403: Running Used to Be My Stress Relief—Until It Wasn’t

Running Used to Be My Stress Relief—Until It Wasn’t

I’m currently at our very first Real Life Runners Retreat, surrounded by a small group of incredible women who came here to run—but really, they came here to reconnect.

With their bodies.
With their breath.
With who they are beneath the busyness of life.

And what’s become so clear this week is something I think so many of us feel—but don’t always say out loud:

Running used to be our stress relief… until it wasn’t.

We’ve all been there.

You lace up your shoes hoping to shake off the stress of the day.
You head out expecting the miles to bring clarity, calm, release.

But instead, you come back more tired.
More irritable.
More disconnected.

And you wonder… what’s wrong with me?

Here’s the truth no one talks about enough:
Running can be a stress relief—but it can also be a stressor.

It depends on your body’s current state.

Your nervous system doesn’t separate the stress of a hard workout from the stress of a hard day.
It doesn’t care whether it’s your job, your kids, your hormones, or your pace—it all goes into the same stress bucket.

When you’re well-fed, well-rested, and emotionally grounded, running can feel like therapy.
It empties the bucket. Clears the noise. Brings you home.

But when you’re under-slept, under-fueled, and overwhelmed?

Running might be the thing that pushes your bucket to overflow.

When the Thing That Helps… Starts to Hurt

I’ve felt this shift in my own life—and I’ve seen it in so many of the women I coach.

There’s a point where running stops feeling like the exhale you need and starts to feel like one more thing you have to do.

You go out hoping for peace but come back flat.
You crave release but feel more tangled afterward.
You keep running because it’s what you’ve always done… but it’s not giving you what you need.

This is where many women unintentionally disconnect.
Not from running—but from themselves.

And that disconnection doesn’t just affect your runs—it bleeds into everything.

Your energy. Your sleep. Your mood. Your motivation. Your sense of self.

The irony is, many of us turn to running as a way to reconnect with ourselves—but true reconnection doesn’t start with movement.

It starts with stillness.

The kind of stillness that lets your body exhale.
The kind that allows your thoughts to land.
The kind that lets you actually hear what your body has been trying to say.

You can’t hear the whispers of your body when the world is screaming at you.
And running—though powerful—is still movement.

We need space.
Silence.
Moments where we stop doing so we can start listening.

That’s been one of the most powerful things about this retreat.
Not just the runs, but the quiet.
The journaling. The gentle movement. The conversations that arise when we slow down.

This is where reconnection begins.

You Weren’t Meant to Run on Empty

If running hasn’t been feeling like it used to…
If you’re constantly tired, constantly pushing, constantly chasing that “runner’s high” and rarely finding it…

Please hear this:

It’s not you.
It’s the way we’ve been taught to push through instead of tune in.

You don’t need to run harder.
You need to listen deeper.
You need to reconnect.

That’s exactly why I created Running Reconnected—to help women runners over 40 finally feel strong, energized, and at home in their bodies again.

We combine smart, sustainable training with the missing pieces:
✨ Nervous system regulation
✨ Strength for hormone balance and longevity
✨ Nutrition that fuels real energy
✨ A mindset that honors your body, not battles it

And for just a few more days, we’re offering 40% off during our Spring Break Special.

🔗 Join Running Reconnected before March 31

👉 Click here to sign up now

You’re not meant to run on empty.
You’re meant to feel strong, centered, and fully alive—in every mile and every moment.

Let’s help you reconnect. 💛