Lisa Jhung just released a book called “Running That Doesn’t Suck: How to Love Running (Even if You Think You Hate it)." She grew up a running hater. She hid when she was told to run. She avoided it at all costs. Until one day she was told she had to run in order to make the college volleyball team. So she started. And each day she went a little further. And it didn’t suck after all. In fact it became awesome. And not too long after that, when she realized volleyball wasn’t going to be her thing, running was still there for her.

Today Lisa has crafted her entire career from the sport of running. She’s a writer, adventurer, runner, reviewer. She’s a fan of the sport and a lover of the sport. And she realized that there are probably so many other people out there who think they hate running, but maybe, just maybe, if she gives them a different approach, they may love it too one day.

GIVEAWAY ALERT! We're giving away a Skirt Sports product and a book! – to enter, you just need to share this episode on Instagram or Facebook, and hashtag #runningthatdoesntsuck – it also helps if you follow me @nicoledeboom and lisa @lisajhungwrites. We’ll pick a winner Aug 1. If you’re already a runner, listen to this episode with something else in mind. Something that you feel like you should try but you’re making all the excuses. Because when you just give it a chance, it could turn into the next big thing.

Today we talk about:

Fun & Play: Why these are important to ingrain in your kids!

The hating of running & the hiding in the pit!

How Lisa start running: Because she wanted to play volleyball in college

Running as a foundation sport that can carry you through life

Injuries: Specifically coming back after pregnancy

The Book! Why Lisa wrote it and how she hopes people will use it

Running & writing and how they're connected

How running helps you connected deeper into yourself

You know what time it is – it’s time to use you code RUN20 at Skirtsports.com – and it’s time to get out there and Run This World! Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week!

Elizabeth Kraus has spent the last 15 years trying to figure out how to integrate her passion, specifically fitness, into her life without sacrificing her ability to be a badass businesswoman. Elizabeth’s day job is as the founder of Mergelane, a VC fund that invests in and supports women-led businesses. Elizabeth has curated the life she wants to lead without sacrificing her quality of work, workouts or relationships. She attributes much of her success in this area to a philosophy called Conscious Leadership which we talk about today.

At the peak of her work-play experiment, Elizabeth skied 94 days in one season and was insanely productive at work. There were some parts of her life that suffered and it should be noted that she had the flexibility to craft a lifestyle that was geared almost exclusively around her needs. But for the most part, she proved that it’s possible. And she figured out how to make it happen. Today she shares her path and learnings with you. 

Here’s my challenge as you listen to today’s episode: This about this question. Are you living the best life for you? If not, what do you wish you could include that you don’t?

Today we talk about:

How to include fitness/sports into your life without giving up the other important things

Body image: how different sports may affect our body image for different reasons

Enneagram Test: What type are you? Specifically Type 1 - the Reformer - Check out your type today.

The pursuit of perfection

Fitting fitness into an overflowing life

Hiking meetings (and other sports that allow for social interaction like skiing!)

Conscious Leadership: The foundation for changing the way you think

Cutting out the junk miles: First figure out what the junk miles are!

Natural sleep and awake rhythm: everything changes when you figure yours out and change your schedule around it

Mergelane: Being a woman in the primarily men's dominated world of investing

Decision to forgo motherhood: This is a big topic

In addition, after we recorded, Elizabeth posted this article that shares more details on how Conscious Leadership helped her save 5 hours a day. This is worth the read. We all need 5 extra hours every day to bring only our best selves to the world. 

I appreciate Elizabeth for so many reasons. She’s an open book. We talk about some really difficult topics and she shares with one goal: To help others. Elizabeth is smart, hard-working, driven, caring, compassionate. As she mentions with the Enneagram test, she’s also a perfectionist who must balance her pursuit of perfection with the natural messiness of life. I headed over to the enneagram website to see what type I am. I’m still trying to figure it out! You’ll have to check it out and let me know yours. In the end, we’re all seeking a life that allows us to live to our fullest. Elizabeth has cracked the code in a sense; I hope you got something from this episode that will help you run your world in a bigger and better way

Kara Goucher is pretty much famous. And more than the “famous in our own circles” kind of famous. She’s running royalty; she’s been in the spotlight of a large and passion-driven sport for over a decade. But what happens when you are no longer running for first place? When your body tells you it’s time to change tracks, but you still love what you do? How do you make a shift when you live in the public eye and anything you do is analyzed, celebrated and often criticized?

You’ll hear what Kara Goucher did in just a couple minutes. I want to say this first. I believe that Kara is one of those rare athletes who not only has a physical gift but has the emotional depth and mental toughness to take her innate talent and use it to make the world a better place. While she was racing to win, it was impossible for her to even understand the breadth of her gifts, but now that she’s on the cusp of a new chapter, I think she is starting to understand what she can truly do. And the trick for her is to continue including the thing that she has always loved most in her life – running. Because even when the race doesn’t go her way, the fact that she is open to new experiences gives others hope and inspiration that just maybe they can also make it through the natural transitions that life brings us.

Today we talk about:

Leadville Trail Marathon in all its glory

The power of finishing

How we don't do anything alone & Todd Straka

Brave Like Gabe: Honoring Gabe Grunewald & sharing how her legacy brings strength

Winning your age group: recalibrating success & accepting accolades

Training with Cat Bradley 😂

Accepting the natural stages of our lives without compromising what fuels us

Raising a kid who clearly has running genes with no expectations for a running future!

What's next for Kara!

After listening, you may develop a Girl Crush on Kara. This is legit and here's why. Kara is really awesome. Even with the insane athletic gift she was given and all her successes, she is not an unapproachable snob who looks down on mere mortals. She’s nice. No she’s not just nice, she’s kind and caring. She’s compassionate. She’s funny. She’s smart. She’s humble. She’s complicated. She doesn’t claim to know it all. She’s emotional. She’s vulnerable. She’s honest. And she’s real. She is the opposite of fake. When you stumble upon her in real life or on social media, she is the real deal and that’s so refreshing.

So you know what we need to do when people like Kara cross our paths, we need to support them. If you don’t already, be sure to follow her. Comment on her activities. Show that you care. And keep your eyes open on the trails – you just may run into her one day because I have a feeling this trail thing is here to stay! All right over and out you know what time it is. It’s time to get out there and Run This World. Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week!

Lara Merriken is a dreammaker. I have so much love and respect for this woman. I knew she was special from the minute I met her at VeloSwap in 2003, slinging energy bites in plastic baggies. I had a feeling she would change the world, I just didn’t realize how much she would change it and how quickly.

Lara is the founder of Larabar. If you aren’t familiar with Larabar, I’d be shocked, because it’s now an absolute empire. She had the idea to create healthy, nutritious energy bars when she was frustrated with her options on a hike many years ago. The goal was to use clean, simple ingredients.

She started by dreaming up flavors and then mixing dried fruits and nuts in her kitchen. That was almost 20 years ago. Today Lara is a free agent of sorts, as she sold Larabar to General Mills a mere 5 years after she officially launched. Hers is a massive success story on the business front, but it’s what she’s done since that many don’t think about – how to redefine yourself after a company with your own name is no longer yours. We talk about that and so much more in today’s episode.

You may not know that I have a special connection to Larabar. When I officially debuted Skirt Sports at the 2004 Ironman Wisconsin, I was sponsored by Larabar. My claim to fame is that I’m the only athlete Larabar ever sponsored! Anyway, in my special needs bag on the bike, I had 2 food items: an Oatmeal Cream Pie from the gas station $.50 rack and a Cashew Cookie Larabar. I ate them both and won the race! Proof that real food is power! 

Today we talk about: 

Growing up sporty

Competitive volleyball: How Lara learned discipline & teamwork

The 10,000 Hours Rule: It takes that long to truly master something (Malcolm Gladwell coined this concept)

Why being OPEN "with intention" is important

How to truly be open

Overcoming the need to make other people happy

All things Larabar: humble beginnings, fast growth, successful exit

The next frontier: How do you redefine yourself when your namesake is no longer yours?

Tennis: Renewed passion, healthy obsession & drive to succeed

How motherhood has changed her outlook

After the interview I pulled out a few Larabars and offered them to her. Which is funny because don’t you think she probably has her own? Anyway, I asked, "Do you still eat a lot of Larabars?" and she said, “I always test them.” She wants to know that they’re fresh and delicious and spot-on with the recipes. I love this about her. I’ve always respected Lara and really appreciated that she is such a genuine, “normal” person. The trick is when a normal person does something so extraordinary, how does she adapt and integrate her “new normal” into her life without compromising who she is? The really cool thing? This can apply to any big life change. How do you retain your core essence: the beautiful things that make you who you are when you experience change? Somehow Lara has navigated these waters with grace and self-love and is passing them down to her son as we speak.

If you haven’t tried Larabars before, go do it. Her original Cashew Cookie will always be my fave. I saw that they just released a new Protein line which I’m now salivating to try. Allright then, you know what time it is. It’s time to get over to the grocery store and pick up some new Larabar Flavors! It’s also time to get out there and Run This world! Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week!

Julie Daniluk is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who came to this field from a lifelong struggle to achieve a healthy relationship with food. Julie’s approach to vibrant eating is more about self-love than perfection. When we are better to ourselves, we are better for the world around us. I believe you’ll walk away from this episode with at least one thing that you can implement; one thing that will stick with you.

Julie is the author of three award-winning books, she's appeared on hundreds of tv segments, and is currently consumed by her new passion, the Hot Detox.

Today we talk about:

Dinner for breakfast

Julie's background: How her diet helped solve ADHD but led to her rebelling against a strict eating regime as she got older

Letting go of food shame

Energy: how to regulate your energy through the foods you eat

Eating for athletic performance

Anti-inflammatory foods

The 3 P's: Prebiotics, Probiotics, Phytonutrients

Maintaining a strong immune system

The Hot Detox: Julie's proprietary program & how her grandma influenced her philosophy

Intermittent fasting

And so much more

If you are curious about the Hot Detox, use this link to sign up. It costs $297 (valued closer to $800), includes more than recipes, juices & teas, and Julie gives you a ton of support.

Julie is such an incredible person. She is truly living her passion and helping so many people along the way. The day after this interview, I sautéed cabbage for breakfast. It was delicious and I want to do it more often. As Julie says, before you take a bite, look down at your plate and ask yourself, “is this food for self-love?” I challenge you to try this – to make it a new habit. Because self-love is the root of our happiness. That’s it. It doesn’t get any better than this. You know what time it is? It’s time to go out and buy some cabbage for breakfast tomorrow! And it’s time to run this world! Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week!

Sherry Cormier is a psychologist who specializes in grief mentoring. She’s the author of Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness after Loss and Grief. She wrote the book over the last decade after experiencing loss and learning how to become whole again. Today we talk about that period of her life and how going through the process of grieving ultimately opened and expanded Sherry's life. She decided that writing a book in the immediate aftermath of trauma would not allow her to give people the best long-term guidance; effectively, her book took ten years to write!

Today we talk about:

How to grow from traumatic experiences: What it means to reboot or restart

The illusion of control

Different types of grief: Prolonged grief, seasonal grief, collective grief & more

Post traumatic growth: how losses bring gains

Her opinion on antidepressants

Visitation dreams after you lose someone 

Why she prefers to call it Transition not Death

Strategies for early grief stages: Self-care (Move), Spiritual practice (Meditate), Connection (Connect)

And so much more

Sherry is a true gift to this world. She has come to this place in life where she can truly help others through a mix of life experiences and honing her specialties. As she says, “When we pull our brains back from tomorrow and our hearts back from yesterday, we find the sweetness.”

I love Sherry’s approach to life, love and loss. I learned a new concept that makes so much sense to me – post traumatic growth. I just wrapped up a week during the Skirt Sports Ambassador Retreat where many women shared their stories of hardship, their struggles and came out the other side stronger. Loss helps us grow. Just ask Sherry. Her final nugget is one of my favorites ever: Remember that what you focus on expands. Love. Worry. Peace. Judgment. Positivity. When you focus on something, it becomes bigger, so when you find yourself focusing on the dark side, remember that you’re only giving it more power and find a way to shift to the good side.

For more Sherry Cormier:

Buy the book on Amazon: Sweet Sorrow: Finding Enduring Wholeness After Loss and Grief

Sherry's website: www.sherrycormierauthor.com

Twitter: @sweetsorrowbook

Facebook: @SweetSorrow

Instagram: @cormier1749

Mayo Clinic resource for grief and loss here

Dimity McDowell has been a friend of mine for over a decade. The first time I remember interacting with her was when she was writing for Runner’s World. She was prepping for a women's marathon, and she let her readership choose her outfit. Our 2007 Marathon Dress was in the running and  won! So Dimity wore a very short Skirt Sports dress and crushed her marathon (it was even shorter on her 6'5" body)! Anyway, we’ve been mutually respecting each other for years since. When she started her Like a Mother community which evolved into Another Mother Runner, I knew she was going to change the running world - and she's still changing it.

Today, Dimity is the co-author (alongside her partner in crime Sarah Bowen Shea) of 3 books, founder of the insanely successful Another Mother Runner Podcast, a huge community of women including moms and non-moms who want support, resources and encouragement in their athletic journeys. In fact, our missions are so closely aligned that we should probably hang out a lot more than we actually do! I’ve been thinking about what makes Dimity so special and I think it’s that she is the original authentic voice. Before authenticity was a buzzword. Before people started sharing the good AND real of their lives. There was Dimity. She understand inherently that the only way to help people in this crazy world was to be her true messy self and share it in an open and honest way. That’s what I have always loved about her.

Today we talk about all sorts of cool stuff in a candid dual-interview that is also posted on Dimity’s Train Like a Mother group. To further inspire your training, Dimity is giving you a discount on Train Like a Mother programs. This is no joke. They have running programs from 5k to 50 miles from beginner to advanced. Tri programs from a Sprint to an Ironman. Heart rate programs. Nutrition programs and a full on amazing community that will keep you motivated. Check out trainlikeamother.club, and use code TLAMSKIRT for 15% off any program through June 21.

Other topics discussed:

Being a leader of a movement

Finding "what you were created to do"

Reinventing yourself in middle life (after you started a running movement and can no longer run)

The beauty and insanity of trying new sports

How we stay motivated

The importance of community within a community: finding your people

And so much more!

Dimity is a person that I could hang with every day. I love her take on pretty much everything. Think about how hard it must be when you have created an entire identity on being the “mother runner” and then one day you realize you can no longer run. It’s not life or death, but in a way it is, because it’s a recalibration of your identity and those are tricky things to navigate as we go through the different chapters of our lives. Thanks for sticking around to the end of the long episode today. But now it’s time to move on – it’s time to get out there and run this world. Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week!

Sarah Clarkson is the founder of Transience, a trendy bag company based in New York. This was her first-ever podcast interview. I tested out one of her cool Swing Bags and as I learned more about the brand, I thought it would be cool to showcase "one woman's path to her current purpose." At one point in the interview Sarah is talking about how she started her company. One day years ago, she sat shivering in an office, doing design work for another company and she simply realized “I no longer want to be at the mercy of someone else’s air conditioning.”

I love this sentiment! There are definitely moments in our lives when it’s time for us to take control and make changes. Even, and especially, when making those changes scares you. Sarah has experienced many of those moments starting in her early years when she left home at 16 to pursue a trade. We have a great conversation about the winding path she took toward control of her own destiny. 

We talk about:

Growing up in a small village in the UK

Leaving home at 16 to pursue floristry

Rheumatoid arthritis: how she endured and eventually conquered this condition, largely through exercise

Developing a relationship with her dad in her teens

Moving to Columbus, OH from the UK (culture shock)

The grind: Working 24/7 in NYC - helping others get rich

Her accidental path toward making her own bagsTransience today

Leaning into your fears & getting out of your comfort zone

And much more!

I met Sarah through a cool marketing campaign Transience is running called #whatsinHERbag – I didn’t realize until they reached out that I had still been using my diaper bag as my gym bag. So it was time to upgrade. Definitely head over to thetransience.com and use the code NICOLE30 on something awesome! I have a Swing Bag and I love it. Simple, streamlined, functional. I love supporting entrepreneurs, especially women who are creators. Sarah Clarkson is definitely one of these women.

I hope you enjoyed learning more about one woman’s path to her purpose. I believe that while our past often informs our present, it doesn’t define us or confine us. Sarah is a shining example of a woman who has overcome obstacles and continues to pursue her dreams each day by leaning into the things that she’s afraid of. 

For more Sarah Clarkson:

Facebook @thetransienceInstagram @thetransiencePinterest @thetransience

Lisa Hallett is a purveyor of love, light and energy. She’s the co-founder of Wear Blue: Run to Remember a national nonprofit running community that honors the service and sacrifice of the American military. I believe that the most powerful movements are started organically by someone or a group of people who are in need of something that fills a void or makes their lives more complete. Wear Blue was started because early in her marriage, Lisa’s husband, John, was killed while deployed in Afghanistan. As she navigated her new reality, she needed to find a way to remember John. She found it through running. Lisa’s story, while tragic and difficult, is also comforting and helpful to so many others who have suffered loss.

Interview note: I want to let you know that Lisa and I were besieged by those annoying little bings that were somehow getting through the airwaves. We actually stopped and started a couple times to try to solve the problem. We literally thought we nailed it and that we could start a tech company next, only to hear more bings as we went. We decided to ignore them and keep going. So you’ll hear a couple spots where we stopped and couldn’t figure out where we left off and you’ll also hear some bings. So what this really means is that we’re human, that Lisa is really popular, and that I need to figure out how to eliminate the notifications once and for all!

Today we talk about:

Growing up with John & realizing in high school that he was the one

Lisa & John: the early romantic years in high school and college

Marriage proposal on a mountain top

Military life: community, support, long distance

Having her 3rd baby without John (he was just deployed)

John's death: how Lisa found out & the immediate aftermath

Running through grief

Finding solace and support with others honoring their fallen loved ones

Wear Blue: Run to Remember

Finding happiness again

The beautiful messiness of parenting

And so much more

Lisa is all of these things: Powerful. Captivating. Inspiring. Human. It’s the last part that I think makes us feel so connected to her and her journey. For more on Lisa Hallett and Wear Blue, check out:

Wear Blue: Run to Remember website

Wear Blue: Run to Remember facebook group

Local Saturday Runs in clubs around the country

Officially supported Wear Blue: Run to Remember races

Instagram @wearblue

Facebook @wearblue

Even if you don’t have a direct connection to the military, you can still support the work she’s doing to help others. Because as Lisa says, even when times are so tough it’s hard to simply function, you will survive not because you have to but because you want to. Remember that.

D’Anne Rudden is an expert in the field of audiology. She is basically a hearing therapist because what she does for people goes beyond the actual mechanics of your ears. She takes more of a holistic approach to your ears and hearing. I first met D'Anne when I saw her on stage at Evoso Live, delivering a speech called "Listen with More Than Just Your Ears." One of her messages was that sound is simply vibration; and that when you change your vibration, you change your life. This message resonated with me on a deeper level and I have a feeling it will resonate with you too.

After our interview (after hours at the Skirt Sports store), I had the opportunity to visit D’Anne in her actual practice in Longmont, Colorado, the Longmont Hearing & Tinnitus Center. I went in for a few reasons.

D’Anne suggests that we all get a baseline hearing check by age 50. I’m 47 so for once in my life, I’m early.

I’ve been asking Tim to repeat certain words and phrases when we watch shows together and I can tell he’s sort of annoyed. An annoyed spouse is one of the signs of hearing loss so I figured I should check.

A couple years ago I hit myself in the bottom of the jaw with a 20-lb slam ball which I slammed really hard and thereby bounced equally hard into the bottom of my face. My ear/jaw hasn’t been the same since, so again, a reason to check it out.

D’Anne met me after-hours so we had the place to ourselves. The office is covered in brilliant emotional photos of D’Anne around the world, helping fit people for hearing aids. We went into a little sound room and she did some testing that I’ve never had done before. Afterward we went over my results and this is the nutshell. I’m on the low side of healthy hearing in both ears. Still in a normal range for most frequencies, but right on the line. My takeaway? Now I know where I stand so in a few years if I’m having more issues, I can go in and get tested again. Plus, maybe Tim’s just annoyed with me in general not because I ask him to repeat things!

Today we talk about:

The ear mechanism

What Hearing really is: listening, comprehension, cognition, memory, balance

How to overcome being lazy communicators

Signs of hearing lossConfidence

How yoga saved D'Anne's life: teaching yoga outside the studio

Giving back: Starkey Hearing Foundation

Do's & Don'ts for hearing care

And so much more

I was surprised at all the directions this episode took from hearing to listening to yoga to life coaching to helping others and more. I’m just so interested in how people come to find the work they do with such passion. D’Anne’s path was not obvious, yet here she is over two decades later, helping people with one of the most basic functions that so many of us take for granted. I think the quote that struck me most powerfully was when she said “We communicate most poorly with the people we love the most.” I believe she’s right and if we want to make a single change from this episode it would be to change that statement.