself always does that for me."

Guarina's Instagram accounts:

Guarina Paloma Lopez

Yaqui Rain Runner

This Native Land

Modern Natives' Personal Regalia

Native Women Ride

Call Me By My Name Project

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We know there are so many podcasts you could listen to, and we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that the topic will resonate with them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
  • If you are struggling through something a guest mentions, chances are others are too, and you will help them feel less alone.
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player.
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Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe? You can find out here.

"Thank you" to Guarina. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.

Join Tina for a very tired #togetherrun as she recovers post NYC marathon before her 50k next weekend. After connecting in with nature to start the run, join Tina for a body scan, senses check in, and conversation for this week's together run. While there is only one option for the run, it means we are all doing the same thing. Tina discusses the importance of recognizing when you are tired, and knowing it is okay to admit things are tough.

Part meditation, part reflection, part check-in, join Tina for #togetherrun30

Running Realized

No sponsors today, trying to keep this authentic and like really running with a friend. If you want to support Tina and the Running For Real team:

Through a monthly donation on Patreon. To sign up, click here.

You can share on social media and let others know about what you are loving in these together runs.

You can leave a review on iTunes.

Listen to the Running for Real Podcast here:

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We know there are so many podcasts you could be listening to, but we are honored you have chosen Running For Real. If you appreciate the work that we do, here are a few things you can do to support us:

• Take a screenshot of the episode, and share it with your friends, family, and community on social media, especially if you feel that topic will relate to them. Be sure to tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or your favorite podcast player
  • Your ratings and reviews will really help us grow and reach new people

Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe, you can find out here.

Thank you for joining, we look forward to hearing your thoughts.