good morning thank you for joining us on another edition of kind of Runner Spotlight I appreciate the time looking forward to get to know you over the next kind of 15 minutes or so maybe to start with can you just tell me more about yourself tell me what you do to kind of live work and and play well I live in Valparaiso Indiana I am a personal trainer so I have been coaching at base camp which is a hit training studio and then because that is not a full-time job I also clean houses what made you get into personal training um well I I moved to North Carolina probably seven years ago and lived there for about four years and when I moved there I had never left the Midwest I grew up in Grand Rapids I lived in Valparaiso for a couple of years so my family and my friends were all still within driving distance um so when I moved to North Carolina I didn't know how to find like other adults to be friends with um so I ended up joining the YMCA I started out taking spin classes and pilates because I thought I didn't like sweating um and then I met a crazy friend who liked to lift weights and she wasn't afraid to go over by the weight rack where all the guys were and she basically was like you want to work out with me and I was so desperate for somebody to hang out with I was like I will do whatever you want yes I will pick up weights I don't care um and turns out she ran for warm up so that's what got me into running was chasing her for a mile trying not to die in the humidity um and then as I got more and more into it I got certified in group fitness started doing group fitness at the Y and then I had people in my classes asking me what I was doing and guessing that I start personal training so I took their suggestions and I went and got personal trainer certified and then started doing personal training at the Y wow

is there a certain personality that you need to do personal training is it a more extraversion more introversion type of thing is there something about you and your background that made it seem like oh personal training is something I can do um actually I think it was kind of a weird fit especially group fitness to begin with um I've always been interested in Fitness and always wanted to like be fit I loved rollerblading I didn't think I could be a runner because I didn't I didn't think I was any good at running so I did things like Pilates and spin class but um group fitness was a stretch for me because I hate public speaking I do not want to be the center of attention um definitely a little more introverted in in that way um but that kind of broke the ice and then it turned out while I was I was good at group fitness because I could complete all the classes with everybody and I was very good at you know describing the moves and correcting form verbally because obviously you can't go physically correct form in the middle of a group fitness class um I started to realize that I was a little bit better at the one-on-one I was more comfortable with just one or two people really being able to get in depth with form and suggestions on how to reach that next level um so I think honestly it's it's probably a little bit attention to detail and then it's just it's just being able to make those one-on-one connections and and actually caring um what that person's goals are and and what may or may not be you know preventing them from reaching that next level is it um is it hard to get people to Define their goals so they have an idea of what they're trying to do when they come see you or is it kind of like I I want to do Fitness uh honestly it's usually weight loss most people especially females that's that's all they care about they're like I just want to lose weight um so then it's kind of trying to get them to see that while that might be a great goal to some extent there's always something underlying like what are you going to achieve by losing that weight you're gonna you're gonna feel better maybe your cholesterol is going to be better your blood pressure is going to be better you can move better you can carry all your groceries in at one time and it's fun and I've noticed it a lot at base camp these women are coming in with that goal I just want to lose weight and as they start to lose weight they realize that it's not so much about the number on the scale it's about building that muscle and being able to perform everyday tasks better and then their goal starts to elevate like we've got a couple of women they're like I want to do an unassisted pull-up by Christmas it's neat to see the progression and it's just kind of helping them along their way because you have to start where they're at so you know you have to start okay I understand what you want to do is lose weight and then you just kind of throw little things in along the way to kind of get them to elevate that goal to something that's not to say a little more healthy but but just a different mindset where it's not all weight centered I've read this article once it was talking about it was a personal trainer and he was talking about working with elderly patients that were coming into him talking about back pain and he said one of the first things that he does when an elder person comes in is complaining about back pain from picking up groceries or whatever it is is that he personally tries to teach him how to how to deadlift but how to pick things up properly with their legs and he found out that when people learn how to pick things up properly deadlift or whatever whatever the exercise is and they use more than just their lower back but the the process of learning that often cures their back pain it's just learning how to pick things up I thought that was really interesting yeah yeah it's really neat how learning proper form for you know just the basic squat deadlift push pull all of that kind of stuff really when they get that form down they realize how important it is for for a living that's very cool um back to running so back to this this magical friend that you met one day um that wasn't afraid to go over to the the weight rack she sounds like an awesome person uh she also she also ran so she ran for warm-ups and then obviously that it sounds like that was your first introduction to running uh was there but you obviously have since continued uh you recently ran the Chicago marathon um looks like you did the Turkey Trot not too long ago so you've continued after then how did that Journey kind of start um well I started running with her um and we would add a little bit on all the time so I think we maybe worked our way up she'd already been running so it was more like working my way up to running around three miles and she was like look there's a there's a creepy crawl 5K we do it every year if you want to sign up and I was so nervous and I you know sat there staring at the Run sign up for probably half an hour before I actually hit the button um but I showed up and I ran and I came in under 30 minutes which literally meant nothing to me I had no clue and I had all of these people they're like oh my gosh you did your first 5k in under 30 minutes and I was like is that good I don't know I didn't die um so then I got excited because they told me I was good at it so I promptly signed up for the next 5K which was the sweetheart 5K um and I placed in my age group and learned that grown-ups also get medals um which was very exciting and so after that they handed me my medal I went home and I signed up for a half marathon I was like why not let's just go big so and then I had always said I would never do a marathon um and then of course you finish your first half marathon and you're like you know what that wasn't that bad find a group of people they're like oh we're all running the Outer Banks marathon and you're like all right let's go I loved how it made me feel I loved the people that I met running um so when I left North Carolina and moved to Colorado that that was how I met that was how I met people I could just show up at a group run and it doesn't matter where you're from or who you are or how fast or how slow they're like all right we're friends now let's go running and you find people your pace and Away you go so it was pretty awesome how many marathons have you done now so you mentioned the Outer Banks Marathon um and then I know you did the Chicago what number are you up to now um so Outer Banks Marathon was my first and then while I was still living in North Carolina I did the Richmond marathon in Virginia um and then I I had signed up for a last chance BQ marathon in Grand Rapids um to hit my Boston qualifying time but then I moved to Colorado and welcome to high altitude training and I went from pancake flat to literally everything is a hill you think you're gonna I'll start my run going uphill so I can finish going downhill it's a lie going uphill there is no hope just get used to it um so I ended up not going to the last chance BQ I met another crazy friend in Colorado who was training for the Pikes Peak Marathon um I thought I would just do the ascent which is just bar Trail you gain just over 7 000 feet and you finish at the top of Pikes Peak which is just over 14 000 feet I was like well I'll just do the half um and she she said that she would pay the difference in registration if I would upgrade grade to the full so I ended up doing the Pikes Peak Marathon twice um and then I left Colorado uh I moved back to Indiana I was actually registered to run the Chicago marathon last year but ended up with a stress fracture in my right femur and I was on crutches for eight weeks and I don't think I ran for almost six months um so I deferred to this year so that'd be what four five five full marathons two Ultras and I don't even know how many half marathons in 5Ks what uh what a long ways from just running into someone at the YMCA starting to run that's pretty impressive I would love to talk more about those in the Ultras um but I want to ask a couple last questions and then be respectful of your time but that's that's that's incredible that's really cool congratulations to you um so at the very beginning you mentioned how you spend your day and to me that sounds like you're all over the place it sounds like you have to go do physical training you're going to probably multiple houses in a day you're also at your home um how do you find tying to train for a marathon nonetheless an ultra marathon when it sounds to me like you're always moving yeah it's it's definitely I probably don't get as much sleep as I as I should I used to be a morning Runner um when I lived in Colorado I did I coached at f45 and I cleaned houses so on the days that I didn't coach at 5am I'd meet my friend Lauren and we'd run at 5am and on the days I couldn't run at 5am I would run in the afternoon when I got done cleaning while my daughter was at soccer practice um and now I I'm kind of transitioning I actually my last day coaching at base camp is tomorrow morning so that'll be my last 5 a.m class and then I will just be cleaning houses for a little while so that's really going to help but I've been running in the evenings a lot which is not my favorite but when I moved here um I ended up meeting my now boyfriend who is a chronic evening Runner so I went from the crazy 5 a.m Runner to now it's like 7 30 at night in the dark with an ox gear vest on um but so a lot of nighttime miles unfortunately or however you want to look at it guilty um I got nothing against my time in fact when um when I had kids I got my first treadmill and now I've had this treadmill over there for over 10 almost 10 years it seems like um and so I do a lot of sometimes the only time I'm able to run after soccer practice whatever is at night um and so either I go outside or if it's just me around then I run on the treadmill and I just yeah I always thought I would be outside but sometimes things change and you become an evening Runner or Trevor you do whatever it takes so that's really neat days like today definitely make me make me wish I had a treadmill though I think that feels like temperature is two degrees today so yeah I I yeah I don't even I I don't even understand I can't I don't understand it's impressive it's very impressive this is the time of year when I look on Facebook and Instagram and I see people I'm like I don't know how that's amazing that's really amazing um so um tell me more about what um what are some of your favorite running Brands you mentioned a few of them going through it uh what are some of the things that you've discovered in your time that makes your running experience much better um well definitely now that I run in the evening I I love my my nox gear Fest um and I just just came out with a little um a little Spotlight that you attach on the Buckle so then not only are you glowing but you can kind of see in front of you because I am horrible like my vision at night is nothing um so I love that now it illuminates what's in front of me too but I've had I mean I've literally had cars driving alongside the road roll down their window and be like I love your vest what is it so that one's made a huge difference and this is Knox n o x what I'll do is um I'll send you the links and we'll see and we can put it into the the link so other people can take a look at it perfect yep so that's that's been a big one um I have been notoriously awful at carrying hydration or any type of fuel when I run in North Carolina I'd run 15 miles and literally bring nothing um thought I was fine uh but now I have found that because I thought I didn't like to carry anything in Colorado I was addicted to my Nathan hydration vest especially for trail runs and I'll I'll wear it still here we'll go run the trails at the Indiana Dunes um and I'll wear my vest uh and I like that because I can put you know my gels or or whatever in the little pockets and I'll bring my phone so I can take pictures and then I've got the full bladder of I usually don't do water I usually have noon in there um so that's another one of my favorites are the noon tablets you just have to make sure you they're effervescent so you have to make sure that you leave your bladder open so it gets done fizzing before you shut it or it will explode out the end of your straw and shoot whoever's right next to you so maybe you want to do that sometimes it just depends what mood you're in yeah um so that's that's made a big difference I also have a little um soft flask Nathan handheld for when we're not going as far um which again I'll put noon or sometimes I've been guilty of putting Gatorade in there just when it was really hot out it was whatever I knew I'd be willing to drink while I ran um I really have liked uh Huma gels are what I usually use when I race um my boyfriend really loves Morton um the texture works great for him it's not my it's it's harder for me because it's like this this yeah it's different it's a different than like the the typical dudes so I have a hard time figuring out how to breathe and swallow the Morton gel at the same time I like that it's got a very plain flavor um but the humans are are just so much easier for me to take and the flavors are so good I actually look forward to taking them um so that's made a big difference actually learning how to fuel on my runs um and then I guess as far as like favorite running like clothing I've been addicted to Rabbit lately um I'm pretty sure half of my Christmas presents are Rabbit running gear and half my boyfriend's a rabbit running here because we just all of it um their shorts I really like because when I'm just doing my handheld I like to have my phone with me in case my kids need me um or I like to take pictures of everything so for when I inevitably want to take a picture and they have shorts and sports bras that both will hold your phone um and without it actually bothering you like it doesn't move it doesn't bounce um it just stays put um so I really I really like that as well but and then running shoes I I test shoes for Nike so I always have not always I frequently have a random pair of Nikes that I don't know exactly what they are that I'm running in but um I ran the Chicago marathon in Alpha flies but they were the second the second version which just didn't work as well for me as the first so I ended up going with the Vapor Flies and that's what I ran the Turkey Trot in and then actually after the Turkey Trot we did a jingle bell 5K and I pr'd at the Turkey Trot and then IPR it again at the Jingle Bell 5K and it that's been seven years in the making that took a long time when I first started running I'd take a minute off of every 5K and I remember thinking this can't keep going like literally I can't keep taking a minute off eventually I'm gonna plateau and it's gonna stop and that Plateau lasted for seven years so um maybe it's the magic shoes I don't know but they've definitely been my favorites for racing lately or but yeah I don't know beyond that I can't think of oh that's great that's awesome um I know you also have some experience with our products Peregrine uh is there anything you want to share about that how do you use um the particular products um I have let's see I have the multivitamin I've been taking that for a long time um on and off because of course you know everybody's human yeah find it in your cupboard and you're like oh no and then I do have um the Omega threes and then the joint

The Joint complex is that what it's called I have all three um I did remember I took them religiously while I was training for the Chicago marathon um and I I mean then when I was training for Chicago I think I'm coaching probably classes a week at base camp in addition to cleaning houses um and I mean I I didn't get sick a single time I didn't get injured um I felt like my energy levels during the day were really good um and then you know some vitamins kind of they'll they'll upset your stomach or you know they're on the cheap end and you wonder if you're absorbing any of it but the the Paragon have never bothered my stomach I've never had any issues with them um and I usually remember to take them at lunch time so I mean I would take them and then run not that long after taking them and it was never an issue so it it makes it a lot easier when you don't have to to worry about that um yeah cool well uh last question and then I'll I'll let you go about your busy day um but what um what running goals are you chasing now what's next um kind of in your list of things you're trying to try to do uh right now I'm just because it's so cold out we're we're focusing on just the 5K the 10K we have a one mile race um in Chicago I think it's at Gately so it's an indoor track which will be really interesting because I've never I've never run on an indoor banked track so we're gonna go do a one mile race there um so just a lot of speed work um we're actually considering signing up my boyfriend and I for a high rocks competition um so it's you perform a strength move and then you run 1K and then you perform another strength move like a burpee broad jump and okay and you end up running 8K by the end of it and in between you know it's either the skier or the rower or sandbag lunges um Farmers carry uh and you know when we're looking at people's times it really looks like where people struggle is the Run um so that's kind of going to be our goal and it kind of keeps us into that speed work is trying to complete those one days faster than everybody else while still being able to finish um the strength moves but once it gets nicer out we are running the Indie mini um in Indianapolis the half marathon there we ran it last year um it's it goes across the Brickyard right it does it go inside the the stadium it goes around the Indy 500 track yes yes yep which last year we were lucky and the weather was perfect uh my only fear is if it's hotter outside that that tarmac or whatever that is is just gonna like radiate heat as you run through there so we'll see um but it is a really really well put on Marathon um just there was you know no hold UPS as far as getting our packet um lining up at the start line in our Corrals like everything was just so smooth um and I hadn't been running super long again after having the stress my femur when we did the Indy mini that was kind of like my goal race after I got back to running um so this year the goal is to PR so I would like one 35 that might be a little over excited but that's that's the goal is 135 and then from there we'll move on to marathon training um hoping to run Grandma's Marathon uh and BQ so I'm only a few minutes away from my BQ time um Chicago was a ton of fun but you basically get trampled at every water station like if you're trying to cut across to get their water they're so focused on that they'll just they'll run into you they'll you know you almost get tripped so I'm I'm it was a great experience but I'm looking forward to a race where I don't have to fight at every aid station to to not fall down um so and that's supposed to be a great Boston qualifying course so fingers crossed it's crossed yeah well Katie it was a pleasure talking with you this morning thank you for your time uh I learned a lot I know a bunch of people learn a lot as well so thank you for taking a few minutes yeah no problem thank you it was great