Angie is a fabulous midwestern momma who set her sights on the runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend 5k in February 2020, and scored a fun new way to bond with her daughter in the process. Join us as she shares her journey from registration to, “I actually think I can do this!”
LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP
Show notes:
Today’s Topics:
-Those social media pictures will get ya.
-Running as a way to go on an extra vacation
-When our kids are go-getters
-Race outfit planning
-A unique motivation strategy
-Training runs in costume
-Running in a giant hat
-Galloway App for training
-So much progress in so little time
-Pausing to honor our achievements
-Time to call ourselves runners
-The mile day…duhn duhn duuuuuhhnnn
-Girls on the Run
-Bonding on the track
-The first trip to the running store
-Me? The running club?
-Rescue dogs
-Tough little chicks
-Freddie Mercury
-runDisney Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend 2020 is Villians themed!
Show transcript
Sally: Hey friends,
I’m so glad you’ve joined us here today on Finding Finish Lines because today we are chatting with Angie. She is a fabulous Midwestern mama with all the kindness and pep that you would expect. She is a wife and mother to two kids ages eight and thirteen. She works outside her home part time for a healthcare organization but realistically she knows that she is a full time chauffer, chef, sports mom, and recreational director inside her home.
Y’all know exactly what that’s like.
She’s a self proclaimed Disney nerd, a dog lover, a glitter enthusiast. And while she didn’t write it here, I’m going to go ahead and add runner to that list because today she is sharing her story with us of going from essentially couch to 5K. She decided that she wanted to set her eyes on a runDisney 5k. She just hit that button. My friends, she just hit the button and figured it out.
And I’m so, so excited that she’s decided to share her story with us because I would be willing to bet that you know somebody who has been considering getting in on all the fun that is a race morning, but maybe they’re a little bit afraid to do it. Maybe it’s so far outside the comfort zone that it requires not a tiptoeing out, but like a full on burst out of that comfort zone. And if you know someone like that, please share this episode with them because yes, Angie is incredibly encouraging and she’s here to tell you that she did it and you can too.
So let’s get started.
Hi Angie.
Angie:How are ya?
Sally: I’m so good. Thank you for asking and thank you for coming on and sharing your story with us. I know it can feel weird sometimes and I appreciate that you’re
Angie: No, no, this was cool.
Deciding to run a 5k
Sally: So Angie, I asked you here today because you have recently achieved something that I think many women have in the back of their mind as a goal and I kind of wanted to talk to you about how that process came to be. Whether you know it or not. I have been cheering for you like a straight up weirdo from my house and so I’m just really excited to kind of talk about the process of going from that’s an idea somewhere out in the distance to, “We’re actually gonna do it.”
Angie decided to hit the big register button and sign up the Disney princess 5K this February. That would be your first go round with run Disney, right?
Angie: Yeah. I’m so excited. I can’t wait.
Sally: I’m pretty excited too. If for nothing else than I’ll see you there!
Talk to me about registration day. Was it spur of the moment or had you been considering it for a while? How did that, how did that all go down?
Angie: Oh gosh. Well, you know, I always see everybody on social media posting all their super fun, super great run Disney pictures. And of course, you know, we love Walt Disney world. So I’ve got to admit, at first I was like, “Hey, this is another way to go to Disney world.”
Sally: Super check. I think we’ve all had that thought.
Angie: I had been looking at it right for awhile. My daughter will call her Miss V. She is eight and I knew she would love it. But the thing is like tell her that I was thinking about it because once she knew about it, we were doing it whether I wanted to do it or not. Oh, there was, like, no in-between. She is a firecracker and a go getter.
So yeah, we were at Walt Disney World and I, you know, I knew it was registration day and I think said, “You know what, let’s do it.” Yeah, here I am.
Sally: I love that about our feisty girls. And did you tell her immediately?
runDisney 5k race outfits as motivation
Angie: I did. And she was so excited. She’s has seen pictures of the race outfit. So you know, her thought was yeah we used to come back here. We get to wear these sparkly skirts and great shirts. It’s going to be so much fun.
Sally: Those are some of the perks!
Angie: I’ve actually kind of tied that into my training. For every week that I kinda stick to my training and make choices that support my training, I make a checkmark. Then after three weeks, I buy another piece of my outfit.
Right. So it’s a good way to keep myself motivated if I want to have something to wear.
Sally: Well now that would make for an interesting 5k!
Angie: So I better keep up!
Sally: Are you and Miss V. coordinating characters?
Angie: We each are one of our favorites. She is an Ariel girl. She is going to be Ariel and I decided to go with Cinderella, so it’ll be fun. It’ll be fun.
Sally: Well, I’m excited to see the outfit.
The best part about running in costume is that, you know, the, there’s like an old adage that there’s nothing you should never use anything new on race day. So part of your training is that you have to do a training run in your full costume.
Angie: We’re in Wisconsin. Yeah, it’d be, you know, February, snowy, and we’re going to be racing down on the road in our tutus.
Sally: I want those pictures!
Angie: We’ll probably get a few looks. It’ll be good. I’m, I’m all in. Okay. “There goes Cinderella and Ariel.”
Sally: I once ran a 10K and I tried to do it in a giant hat without doing any kind of test run and I wound up running with my hands over my head for part of it, carrying the hat for part of it. It was completely ridiculous and I don’t recommend it, but it did look cute for the pictures!
Angie: Good. The pictures, that’s all that matters. Right?
Sally: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. That’s part of the whole, it’s part of the, the whole scoop.
Picking a 5k training plan
So after you hit register, it was time to make a plan. Do you follow, like, Couch to 5K or do you have a certain training plan? What has your training looked like?
Angie: Yeah. You know, I read, searched a lot of different current training plans and um, I looked at them app and whatnot and I decided to use Jeff Galloway’s Lolo app. Right.
I love the intervals because just the thought of running for more than like 30 seconds at a time, just makes me want to curl into a ball. Like, okay. “I don’t think I can do this.” But if I could run a little walk a little, it’s perfect. So I started out with that. I would completely recommend that app to anyone that is thinking about getting into it and is hesitant and wants to start off slow.
I mean, started out doing maybe 10, maybe 15 minutes at a time. It’s funny because it was pretty hard back then. Starting out. Okay. Now I will do 3.1 just regularly. It’s just amazing how far I’ve come.. Okay. Yes. I followed the L a Jeff Galloway’s Lolo app and it’s three days a week, so there’s two days where you’ve got a shorter, and then one day where you’ve got a little bit of a longer run and it’s great. I really like it.
honor the work
Sally: I just want to take a second and honor that you just said that when you started, your training runs were about 15 minutes and you had no idea when they were going to end and now you’re running 3.1 miles and it feels normal.
I mean, that’s crazy when you just take a second to stop and recognize how far you’ve come and how much transformation has been in the process. Honor it. Because I think sometimes we just completely forget that step and we just move on, “Like this is who I am now.” Like it’s always been normal when it hasn’t.
You worked hard to get here.
I mean when, when you asked me to do this I was like, “ME? I’m not doing anything special!” but I guess I need to own up. When I think about where I started, right, I’ve come a long way. I just tell you what, yesterday, I did a 3.1on the treadmill and I woke up this morning and nothing was sore! I couldn’t believe it. My shins don’t hurt. This is great. No, not here.
Sally: That’s just who you are now. You’re a runner. And
Angie: You know what? I would never call myself that. I would never call myself a runner. I feel weird about that, but I suppose I need to own up to it because you know I don’t look like a typical runner.
Yeah. You know what? Yeah, I’m a runner.
Sally: I think you just, my day.
You probably don’t know this, but I still have a hard time saying that I’m a runner. I always say, “Oh yeah, I’ve run.”
Angie: Oh, I get that. I get that.
Sally: There’s some sort of big distinction between it. That’s ridiculous. I run, I’m a runner and so are you. We’re runners. I like it.
Angie: I’m working on it. It’s still, it still feels weird and I always feel the need to kind o,f yeah. To kind of say, “Well, I might run, well, I do intervals. I don’t really run. Yeah. Right. I need to own up. Right.
You know, it’s funny, I would have told my story to 12 year old me! Well, whatever the worst day of my entire school year life. Was the day we had to walk from the elementary school to the trac to run the mile in gym. Like I felt I was marching to my death!
Sally: Oh, tell me about it. I was not a mile fan either. Suddenly I felt sick on mile day.
bonding: a perk of training for a 5k
So let’s talk about Miss V. I know she was instrumental in your journey here. How old is she?
Angie: Eight.
Well, she joined Girls on the Run. She is… isn’t that… or I should say she wasn’t very enthusiastic about running, but it’s been fabulous for her! Not only do they run, but it’s a lot about, you know, power and team and confidence and being kind to others. And they ended their Fall with a community service project. They raised money to benefit a service dog academy in the area.
It’s been amazing for her. When she signed up I was like, “Oh no! I really have to get by by moving because she’s doing a 5k with Girls on the Run, she’s gonna need a running partner.
So this kind of pushes my timeline up months from the Princess at the end of February. So I like, okay, I really better be serious about this because she needs a running buddy and I’m going to have to do this with her. So yeah. Yeah. Yes. It was a good motivator for me too.
Sally: So you brought her in with princess and then she brought you in with Girls on the Run. It’s like she, she one-upped you! “I see your February and I give you a November.”
Angie: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably she did that because that’s just how she is. She is my adventurous, try-anything girl.
Sally: So you guys have been running together now?
Angie: Yes, we do train together. We um, I have been going to the gym and going around the indoor track there a few days a week. It’s been really cool. We’ve had good chats. Where you know, there’s no time TV. There’s no, there’s no other outlets. Yes, it’s really cool. And she’s a good company, so. Right. Awesome.
Sally: And at mile day, your daughter is not going to have the same dread that you and I had. What a gift.
Angie: You know, she still complains about gym class, but you know, maybe if she could dress up in a tutu and tiara and run around in gym class, it might make it more fun.
Sally: There’s a whole universe between running with your mom in a costume and team sports.
Angie: Oh my goodness. That, that was not my thing. Team sports? No, no. Am I good at anything? No. I’m about the most uncoordinated person. Well this is good cause I can put one foot in front of the other. That doesn’t take a whole lot of coordination.
Sally: That’s exactly why I can do it.
the running store experience
It’s highly recommended that everyone who’s starting a new running routine go to the local running store and have your foot evaluated so that they can recommend particular shoes for your style foot.
I know you did this recently and it’s one of those activities set like strikes fear in the hearts of all new runners.
So I was wondering if you could share, uh, your experience with us.
Angie: Yeah. Oh gosh. You know. Okay. When I started out, I’d already started training and I was in my old beat up whatever-they-were. Nikes. Yeah. I’m not going to get very far in these because I’m going to hurt myself.
So I finally decided, you know what? I do need to go to the running store. When I pulled up, I waited in the parking lot for about 20 minutes. “Okay, Angie, you’ve got to do this. Go in.”
You know what? They were great. It didn’t phase him that I walked in and said, “I know nothing! This is what I’m going to be doing. Can you help me find that something that I can put on my feet.
He was really good. Well, they did some sort of electronics evaluation of my foot with some weird thing that looked like a scale.
Sally: Was it the heat map? Like a heat map of your foot?
Angie: Yeah, I think it was because they had this really cool 3D picture of my foot and he brought up some shoes that he thought I would like.
I thought it was really funny because when I checked out, I bought my shoes, he was like, “Yeah, you know, we’ve got this running club that goes for runs every day or whatever. And I just laugh. I’m like, “You look at me and think I’m going to join a running club? That’s really nice. See you buddy.”
Sally: But guess what? Maybe you would. You’re running 5K’s on your treadmill with no soreness. Yeah. He’s noticing that you’re a runner before you’re noticing that you’re a runner.
Angie: I guess. You know, it’s funny. But. It was…I was so freaked out to go in there. But I just, like I said, I sat in my car for about 20 minutes. Like, all right, “You have to do this. You need these shoes. Okay. And now I don’t think you could pry my Hoka Ones from my cold dead hands. I love them. They are the best.
Sally: A little bit of squish.
Angie: It helps a lot. It really does. I put those things on and I feel like I’m walking on clouds. It’s amazing.
Sally: Going back to the running store, does it still have the same level of intimidation? Do you need a…
Angie: Maybe only a 10 minute one this time.
Sally: there is this mythology built up around the running store. Really. And it’s in every city. It’s everyone who starting. It’s so common to think, “Um, that’s a store for people that are not me. Why would I need to go in for their services?” And it’s really hard was you’re starting to change your mindset that “No, It is a store for me because this is now my hobby. I am now this person and I’m going to go.”
Angie: that’s a funny thing to get used to. And I like we talked about, I still don’t think about myself in that way. Um, yeah, I’m, I’m sure I’m going to have to go back in there and it’ll still be kinda scary, but you know what, I’m just going to do it anyway. And like I said, maybe only 10 minutes in my car instead of 20 this time.
I’ll bring my daughter along. She’s not afraid of anything, she’ll just walk right in there. I’ll let her break the ice.
Sally: I love it. It’ll be kind of scary and I’ll do it anyway. I love it.
final fun questions
Sally: If you could be absolutely any animal in the animal kingdom, what would you be?
Angie: Oh, that’s a good question. You know, we’ve got two rescue dogs, and they have a pretty cushy life right now. They eat. They sleep. They lay around. I think I’d like to be one of them.
Sally: Do you have a personal mantra or a favorite quote?
Angie: My favorite quote has always been Marie from the Aristocats. The whole “Ladies don’t start fights but they can finish them.”
I think it’s great. And you know, kinda ties into this too. You know, being brave and being confident. But I’d like to think that if they made that movie today, that maybe she would say, “Ladies can start fights and they can finish them because, cause there’s things worth fighting for. And there’s things worth starting fights for. I’d change that one a little bit today, but that’s always been my favorite. She’s just…she’s just a tough little chick.
Sally: I love it. And I can totally see that being your like operative quote. Cause you’re also “Just a tough little chick.”
Do you have a favorite movie?
Angie: Oh wow. There are so many.
I would say recently, umm, this goes without saying that pretty much anything with the Disney logo on is my favorite. So yeah, Disney movies. But lately I can’t tell you how many times we saw Bohemian Rhapsody. I love that movie and talk about being brave. I mean, Freddie Mercury, that guy, he really kind of epitomizes brave. He put himself out there. And he was who he was. Yeah. That’s one of my favorite movies recently. But as far as classic movies go, I’d have to go with Beauty and the Beast.
Angie’s advice for a new runner
Sally: What advice do you have for someone who is just maybe lacing up her old Nike’s for the first time in quite a while and is thinking about hitting register for her own race and starting this process for herself?
Angie: Well, first of all, I would say you don’t need to wait 20 minutes in your car!
You know, maybe take a few seconds, but…go in there and get your shoes and get it done. You know, like our girl, Cinderella, the right pair of shoes will change your life.
Right. So it’s important. It’s important to get your good shoes. Be brave. Don’t be afraid. Yeah. Okay. Yes, go out. Okay. Do it. Go for what you want because you’ll really amaze yourself at what you can do. I can’t believe how far I’ve come. You know, honestly, it really hasn’t been that long. Just go for it. Do it.
The things that seem really scary are usually the things that are completely worth it in the end and this has been worth it. I’m glad I got out of my car that day.
What’s next?
Sally: What’s next for miss? Angie, do you have your eyes on the next big challenge?
Angie: Miss V. and I are going to be doing Wine and Dine Weekend next November. Really totally pumped about that. We are going to be doing the 5k. I’ll have her with me.
Sally: And it’s Villains!
Angie: Yes! How cool is that going to be? I’m gonna have to work on getting a lot faster there because I’ll need to stop for all those photo ops. I don’t know. I hope that I’ll be able to restrain myself from that. I can’t wait. I’m so excited.
And you know, I posted somewhere that I was, uh, going to Wine & Dine Weekend and someone’s like, “You haven’t even done first, uhh. runDisney race.” I’m like, “Like, yeah, you know, I’m out of my mind. I am not right in the head, but you know what, let’s do it anyway.
Sally: Well, welcome to the running community. We do crazy stuff. It doesn’t have to make any sense. It’s just what we do.
Angie: Being able to cross that finish line, like when I did the um, girls on the run 5K, crossing that finish line… I can see why people get addicted because it was the best feeling ever. And what’s not to like about it? You’ve crossed the finish line. Everybody cheers for you. They hand you snacks. They hand you a medal. Like, I could get used to this! Could someone do this for me every day? Every day.
Sally: Yeah. It’s disappointing. The next time you come home and there’s none of that.
Angie: Yes. I’m going to run through the door and I get home and people will hand me snacks and give me a medal. Perfect.
Sally: You really can’t be a race finish line.
Angie: I know. So yeah, just that moment is addicting and I can’t wait. I can’t wait to do it again. I don’t know how I’m gonna sleep for like the week before. I just don’t know.
Sally: Alright Angie. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.
Angie: Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Like I said, when we started. I when, when you asked me I was like, “Whaat? Me? Llittle old me? Like I didn’t do anything great.
BUT, I need to take ownership of that and say, “Yes, you know what? I did it. There was a thing and I did the thing, and I’m doing the thing, I’m doing it. Yeah. It’s pretty cool.
Sally: Well, if I’ve had anything to do with encouraging you to take a pause and recognize how far you’ve come and how strong you are, then I’m incredibly flattered. So thank you very much for sharing that with me.
Angie: Yes, well you should be because yes, this is, um, thank you.
Sally:I told you guys she was great. Am I right?
So if you have any friends who, you know, have had this dream on their heart and they would like to strap on their old Nike’s and go out for a 5K, please share this episode with them. I’m hoping that they find it encouraging and inspiring in the same way that I find Angie encouraging and inspiring.
If you want more finding finish lines before next Wednesday, you can find us over on Facebook, of course, at finding finish lines.
If you have a spare moment, I would appreciate it so much if you could leave us a quick review on your podcast app of choice. It helps other people find the show and it really means a lot to me.
If you have a suggestion for somebody that you would like to be featured on Finding Finish Lines, shoot me an email at Sally@findingfinishlines.com.
Until next time, carry on, Women of Valor.
[…] Can I run a 5k? […]