296: Family & Running
[00:00:00] This is the real life runners podcast, episode number 296 family and running. Today, we're going to talk about how we believe that family can improve our running and how running can improve our family life. So stay tuned.
[00:00:38] Angie: All right, so welcome to the podcast. Today we are continuing our series about how we are connecting, running with the other core values that we have in our lives. And so if you caught our episode a couple of weeks ago, we talked about how we connect faith to our running Today. We wanna talk about how we connect family.
To our running journey because we believe that [00:01:00] we can use running as a way to grow closer to our family and also use our family to help improve our running journey. Because we find that a lot of runners kind of see those two things as different. They see it running as something outside of their family or even something that they use to kind of get away from their family sometimes.
if you're doing that all the time, we can see that that leads to a lot of disconnection within some people, especially if you hold family as a high priority and a high value in your life. So today we wanna talk about how family is one of our cornerstones and how we use our family and our running to work together, and so that we can, use our family to help bring more satisfaction, more security, and more joy into your running journey as
[00:01:47] Kevin: well.
Excellent. I think our first big point here is sort of the idea of how running can in fact improve family. And a lot of people, as you pointed out there, separate runnings over here and my interaction with my family is over there.
Mm-hmm. [00:02:00] and the, the disconnection, cuz you can do that. You could have running to the left and family to the right and that's fine. Right. And maybe you want that disconnection mm-hmm. , but. if you really highly value both, I think that sometimes by trying to keep them separate, you feel this awkward, disjointed inside of yourself because the two things are staying separate, and I think by uniting them, you really can improve both of them.
So first move how running can actually strengthen your family life,
[00:02:26] Angie: right? Because if you view. Running as time away from your family or as separation from your family? This can lead to a couple things. Number one, we often see that it leads to guilt. So if you value your family and you think that running is time away from your family, a lot of times people feel guilty and it, it can be very hard to leave your family to go out for a run.
And I know that I fell into this trap for a really long time, um, after our second baby was born. Inconsistent for over three years after the birth of our second child [00:03:00] because I felt so guilty. Like I felt like I was leaving my kids to go out for a run. And now I have a completely different view on that and we're gonna talk about that more, um, today, I, in this episode.
But if you see that, you know, running is taking away from my family, there's that sense of guilt that is very, . Um, very real, you know, that sense of mom guilt or dad guilt?
[00:03:25] Kevin: Oh, dad. Guilt is definitely a thing. I mean, I remember when we still had like such little newborns, I would try and feed my, fit, my running into nap time. Mm-hmm. , which is not super effective. It leads to a whole heck of a lot of exhaustion. Yeah. You know, when you, we just had the one kid, the. The big advice people were like is if they're sleeping, try to sleep yourself
And I would try and squeeze in like a five mile run, which is like the opposite of sleeping yourself. Yeah. Or I would, I wouldn't run until after we had the kid down for the night. Mm-hmm. . I was still trying to be like a nighttime runner. because I felt like anytime the kid was awake, this was like a brand new baby [00:04:00] that we had.
Yeah. I wanted to try and spend as much time with her as possible. Mm-hmm. , so running did feel like I was pulling away, but you know. Yeah. As, as they grow up and we've sort of evolved a little bit. Mm-hmm. , I, I can view this entirely differently. Did you feel
[00:04:12] Angie: that way with the second child as well, or was it more for the first with.
[00:04:16] Kevin: More for the first,
[00:04:18] Angie: actually. Yeah. So I felt like with me it was a little bit easier for me to get back into it with baby number one. And I think that that's part of, that's because I was home with her more than you were. Right. You know? So like the way that it worked for us is when our first child was born, I started working part-time so that I could be home with her.
Mm-hmm. , you know, most of the time. Um, and so I was working part-time. But you were still working full-time. Right. So that makes sense. Why. Kind of feel like you would want to be with her whenever you weren't at work
[00:04:45] Kevin: as much time as possible. Yeah. So the jogging stroller helped with that? Either? Yes. Even if nothing was happening there that she could have been sleeping.
The jogging stroll, I still felt like I was there. I wasn't missing anything. Yeah.
[00:04:54] Angie: But for me it was definitely after the second kid when it was a lot harder. Our first child was older so she [00:05:00] could talk back and she could like let me know that she was upset that I was leaving. And so what happens here?
If you then change your running and, and not to say you, you can't shift it, adjust it, change it. Obviously you're gonna have to make adjustments when your kids are born. Life is not the same no matter what. It'll never be the same again. Right. It's a definitely different schedule. It just won't. Right. So yeah, you have to make some adjustments, but if you are constantly giving up your running.
For your family, that can lead to even like a deeper sense of almost resentment. And I know that's a very strong word to use, and a lot of us don't want to say, oh, I resent my kids, but that's really what it is. And maybe it's not quite to that degree where you're resenting them consciously, but unconsciously, it's like you're blaming your kids that maybe blame is a better word for it.
True, right? Instead of resentment. Resentment feels very strong and it's gray area. In a way you blame your kids because you're not going out for the run and [00:06:00] it's not your kids that are doing that. Your kids aren't stopping you from going out to run even if they are holding your legs , as you try to walk out the door, it's still your choice whether or not you walk out the door or not, right?
Like and so, . Yes. The guilt and the blame do go together. And, and the shame around all of it too, because there's that, you know, from from shame is like, am I being a good mom? Yeah. Like there's that shame there as well of, am I doing what's best for my kids? Is, you know, me leaving them to go out and do this.
Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing? And so what we want to show you guys today, Is that if you value your family, these two things can work together and running can actually improve your relationship with your family because family is more than just time spent together. Yeah. Like yes, that is a big part of it.
And we are high believers in quality time and really spending a lot of time with our family, but [00:07:00] ultimately, , it's our job as parents to create independent children that are able to grow up, that are able to take care of themselves. And a big part of that for us, and this is one of the big shifts I had to make in my thinking at that time.
Is that I needed to be an example to my kids of what I wanted healthy behavior to look like. I needed to model what a healthy lifestyle looked like, and I had to show them that it was a good thing for me to take time for myself to go out and make sure that I'm taking care of my physical health, I'm taking care of my mental health, that that's going to help me become a better mother for them.
And it's not just. Telling my kids what to do. It's not just me spending endless hours with my children, it's also teaching them and giving them an example of what I. Think is a good way to live their, to live our lives. Yeah.
[00:07:51] Kevin: I mean, part of this gets hung up on the idea that you just need to be with your kids at all times.
Yeah. And it's, it's a quantity time sort of thing, [00:08:00] rather than quality time with your kids. Oh yeah. That's important. And if you've got this, this guilt and this underlying resentment of. The kid is somehow holding you back from whatever the running goal is because you're not able to focus as much on running as you want.
That's not quality time with them. Mm-hmm. , that's time where you, you're thinking about the The run that you're missing. Yeah. You're thinking about the run that you had to cut short. You're like, man, I should probably be doing some strength training, but I guess I'll read this book for the 15th time. Like the, it's a different mindset and if you're able to go out and get in a run, it puts you into a better place.
Mm-hmm. , so then you can be better for the kid as well. But it's also, it also comes down to that whole modeling aspect. Yeah. And it's not just modeling the importance of running, it's modeled the importance of the whole healthy lifestyle. Mm-hmm. . And that is, that's sometimes saying that I need to, to step away from this situation so that I can take care of myself, so I can be the healthiest version of myself as possible.
[00:08:54] Angie: Yeah. I mean, and that's modeling boundaries, right? Also like boundaries. You're, you're teaching your kids that these [00:09:00] are the boundaries. I haven't, and, and believe me, I'm not saying that you need. Set a boundary on the amount of love for your children. Obviously, like our love is unbounded, but we do need to set boundaries with everyone in our lives.
We need to decide for ourselves what is okay and what is not. Okay. And so for you, maybe missing one run per week is okay, but. Missing two or three is not okay. That can be a boundary that you set for yourself. So in order to adjust your, you know, running schedule, maybe previously you were running five days a week and you decide, you know what, I'm gonna cut it back to four days a week because that's going to allow me a little bit more flexibility.
Mm-hmm. , I know that I have more responsibilities with my kids and I'm gonna be okay with that, but go cutting all the way back to three days a week is not okay with me. You know, every now and then if it happens, I get sick, things happen, whatever. You know, that can, um, we can maybe drop down to that, but that kinda goes back to our idea of minimum exercise level, which is what we talked about a few [00:10:00] episodes back.
You know, understanding what that minimum is for you and making sure that you set that boundary for yourself so that you know, I need to take care of myself. This is the minimum amount of exercise that I can get in so that I'm still taking care of myself so that I can show up better for my family. And then above that, right, like what do you actually wanna get in?
What are your goals? What, what is going to allow you to strive for goals? outside of your family as well. Yes, your family can still be a priority, but you can show them that it's important for you to also have other goals and for you to work hard and strive for them and actually achieve those other goals.
You're modeling that as
[00:10:41] Kevin: well. Right, and I mean, we've done a lot of this on how running and in the family relationship with kids, but what about the family relationship with your significant other? Mm-hmm. like this is also something that the communication is super. . Yeah. You know, when you talk about minimum exercise levels, you need to be very open with, with your partner in the relationship [00:11:00] of this.
I, I don't want to go below this level. Mm-hmm. , and I'm willing to sort of move the days around. Maybe, you know, I like to have, I have a, my Friday's off, but I'm, I can do it if I have a Tuesday off. I just, I need to move things around because once I've already taken two off days at the beginning of the week.
I'm going to want to close out the rest of the week. If, if your number is four or five days and you take two or three right at the beginning, you're gonna want to run the back end. And that needs to be a very open and honest communication with all members of the family, not just with kids. Yeah. It's not just setting up that boundary, it's setting up so that everybody is on the same page and realizes what, what goals you're striving for.
Mm-hmm. , and what steps you want to take so that you can try and reach those
[00:11:44] Angie: goals. Yeah. I think that's really important to point out also, because. . That is a way that running is just the vehicle that is going to help you improve your communication with your family. Yeah. Right? Because this is giving you a topic and allowing you to say, [00:12:00] guys, this thing is really important to me and here's what I need to do about it, and here's how I need your support in this.
Right? This is the goal that I'm chasing. And um, this is kind of getting into like our next step of how family can improve our running, but like when you think about. Running actually improves your family. It can improve your communication skills, right? It can improve your ability to set those boundaries.
It can improve your ability to take time for yourself, and then the time that you do have with your family, maybe you can be more intentional to make that more quality time. Mm-hmm. , since you don't have maybe the biggest or the amount of the quantity that you want, you can have more focused quality time with the.
[00:12:42] Kevin: Yeah. And I think that that part of when you're striving for a goal and your family can see that you're striving for a goal, how important it is, it doesn't have to be important to them. Mm-hmm. it, they, they should be there supporting, but they don't have to quite fully understand it. They just have to understand that it is in fact important to you.
Mm-hmm. [00:13:00] and so they can be there. Cuz you don't have to make little runners out of everybody else in your family. Yeah. You may want to, you may not want to. Hmm. But it's helpful to have. This idea that goals are important, it's okay to strive for them. Yeah. And have open and communication with everybody around you.
[00:13:14] Angie: Yeah. And I think that that's important too. Like when we say that running can improve your family life, we don't mean that you necessarily have to turn your whole family into runners. Right. Like ev I think that all of us kind of have that vision though, right? Like if esp if running is something that's very important to us and we're like, oh my gosh, it's, isn't it gonna be fun when like our kids can go to the five K's and run five K's with us?
and it is like we've done that as well, like with our children. But we're also dealing with some pushback now with our 13 year old. Right. So it's also important to acknowledge your kids or your spouse as the independent humans that they are, and not push them into something that they don't wanna do.
Right.
[00:13:53] Kevin: So that don't, don't pin the biv on for them, right. Against their will.
[00:13:56] Angie: It's not okay. Right. But you know, Understanding that maybe [00:14:00] they complain that they're gonna have to wake up early, but they really do like going out and supporting you at a race most of the time. I would say like I know that our kids, they've obviously grown up with it, both with our running and then also supporting the cross country team that we coach also. True and. They used to look forward to it all the time. Like when they were little, they loved it. Right. They loved getting the cross-country t-shirts and they would go out and support the team. They would be super excited for all of it. As they're getting older, there's less excitement for some of those things.
Yeah. And there's a lot more of, mom, can I just stay home and not go to this one today? This season feels
[00:14:36] Kevin: like it drags a little bit more as they get a little bit
[00:14:38] Angie: older. Right. But I think that they're still seeing all of the. You know, U underlying benefits of all of it, right? Like they're still seeing how it's important to live a healthy lifestyle.
They're still seeing how it's important to set goals and to achieve goals, and to go out and do really hard things because sometimes, even though, My kids will sometimes [00:15:00] complain a little bit more about it. Now I will hear them in other conversations with people kind of bragging about us, you know, of like, or about Kevin and his race and, and this and that.
So I know that there is that underlying pride in what we do and kind of who we are as a family as well.
[00:15:18] Kevin: I've heard them repeat things from our podcast to their friends of like, actually, that's not how you should think about this situation. It's. And like the way that they spin it and try and like, provide clarity to it.
It's, it's phenomenal. Yeah. But one of the things this kind of reminds me about teaching geometry is my students always tell me like, Ms. Brown, what am I going to need to know all these things about triangles? And my answer is, uh, probably never, you know, probably not. Some of you may use it in various fields.
Mm-hmm. , it is useful, but you'll probably relearn the details again in the future. But geometry is going to think to help you learn. Think it's gonna teach you how to take all these different ideas and put them together and thinking is going to work for you regardless of what you want to do. Mm-hmm.
whether you need [00:16:00] these geometry facts or not is not super important. What I am teaching you is how to actually think clearly.
[00:16:05] Angie: Yeah, exactly.
. Okay, so we just talked about how running can help us become. Better connected with our family and better family members. Now we wanna move on to how our family can help us become better runners or how family can actually improve our running. And I think that a big thing, you know, this is connected to what we were talking about before, about how a lot of people think that they need to keep their running and their family kind of separated, like they're in two different boxes.
Some people even feel like they need to kind of keep their goals to themselves because they're not quite sure. They don't wanna say them out loud or if, if they say them out loud. Their family might think they're crazy, they're not gonna be on board or supportive with what's going on, and that may or may not be true.
May or may not be true, but that can lead to a lot of separation [00:17:00] and disconnection, right? If you feel separated, like if you think that you're running and your family need to be separated, It can make you feel like you're choosing one over the other, which can lead to only partially chasing those goals because you don't want those goals to take away from your family time.
And it can also lead to this feeling of disconnection because you're not getting to celebrate and to share your running journey. with your family cuz you think, well, maybe they don't really care about it. And I know I've fallen into some of these traps. I know you have as well. Mm-hmm. and so we, we understand this from a very granular level.
Yeah.
[00:17:34] Kevin: The separation is a tricky one because you feel like you're choosing one or the other. Yeah. So either you get to improve your family life mm-hmm. or you get to improve your, your running life. Yeah. But if you keep them as separate silos mm-hmm. , then you, you don't get to improve both of them simultaneously.
And what we're saying is that you can mm-hmm. . part of this is simply coming from this fear. Yeah. That your family is not gonna support you. And look, here's the thing is your family either thinks you are nuts. Mm-hmm. , [00:18:00] because of your running, that's my family. Or they fully support you, right. Because of your running.
And they may. Also think you're nuts. Yeah. Like that's the thing is just because they think you're nuts mm-hmm. does not mean they will not fully support you. Yeah.
[00:18:14] Angie: I think it would be helpful for us to kind of go into a little bit of our experience here as well, because I think that people might look at us and be like, oh look, look at these two.
They're both runners like lucky them. They understand each other. They can share this. Of course, it's easy for Angie and Kevin, like they're both runners. Of course, they can connect over their running. So what about if you have a spouse that's unsupportive or if you have other family members that are unsupportive or your kids or, you know, like if there are people in your life that don't support you and you're running, like, what, where do we go from there?
And have you ever experienced this? I know, like I can definitely talk on that because not you, like you've always been very supportive of my running, but looking at kind of my, um, the family that I came from, you know, like, yes, sure. [00:19:00] My mom, my sisters, right? Like that side of my family. Um, they don't really understand it.
Where I think you've kind of come from a different, like your family of origin. That's what I'm the family of origin, right? Yeah. The family I was born into. The family you were born into, right? Like your parents, your sister, they, they understand running, they were runners, right? Yeah. So you and I both come from running from a, a different, Family, uh, experience as well.
Right?
[00:19:24] Kevin: My mom's only concern about my running is that I'm just still healthy, right? Like, as long as you just don't hurt yourself. Yeah. She's always nervous to, and Angie, don't, don't let him hurt himself. , no. Like that's really the only restriction that I'm getting. Get a lot,
[00:19:34] Angie: especially from my parents, especially after the seizures and like, you know, those kinds of things too.
Like, I mean, your parents have flown from California to Florida to attend some of your
[00:19:44] Kevin: races, whereas your parents have not woken up to attend.
[00:19:47] Angie: Fair. Yes. My parents have never come to one of my races, which is so crazy to me because my mom was the most supportive person in my life growing up. Yeah. Like, and she still is a very supportive person in my life, and [00:20:00] was always at my sports practices, always at all of my games growing up, I played volleyball, basketball, and softball.
She was my number one fan. She was my number one supporter. And so it was very strange to me that she didn't get into my running life, you know, she didn't come to support me as a runner. And I think so much of that is because she doesn't understand it. Yeah. She doesn't really see the point, like where, you know, for a game, she could sit in the bleachers and she can watch me the entire time.
You never leave the court. You're just there in, in a race. She's like, well, what do you want me to do? Just be at the finish line. Like, what I, I don't understand. Like, why would I, why would I wake up to come do that? And like, I actually talked to her about this at one point about like, mom, you've never actually been to one of my races and she's like, is that a problem? Like she didn't, she didn't realize that people would go watch these things, a, that people would go to watch them. And also that it, it meant anything to me. . Yeah. Also, and that, and that's on me like of not even [00:21:00] expressing because I, in a way just kind of assumed that she would wanna be a part of it.
That she would just come and she never even thought that that was like something that she should
[00:21:10] Kevin: do. Right. I mean, there are certainly races that I've had, um, That I'm, I'm okay if, if people don't come. Yeah. There were a couple of races when I was still like high school or college when I was still, when I, I like, I'd come home over the summer.
There was always a race around the 4th of July. Yeah. And one time I woke up early and it was down the street from my house. So I, like, I jogged a two mile warmup to get to the starting line. Mm-hmm. , I paid the $4 entry fee to run the four mile raise. That's amazing. Four bucks. There's. The prizes were like super cheap.
It doesn't matter. That's just trophies still amazing. There was no water. There was no T-shirt. It was called the four on the fourth. It still was four mile raise and it cost you $4. I love it, and it was brilliant. . So I just woke up and ran down the street, and then I ran the race, and then I ran home. Yeah.
So, and nobody came? No one, no one came. Yeah. And it was [00:22:00] totally fine because I, I wasn't like training to train and race that thing really well when I was in high school, they woke up and drove me down there and cheered, drove around the neighborhood to like, watch me run at all different places, but, They cheered through cross country.
Mm-hmm. , like that was their high school supporting. So they understood it a little bit more. They, you can like you on a course, you could conceivably like bounce to different places and maybe try and find them at different spots. So Yeah. Like they kind of see that excitement part of it.
[00:22:26] Angie: Yeah. Which is so interesting though, cuz.
Like, when I did my first half, it was local. Mm-hmm. , it was about a half an hour away from where we live. And so I, I don't know if I assumed I, do you remember like when this happened? If, if it was bothersome to me? It was bothersome to you? Like beforehand or afterwards? After. Okay. Like, did I even even really think about it before?
[00:22:47] Kevin: You didn't really question it before. Yeah. And then I was there Yeah. At the finish and, and throughout the, the race and then afterwards you're like, it was weird that my mom wasn't there. Mm-hmm. like weird was where it went. And then you. Feelings evolve from there
[00:22:59] Angie: when you think about it more. [00:23:00] But like straight up, I never asked her to come.
That's true. Like I didn't ask her to come, I guess I just assumed that she would want to come or that she would be there, or I don't know if, I assume that you would say something to her. Possibly, but that's on me. You know, like I, I fully take. 100% responsibility for
[00:23:17] Kevin: that because, and that's what part of this mistake comes from.
Mm-hmm. is a lack of communication because you're not sure what that support's going to be. Yeah. Like, did you wanna tell your mom, come to this race? Mm-hmm. , like, were you super excited? Were you so confident in yourself? Yeah. Were you confident that she was going to be as excited as you were in the race?
Like, well, she
[00:23:35] Angie: didn't get it. See, and, and this is the thing is like, She still doesn't understand running. Right. Right. She still doesn't understand why I would do something like this. Like she kind of understands it a little bit more since I've talked to her about it now that I've been doing it for so long.
Um, and obviously we are helping other people do it and have built a podcast and a business around it, so she's like, she's still super supportive. Still one of the top supporters in my [00:24:00] life. Whatever, you know, whatever you are pursuing, I am, I'm here to back you up. Right? Yeah. Like, which is so amazing. I guess I never communicated how important it was for me for her to be there.
And I honestly don't even think that I realized how important it was for me to have her there. Yeah. That time. And I don't like, I'm like even feeling like a little bit of emotional just talking about it right now, but there was that disconnect of, you know, and it's interesting what you just said of like, would I want them there?
And I think that's a very interesting question because I know I've talked to. People like inside our coaching programs and other, you know, running friends of when they don't feel confident that they're going to achieve that goal. Mm-hmm. , they don't want people there. Right. Like they straight up don't want anyone to know this is even happening.
Yeah. Like we have somebody on our team that like, Didn't tell people she was training for a half marathon. Yeah. Because like she didn't have the confidence that she was actually gonna be able to do it. And she has, and she's done [00:25:00] multiple now, and it's like, you know, a different story completely. But I think that that might be part of it too.
Like if you're feeling disconnected from your goal, if you're not feeling confident in yourself, then sharing it with other people. Can be kind of a scary thing. It's, it's kind of like almost terrifying. It's kind of like when you're new in a pregnancy. Yeah. Right. Like when you have like a very new idea, a very new dream, a very new goal.
Do you really wanna share that with other people until you've gained confidence in it? Or like when you're early in a pregnancy and you're not quite sure if that pregnancy is going to take hold? Especially if you've had a history Yeah. Of miscarriages or other problems in the past. Uh, you know, a lot of people will not tell anybody hard and fast before 12 weeks.
Sure. Other people will tell people as soon as they get that pregnancy test. Yeah.
[00:25:49] Kevin: And this is a picture of a pregnancy test
[00:25:50] Angie: on the internet all of a sudden. Right. And I always think it's a very interesting thing of like whether you choose whether or not to share mm-hmm. . And I always say like, I, when as I was thinking [00:26:00] about this, we chose to share with people earlier than the 12 week mark.
Yes. Especially the people that were close in our life. Like we didn't make it quote unquote Facebook official. Right. Until the 12 week mark. But um, but we definitely shared it with people in my life cuz I was thinking about it and I was thinking. . If anything were to happen, God forbid, I would want those people in my life to know, to know what I was going through.
And would it be hard to tell them that I lost the baby? Absolutely. But I would need their support and I would need them to know that this was
[00:26:33] Kevin: going on. They need to know ahead of time so they can also be there for support. Right, because your, your family. , even if they don't get it, yeah. They can still be your most supportive environment.
Yeah. Because I think that your family, they're, they're, at the end of the day, however, whatever the race turns out to be mm-hmm. , they're still your family. Yeah. So it gives you this huge freedom
[00:26:54] Angie: to fail. Right. Because you know that they're still gonna be there. Yes. They're still gonna love you anyway.
Right.
[00:26:59] Kevin: [00:27:00] It's, it's one of my favorite movie lines. It's a little bit of a cheesy movie that I'm gonna go for the quote on the, the cutting edge. Let's bring it in, bring it in. It's, it's where
[00:27:07] Angie: the, the, the, and you guys, Kevin knows the cutting edge better than I
[00:27:10] Kevin: do. I've seen this way too many times with my mom.
He has an older
[00:27:14] Angie: sister and
[00:27:15] Kevin: a mom that loves it. So, so the lines were the, the female figure skater, like the dad's like yelling at her like, what did you want? What do you, what do you need? And she looks at him and she goes, at the end of the day, I just want to know that I can still be your daughter.
Mm-hmm. . And it's. You, you can, but sometimes we have this fear that like, oh, if the race doesn't go well, then they're gonna look at me differently. I'm a failure. No, they aren't. Like, it's gonna be amazing. One of the greatest running experiences I had was you and the girls and a very close friend of ours driving down the highway heading towards Key West, and we did not make it to Key West.
Yeah. It seems so small when you break down the actual, like, details of what happened. Yeah. You guys drove down the road, stopped in a whole bunch of parking lots and handed me gels and [00:28:00] waters. Like that's what happened. Sprayed a lot of sunscreen on top of me. like if you, if you explain full towels, right?
If you explain the like tiny details of what you did, you're like, Okay, well, I mean that seems helpful, but it almost seems like comical when you like explain all the little details. But what I felt every time I got to like a stop was just this like massive outpouring of love and support. That's what drove me to the next.
Obviously I needed some water, I needed a cold towel, I needed some things like that, but, The support was huge and I knew that if I needed to stop, no one was gonna be disappointed that they had driven in the car all day long and I didn't make it to the finish line. Mm-hmm. . So that's the thing is when you have such support and you fully trust in that support, it really gives you the opportunity to be like, wow, what is possible?
Mm-hmm. . If failure is completely okay, because I'm entirely supported, this would be the softest landing possible. Like I go for the massive jump and I don't quite [00:29:00] make it. If I'm gonna land, I'm gonna land in all the soft, comforting support of family. How big would you dream if you know that failure means you're still gonna be supported by your family?
[00:29:10] Angie: Yeah, that's so important because ultimately running is about so much more than just the distances that we cover or more than the times on a clock. And when we put ourselves out there, when we pursue possibility, that is a very vulnerable place to be. Right. Like when we chase the Our own limits. Yep. That is very vulnerable because there is a chance you might fail.
A likely chance. A likely chance. And we as humans don't like to. Period, like mm-hmm. , I don't know any human that's like, yeah, I love failure unless you've reframed it. Yes. That's,
[00:29:46] Kevin: that's what you say. It's the humans that have reframed failure.
[00:29:48] Angie: Right. And, and I used to hate failure. I used to avoid it at all costs.
And that kept me from so pursuing so many different things that I probably would've been very good at. Like I think one is, one is [00:30:00] soccer. Like I agreed you would've been so good at soccer. I think I would've been really good at soccer, but. Believe it or not, this is coming from the running coach Angie, right now.
The reason I didn't get into soccer was because there was too much running involved. Course there was. There was too much running in both within the sport and then also the conditioning for the sport. They had to like run two miles I think before. That's my favorite sport practice, . It's so crazy, right?
But this was Angie in middle school and. Angie in middle school was also very naturally, I, I, I'm just like a naturally athletic human in general. I pick up things pretty quickly, and so soccer, going out in soccer, all of the sports that I had played previous to that were all hand-eye coordination, volleyball, basketball, softball, football, you know?
Mm-hmm. , Frisbee, like all the fun sports that you play with your friends and your family and all of that, as well as the competitive sports that I was playing. And all of a sudden they were asking me to do things with my. And I wasn't immediately good at it. And [00:31:00] so I was like, what is this sport? I have to run a lot and I have to do things with my feet and I'm not good right away.
Yep. And so I quit. I quit during tryouts in middle school. Mm-hmm. and. I, the coach was like, why are you quitting? And I'm like, because this isn't my sport. And he is like, it could be, it could be right. Like, and he was a little disappointed. I was like, no, no, no. You know, and like I just kind of like blew it off.
Like, I'm better at these things. I'm just gonna focus over here on these things. But, . Based on what I know about myself now, based on my body type and kind of like the muscle that I'm able to do, the speed that I'm able to do, I probably would've been a pretty darn good soccer player. Yeah, you just needed a little bit of time.
Yeah, but but also like if I think about it like, cause sometimes I think about that and I'm like, I probably would've been pretty good. And then I'm like, but if I would've played soccer, I wouldn't have played basketball. Also. Very true. Because they're the same
[00:31:53] Kevin: season and then you would've not had all of your basketball experiences.
[00:31:55] Angie: I would've had all my basketball experiences and. It brought in one of the most influential people [00:32:00] in my life, which is my basketball coach in high school who led me to really encourage me to go to Notre Dame where I met you, which is like, you know, and
[00:32:08] Kevin: she's also the person that then gave me like the connection to get an interview, to have the job that I have right now.
Right, right. So basketball might have been important.
[00:32:15] Angie: basketball was important in my life, even though
[00:32:17] Kevin: soccer . So this is, that was like the most controversial thing we've ever said on the podcast. Boo soccer. Boo soccer or football?
[00:32:24] Angie: Football, football. Um, so anyhow. . Everything in life happens for a reason.
That's for sure. And I know that was kind of a tangent, but um, that's kind of getting back to the, the point of that feeling of vulnerability of like not being good at something right away or not. Wanting to fail. And when you put yourself in a position to fail, you get to choose what you make that failure mean.
If you do end up failing, if you end up not achieving that goal, you get to choose what failure means. Failure could mean something very negative if you choose to let it mean that. [00:33:00] or it could just be an another learning lesson. It could just be, okay, that didn't work. What should I try next? What do I wanna chase next?
Do I wanna continue onto this goal and kind of chase or change the path that I was on? Or do I want to chase a different goal? Like which, what's important? Which direction do I wanna go with this? Because when you're reaching for something that you've never done before, and you have, you're in that position of vulnerability, you're in that position.
it's likely that you're going to fail. It can be super reassuring knowing that you have that unwavering support and love of your family. At the end of the day, I'm still your wife. Mm-hmm. , I'm still a. The mom to our two beautiful girls. I'm still a sister. I'm still a daughter. I'm still me. And just because I didn't achieve a running goal that was completely arbitrary that I chose for myself, that doesn't change who I am.
In [00:34:00] fact, I would argue that that. . It makes me an even better version of me because I tried, because I put myself out there because I put myself in that position to either achieve something really big or to fail, and then to learn from it and to grow from it, and to challenge myself because so many people live their life without even challenging themselves, and then they're just completely void of possibility and void of growth.
They just stay in the same place in their life. Forever. Basically. Yes. You know, they just kind of like move along day by day, week by week, year by year, just kind of doing the same thing. And as a runner, I don't think you're wired that way. Like if you're listening to this podcast, you're a runner and you probably wanna get better.
That's why you're listening to a running podcast. You're trying to figure out. Ways to improve yourself, both in running and the rest of your life, and so you're not satisfied with the status quo if you're anything like us and a lot of the people that listen to this podcast and a lot of the people that we work with [00:35:00] inside the academy.
So when you know that you've got family there to support you, that can make such a huge difference in your willingness to go out there and try to strive for something bigger. . Yeah.
[00:35:12] Kevin: I think family can be super supportive. Family plays a couple of roles to me. Yeah. When you're trying to like put yourself out there and be like testing your own physical limits.
Mm-hmm. , which is like really what I like to clinging to when I go off, like big goals of running. Yeah. Is how far can I push myself? Mm-hmm. family provides sometimes that like encouraging nudge. Sometimes that nudge that you don't really want to listen to , but it's coming with love. And it's like, okay, yes, you're right.
That that is a good path for me. Um, but they also provide the safety net. Mm-hmm. , so they're, they're like, they're both sides of, sometimes you need their support to help like kind of start you down the path, but also once you're on the path and it's, it's a dangerous, you're not sure if it's gonna be successful, they're also always there for, for
[00:35:56] Angie: the support.
And I think that they can also help you. [00:36:00] Consider things from different angles as well. Well,
[00:36:02] Kevin: this is why I think it's super helpful to have family that's not all a hundred percent gungho on running. Yeah. Because they can give that outside perspective. Mm-hmm. is one of my favorite parts of being in high school is I had running friends and I had friends who didn't even know that I was on the cross-country team.
So if I had a really bad race, the kid I was eating lunch with the next day didn't even know I had a race. Mm-hmm. so, It didn't really matter. Like there was no reason to be upset because he didn't care.
[00:36:26] Angie: So that's the difference between guy friends and girlfriends.
I
[00:36:28] Kevin: think , but it helped. It helped keep things in perspective.
Yeah. Is running was one of the things that I did, but it wasn't all of me. It wasn't all encompassing. It wasn't all of my friendships. Yeah, that guy. Like he, it didn't matter to him. And so it helped realize that yes, it mattered to me, but there I shouldn't be like crushed because of it. Mm-hmm. , because it was a lot more than just again, my time on the clock.
[00:36:52] Angie: Right. But I think that your family can also like, kind of where I was going with this is that if you are. Kind of starting to cross over [00:37:00] into the, the lane of obsession or Sure. You doing too much. Your conf your family can try to also reign you back in like, yes. You, you were talking about how family can be that encouraging nudge or that safety net, which I think is true, but I think they can also be a lens, um, of safety and security of like, , are you sure this is what you wanna do?
And make you actually rethink things? Make you actually decide, yes, this is something that's important, or no, maybe I am taking this a little too far. Maybe I do need to pull back a little bit here because I, you know, got so hyper focused on this goal that I am actually sacrificing some of these other areas in my life that I don't want
[00:37:39] Kevin: to sacrifice.
Yeah, I got so excited for. Pacific Gold. Yeah. I lost sight of, of all of the forest. I'm only looking at the one tree. Yeah. Yeah. We may have had these discussions before as we started increasing distances.
[00:37:51] Angie: We definitely have. Okay. Don't let him, don't let him gaslight any of you. We've had all of these conversations.
[00:37:56] Kevin: We possibly have had them repeatedly. You sure? A [00:38:00] hundred. That seems like a long distance.
[00:38:01] Angie: A hundred miles. Is that really what you wanna do? I'm getting a belt buckle. Well, and here's the thing, and I'm, you know, that I. A hundred percent supportive of you as long as you have the right timeline. Yes. And that's, that's the question that's always the biggest question mark of like, are you ready for this?
And sometimes the answer is, I'm not sure and I'm gonna try it. And, and see that's what, see what happens.
[00:38:24] Kevin: That's what was us. Here is, I think I'm ready. Yeah. Can you support me?
[00:38:28] Angie: And we disagreed on that. Like if, if we, if we're gonna be a hundred percent honest on this, like Yeah. You said, I think I'm ready.
I. I mean, at, at that point in time, I was on board, like I was a hundred percent You completely supportive. I always said, if you believe that you're ready mm-hmm. , I will support you 100%. Right. Because we, I think that, and I, I heard this from, you know, one of my business mentors that I follow. Who's in business with his wife and he, they get, you know, they get asked about the relationship all the time.
And one of his cardinal rules is we [00:39:00] don't move forward with anything if we don't agree on it. Yep. And I think that's a really good way to do, like, there's no such thing as compromising per se. It's like why, like, can we both get to the point where we agree on something? Yeah. And I think that that's super important.
You, I could tell that it was so important for you to attempt this race? Yes. Because you felt like there was a high chance that you could do it. You felt like you were ready and you really, really wanted it,
[00:39:32] Kevin: and you wanted to make sure that I was super safe. Yes. So we had a very clear conversation that if it got to a point that I needed to pull the plug. or you or the wonderful nurse that we brought with us Yep. Decided I needed to pull the plug that I needed to be in agreement with that. Right?
[00:39:49] Angie: Yep. And, and we had a lot of these discussions beforehand because I said, how do I know? Like, and, and this is a really good conversation that you guys can have with like your [00:40:00] family members if they're, you know, have chasing a goal as well is how do I know the difference between you just being tired? And me encouraging you to continue on versus you saying, no, Ang, I'm done. Yeah. You know, and we had to be very clear on that too. And also like we, like we said too, if I felt you were unsafe, if our friend felt like you were unsafe, you have to be okay with us canceling, you know? Right. Calling, pulling you off the course. Right. And being done.
[00:40:28] Kevin: Which, which was difficult. Like, that took, that took a day for me to like actually reflect on that and be like, ha, am I okay? Mm-hmm. , like if, if I am. , if I am outvoted in this Yeah. If it is a two to one mm-hmm. , I wanna keep going and, and both of the logical people who are not umpteen miles into the race Yeah.
And not thinking clearly as I, as I am here, say, I should be done, then I need to be done. Yeah. And, and I, I came around, I
[00:40:50] Angie: accepted that. Yeah. And I think it's very interesting though, because in the lead up to that a hundred mile race in the. Um, race packet and all of the information [00:41:00] online. When they were guiding you on who to choose for your race crew, they highly suggested not choosing family members.
Yes, they did. And part of that reason was because they didn't think that family members could be as objective. Yeah.
[00:41:15] Kevin: They
[00:41:16] Angie: don't know you as well. That was a big, well, , that's why every family's different,
[00:41:20] Kevin: but very, very true. Like, yep. Your family could blindly support you mm-hmm. and put you into an unsafe situation.
Right. That's not where you're coming. Mm-hmm. , you will support, but you're not gonna put me in any sort of unsafe situation.
[00:41:30] Angie: Yeah. And I think that you have to know your family members and choose the ones that you wanna take certain pieces of advice from,
[00:41:38] Kevin: which I think kind of leads us into step three.
Yep. All right, so let's do it. Step three. You somewhat get to choose your own running family. Like you don't get to choose the family you're born into. Mm-hmm. , but you do get to choose a lot of how you have the family around
[00:41:53] Angie: you. Yeah. I mean, and I would even take the word running out of it and just say, you get to choose your family.
Yeah. That, that is something that I believe. [00:42:00] So, you know, we've talked about how. Running can improve our family life. We've talked about how family can improve our running and in, in part number three, we really wanna talk about the fact that you can choose your own family because some of you might be listening to this thinking, I don't know who in my family I would go to for this.
I don't know who in my family are supportive of this because they all think I'm crazy. None of them are on board with this, or they live far away, so they couldn't support me. We have great news. You can choose your own family, . You get to pick and like Kevin. You can't control the family that you were born into biologically.
But the way that we see family, um, and the way that, especially like me, like I think that the family that we have in our lives are the people that are the closest to us and the way that we've. Kind of been talking about family in this whole episode. They're the people that are going to love you and support you unconditionally.
Mm-hmm. , they're the people that you know always have your back. They're the people that connect with you. [00:43:00] And let's all be a hundred percent honest. There's probably someone in your family that you don't connect with that doesn't support you, that you're like, how is this person a part of my family?
Mm-hmm. , I think that all of us have that right. We look at certain parts of our family. I know that I have those people in my family that are just, I see them on the holidays and that's, that's kind of it. And, and, and we're, that's fine. We're cordial. And I have nothing wrong with this person. I don't talk crap about these people.
There's nothing wrong with them, but they're just not my people. Yeah. Even though we share the same blood, they're not my people. They don't understand me. We don't share the same values. They don't, we don't share, you know, really any similar interests or experiences.
[00:43:41] Kevin: There's just not connection. There's just no connection.
[00:43:43] Angie: Set a family tree, right? And so, Would I rather call that person my family? Or would I rather call the people that I spend, you know, that I talk to every week that I run with multiple times per week? Would I rather call those people my family? Because those are the people that I know that [00:44:00] I can turn to when I'm high or when I'm low.
Yep. They're the people that I know will be there. The people that will wake up at 5:00 AM to run miles with me, that's my running family. And then we have friends that we consider family because. I'm so connected to certain people in my life that I'm not related to, but that person feels like a sister to me.
That person feels like they are as close as family bonds because of the connection that we share.
[00:44:27] Kevin: Right? So if you get yourself trapped in, well, my family is simply the people that, that I'm born into, that's my family, and they, I just, I got who I got and they don't understand me. They don't get it. Yeah.
It leads to this feeling. It can lead to this feeling of isolation. Yeah. The of loneliness. Mm-hmm. that you're out here trying to do this running journey all on your own. It's so difficult. And you don't have a, a support group around you. Yeah. Because your family just doesn't get it. And then you look to somebody else, they've got the support, supportive family.
You're running a race and you can see like, like [00:45:00] the. Mom and the kids out there that have all made signs and like the whole family's over there that's uss, that's the Browns right. . And you're like, ah, this, like so disappointed that you don't have like the same family out there with like the signs and everything.
You, you can, you definitely can. You just need to start creating that family around you. Yeah. Like we've been to plenty of races that people that. Close to the level of family. Mm-hmm. , they are not biologically connected to us. Yeah. But we have had people out with signs mm-hmm. at races before. Yeah. Who have made decent tricks to get to various races before.
So you can create a very supportive family. We've gone out to support races. I was
[00:45:40] Angie: just, I was about to say like we've gone to races that we haven't run to support other people that we consider a part of our running family. Yes. Very much so. Yeah. And so, Don't need every single part of your biological family to be 100% informed or 100% supportive.
Some of them are just never gonna get it, and that's [00:46:00] totally okay. They don't have to, like, you can try your best at Christmas and Thanksgiving to explain to them why you run and what you're doing. And there's still might, you know, there still might be people that look at you with that deer in the headlight look and just not even understand like, I don't know how you do it.
Like the fact that you're going out to. , anything more than a mile is baffling to them. Like, oh, I've never run a mile in my life. Or The most I've ever run is two miles in gym class and you know, or in practice in high school. Right. And so, . I think that there's kind of two, two ways we can go with this.
Like if you have people in your life that don't really understand it, there's, you can kind of try to overcompensate and try to like tell them all the things and try to convince them and get them on board and like invite them to come with you or you might. Have a tendency to kind of shut them out and just like not talk about it at all.
And I think that both of those things are, are kind of dangerous because both of them can lead to that. Again, that feeling of, of loneliness or [00:47:00] disappointment when they don't get it. Like when they, if they don't love it as much as you, or if they still don't understand it despite you, explain it to them multiple times.
Um, so that instead you just kind of shut them out and. Do end up going to that route and shutting them out, then you're not even opening a door to like let them in to try to bring them into your world. And that's just automatically leading to more of that isolation.
[00:47:23] Kevin: Right. I mean, there are people in, in your family that I've talked to Yeah.
At holidays who don't get why running is so important to me. Mm-hmm. , but they get that it is important to me. Yes. and that's all that really matters. Yeah. They get that. It is important. They get the amount of work and effort and time commitment that I put into getting to the level that I'm at and they get that things in their life.
Mm-hmm. that are difficult and take all sorts of work. Yes. And time and commitment to it. Yeah. That of things that are important to them that I have no interest in. Mm-hmm. , like, then I'm like, that is awesome. How committed you are to that. That's how committed and important running is to [00:48:00] me. Mm-hmm. and.
Even though the things could be completely unrelated, you get like, you could do music and art. Mm-hmm. and running and, and a different sport and all sorts of, all over the time. Their career. Yeah. Their career. Mm-hmm. , whatever it is that you are super strong and committed. And it's a very important thing.
People have something in their life that is important to them, that they put a whole lot of time and effort forth into. Mm-hmm. . And if you can say, running is that thing for me. That might be enough to just build a connection. Mm-hmm. , they don't have to get all the details of running. Right. They could fully believe that it is a 5K marathon.
That, that's the thing. like, did, did you win your 5K marathon this weekend? Yes, I did. Yes. Like, thank you Uncle Jack. It doesn't matter to them. Mm-hmm. what the distance in time is. They get that it was important to you, and so they're going to cheer you on and be like, that's awesome. Right. They might not even know if it's awesome or not.
And that's the thing. Mm-hmm. Is it doesn't really matter, but it's important to you. And they get that what's important is something that you've worked really hard for. And [00:49:00] they get the idea of working hard for
[00:49:01] Angie: something important. Yeah. Like the best is like, oh, like, you know, they'll, maybe they'll even know that they should ask your time.
Yeah. On something like maybe they know enough and then they'll be like, is that good? Is that good ? Right. Like, what was your time? It was this. Is that good? Were, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was, I was happy about it. Were you happy with that? Yeah. Yes. Awesome. Great. Right. Um, so you can try to connect with your family on it if you want to.
You don't have to. Right. On the other hand, you can create a running family. That understands your experiences and try to find a running group or other friends that really get it. Because my, my running friends and I have this joke that like after six miles, there's no boundaries or limitations. Like t m I is not a thing after six miles.
Yeah. Because when you just do, there's no filter. There's no filter. Right. You lose that for sure much earlier on in the process. Some people might argue that's even lower than six miles, but definitely anything over six miles. Uh, there's [00:50:00] no, there's no rules. You know, it's just kind of a, a circus in the, the wild west out there.
You can talk about it
[00:50:05] Kevin: all. I mean, that's why in high school you get so close to anybody that you've ever done like track with. Yeah. In high school for anybody who listened to, had that experience. Mm-hmm. , there is nothing quite like quarters until you drop. To bring people together. And don't get me wrong, this is not exactly the greatest training method.
I used to think that it was, and I had a whole different thing, not what we recommend anymore, but I, I just recently saw a post of you want to really connect with a group of friends, head to a track, run a 400 really hard. and then repeat it until everybody out of the group is laying on the ground . That is gonna be an incredibly bonding experience.
Yeah. It might take longer for some than others, but the whole idea of just going to the track and running one lap at a time really, really hard until everybody's dropped is gonna be incredibly
[00:50:50] Angie: bonding. Wow. Um, that is one way to do it. Right. Right. I mean, they, but it's hard to disagree. They say that trauma does connect people.
[00:50:58] Kevin: someone's dry heaving in the corner, it's [00:51:00] fine.
[00:51:00] Angie: Right. But. You know, it's funny because if you actually think about it, if you have people that you run with physically in person, like a running group, you're out there. And if you like to talk on your long runs or on all of your runs, like my friends and I do, you just understand each other's lives.
You update each other on a very regular basis. If you think about all the friends that you have in your life, how many of them do you talk to that regularly? How many of them do you talk to multiple times per week? And how many of them do you go out on Saturday and spend an hour and a half just chatting?
like you do with your running friends. Very good point. You know, like just the amount of time that you spend together, you should probably like that person, you should probably know that person a little bit. Like, you know, I ran with, um, a friend of mine this weekend and she's in my running group, but she moved away and we didn't really know each other that well, but this weekend we ended up running together and we got to know each other a lot better, quite well.
You [00:52:00] know, after, you know, we ran together for over an hour. . You get to know people on a different level and people just open up and they share their vulnerabilities. They share some of their, more of their stories. Like some of the things that I've heard on a run, I've just, like, some of them have knocked the wind out of me before.
Yeah. You know, because you realize what things that people have dealt with in their lives and, and how traumatic some people's lives have been and what people are dealing with, what got them into running in the first place. Right. There's a. In people's stories and when people. Trust you enough to share their story with you.
I believe there's no greater gift because they're sharing a piece of themselves with you. They're sharing a part of their lives, and that is a gift that automatically connects you to them. So just because you didn't grow up in the same household as them, you still. Can love that person. You can still, um, support that person.
You can still be there for each other in a way [00:53:00] that maybe you don't connect with other people in your life. And that's a very powerful bond.
[00:53:04] Kevin: Yeah, I mean these, these running groups, even if you don't. Go out and run step by step with someone else in the group. If you're with people beforehand, maybe you do a little bit with people during the run and afterwards.
There's all sorts of studies that actually shown that. The bonding that you get on the back end of it after you've gone through the hard part. Mm-hmm. , because, don't get me wrong, like during a track workout. Yeah. During hard workouts, I've not. Like deep conversations with people. Right? But it's the chit chat before.
Mm-hmm. , and then especially afterwards, your body actually gets better benefits from the workout because of the hormones, right? Mm-hmm. , because when you go from like the hard workout into now, like relaxing chit chat with the people around you, mm-hmm. , your body immediately gets this trigger that you're in a safe space and it can flip from flight or.
Flight or fight. Fight or flight. Thank you. Yep. Into, I, I was gonna say sympathetic co [00:54:00] parasympathetic, but I always get backwards of which one's witch. It now realizes that it's in a safe place. Mm-hmm. , and you get the kick of like the, the, the hormones that say You're good, you're fine. Cortisol starts coming down, and your body.
Quickly goes into recovery. So you're literally going to be less sore after a workout if you're able to hang out with your friends for a little bit afterwards.
[00:54:20] Angie: Yeah. Which is why I love my Saturday morning coffee runs. I was just gonna say your Saturday morning coffee runs. Yeah, like after like my friends and I, we do Saturday morning long runs and then we go to Starbucks and we sit and have coffee and then I, you know, like to go, there's an outdoor yoga class that I love to go to as well that just puts the icing on my Saturday morning.
Regardless. I mean, we have e even have people that don't run on Saturdays that still come meet us for coffee. Yeah, right. Because they, they're like, oh, I got my run in on Friday, but I'll still meet you guys for coffee because it's such a bonding and connect connecting experience just to be around other people that are like-minded like you, because you can strive together to push each other to higher [00:55:00] levels, whether that's whether or not you are running.
Together or not? Because you're like, people start talking about their goals and you're like, oh, maybe I should do that too. Mm-hmm. , you know, or actually inside a run, if you have a, a running buddy that you do run with, when that workout gets hard, when your body feels tired. and you see that person running right next to you.
I know it's happened for me plenty of times where I think to myself, I just have to keep up with her. You know? I just have to stay with her, don't let her get away, and that pushes me to get more out of myself. On those times where maybe I would've slowed down a little bit, maybe I wouldn't have pushed myself as hard.
When I have my running friend there to push me, that makes me push even harder. Yeah.
[00:55:43] Kevin: So, yeah, I think that your running family, I mean, we kind of covered this before with like your, your family and how family can help support your running mm-hmm. , but your running family where everybody really does get it.
Yeah. Also does provide that, that nice groundedness of however great the workout went. You're still the same person. Yeah. [00:56:00] That showed up at the start of the workout. Maybe it's the longest run you've ever had. You're still the same person ultimately. Mm-hmm. so, It's great and you can celebrate it, but the next day you're gonna get out and you're still gonna run with them.
Mm-hmm. . And maybe it's gonna be a good run, maybe it won't be, but like you are still like the same group of people. Yeah. You can kind of help push each other, but you can also keep each other grounded
[00:56:19] Angie: a little bit. Yeah. And if you don't reach your goal, likely, it's very likely that they've experienced that feeling too.
Very good point. So you can like, you don't have to say a lot, you can. Like I was, my goal was this, and this is what I got. And they're like, Ooh, yeah, I get it. They know exactly what that means, right? Because they just know, cuz they've probably been there, they've probably experienced something similar before.
So when you have people that can understand you on a deeper level. . It's just semantics. Do you wanna call them your friends? Do you wanna call them their, your family? How, however you want to think about them is what they are. Because a relationship with Summit, someone is simply your thoughts about that [00:57:00] person.
It's your thoughts about the relationship between you. That's, that's what it is. So if you wanna think of someone as your family, you don't have to tell them that. Like if you want to go for it, right? But you don't have to tell them. But in your head, you know, That that person has your back or those people have your back.
And to, to us, that's really what family is. Family is that unconditional love and support that you can count on, that you know is gonna be there no matter what, to love you and be there with you and support you through the highs and the lows and everything
[00:57:32] Kevin: in between. Excellent. I think that kind of sums up all of our, our whole take here.
Our whole take. So family. Family can help you. Running, running can help your family and you can kind of form the family that you need around you. Mm-hmm. to help reach those, those higher levels in running.
[00:57:48] Angie: Absolutely. So you guys, thank you so much for joining us today and thank you also to all of you that have been leaving reviews.
We have, um, you know, we read all of the reviews that you guys leave for us over on [00:58:00] iTunes or Apple podcasts, I think is what it's called now. If it's iTunes or Apple Podcasts, um, if you haven't left us a review yet, we would love that. If you already have, you can leave another one based on just this episode.
You can do, you know, multiple reviews based on different episodes. You can review the podcast as a whole. Um, and that would just be such a great way for you to let us know what you like about the podcast so that we. Keep making content that is useful and helpful for you. Um, so head over to Apple Podcasts and give us a rating and a review over there.
And if you haven't connected it with us over on Instagram yet, we're at real life runners, shoot me a DM and say hi, and let me know that you found us through the podcast and. Don't be afraid to also share this with your friends. So share all the podcasts or family. Or family, yeah. Or
[00:58:47] Kevin: friends that you consider Family
[00:58:49] Angie: All right, you guys, as always, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for choosing to spend your time with us. We appreciate you, and this has been The Real Life Runners podcast, episode number [00:59:00] 296. Now, get out there and run your life.
