0:01

Hey , my friend , today we're going to hear from

0:03

Julie Felton , who is a mother runner

0:05

and always smiling and inspiring

0:07

others , and today she's going to share

0:10

her lessons learned that can help

0:12

you on your running journey , the

0:14

joys and experiences of running races

0:16

, and how running can benefit

0:18

you physically , mentally and emotionally

0:21

. Hope you enjoy .

0:23

Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast

0:25

. Here you will find inspiration

0:28

, whether you are looking to take control of your health

0:30

and fitness or you are a seasoned runner

0:32

looking for community and some extra

0:34

motivation . You will hear inspiring

0:37

stories from amazing runners , along

0:39

with helpful tips from fitness experts

0:41

. Now here's your host , richard

0:43

.

0:44

Connor . Hi

0:47

, my friend , welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast

0:50

. Today we're sitting down with Julie Felton

0:52

, who is a 39 year old mom

0:54

of two boys , avid runner and

0:57

wants to be doer of all things

0:59

, lover of nature and the get

1:01

out and go , pursuer of peace

1:03

and all things that better her as a whole

1:05

, mentally , physically and emotionally

1:08

. She is an absolute , firm believer

1:10

in refusing to fail and the importance

1:12

of cheering others on . Welcome

1:14

to the show , julie .

1:16

Hi , thanks for having me .

1:18

You inspire your

1:20

community , you bring inspiration , you

1:22

bring smiles and I'm excited to have

1:24

you bring that to our community here

1:27

on Inspire to Run Podcast .

1:29

Thank you . Thank you for having me

1:31

.

1:32

So let's just get into the conversation and learn a little

1:35

bit more about you . Tell us a

1:37

little bit about your running background and

1:39

also what inspires you to inspire others

1:41

.

1:42

All right , I started running 10 years

1:44

ago and I never stopped . I was

1:46

never a runner prior . I was very

1:48

much that person that if you saw me running , something

1:50

was wrong and

1:53

I got to a point in life where I needed

1:55

to take back me . I needed

1:57

to take back my power and

2:00

my purpose Find

2:02

me and my

2:06

sister got me out there for a one mile run . She

2:08

said give me one mile . I

2:10

said , give you one . And

2:13

I ran that one mile and

2:15

I finished that mile and I was like , wow

2:18

, all right , okay , I could do one

2:20

, I could do two , I could do two , I could

2:23

probably do four , I could go

2:25

that fast , I

2:28

could probably go a little faster . You

2:30

know , and you

2:32

know , I just never stopped . I kept

2:34

going . You know , it's very much my , it's

2:37

my piece . I pursue my power

2:40

out there and I take back me

2:42

with every impact of the pavement . As cliche as that

2:44

might sound , I started 10

2:46

years ago and I'll be damned if I stop . It's

2:49

a beautiful thing , that's awesome and

2:52

I it's just it's

2:54

. It's very much a

2:57

part of me and who I am , who I've become

2:59

, and I very much run towards that

3:01

version of me .

3:02

Yeah , so

3:04

it started with that one mile and it started

3:06

just getting out there , and then two miles

3:08

, four miles , and you know . So tell

3:11

me a little bit more like how , how

3:13

far did you take it ? Was you ? Were you looking

3:15

to just run out there

3:17

and just to be outside , where you're looking to

3:19

run races ?

3:21

A big thing for me was it's

3:23

getting outside , it's removing myself , it's having

3:26

that moment . I rest when

3:28

I run , if you understand what I mean . That

3:31

is very much my piece , my

3:33

moment . You know , I love taking to the trails

3:36

. It's , it's

3:38

my happy place . You

3:40

know all you know , the world could be burning

3:45

around me and I get out there and it's just

3:47

like , oh , it's okay

3:49

, you know , and

3:51

it's in that moment that I

3:54

take in everything . You

3:56

know , I am very much that person that

3:58

I am very aware of my surroundings

4:01

and yet , at the same time , I am very aware of my surroundings

4:03

. You know , it's the

4:06

way the leaves are blowing or the winds coming

4:09

in , or the sun's coming down , and

4:12

I , just

4:14

as much as I get lost , I'm

4:17

found , you know , and

4:21

then it just escalated . It's like , you know , maybe

4:24

it's still race , and then I

4:26

kind of get in my head , you know , and I start thinking , ah , you

4:28

know , I don't want to ruin it . Don't take

4:30

a good thing and ruin it , put too much pressure on yourself , because

4:32

I do that , I'm good for that , you know . I

4:34

was like I'm just going to do it fun , it's just going to be fun . And

4:37

I got out there and I think the first one I

4:39

did was a shamrock shuffle with my sister and

4:41

I was like this is awesome , this

4:44

is amazing . You know , you get out there and you see

4:46

all these people on the streets in downtown , everybody's

4:48

all dressed up , and you got the balloon girl and the big hair

4:50

and the two twos . I was like , yes

4:52

, you know , and

4:54

I just I mean , you

4:56

can feel the

4:59

vibration of the crowd , the energy

5:01

of everybody . It's in that moment that

5:03

all these people come together and

5:05

everybody's got one common goal and that's the finish

5:07

and you cheer each other on while you're at it

5:09

. It's a beautiful thing because in that moment it's nothing but

5:11

positivity . You know , I don't know

5:13

you , but I will cheer you on . There's

5:16

not a person that I don't pass that I'm like , hey , good

5:18

job . And they're looking at me and they're like thanks

5:21

, you know . But good

5:24

job , man . That's what I'm talking

5:26

about , because as much as I tell you , I

5:28

too need to hear it . You know , it's a

5:30

beautiful thing . It's in that moment you're like , you're

5:32

in your head and you feel like every ounce

5:34

of your being is screaming to make it end

5:36

, and somebody's like , hey , good job . You're

5:40

like thanks , you know . And it just kind

5:42

of gets you back out there and

5:47

I just kept going . It's like , well

5:49

, you know what I started with that one . And it's like this way , it's

5:51

kind of cool , you know , and

5:54

you can start collecting those medals and it's like I

5:56

like this , you know . And

6:00

ultimately

6:02

I decided it's like you

6:04

know , I'd like to run a marathon . Maybe

6:07

, I don't know I'll

6:10

do the lottery . If I do the lottery

6:12

and I get in , I guess I'm doing a marathon . If I

6:14

don't get in , it's not meant to be . I

6:16

did the lottery and I got in the first time

6:18

and I was like I

6:21

guess I'm running a marathon , you

6:23

know . And

6:27

that started the journey to my very

6:29

first marathon . It took me three years to get to Chicago

6:31

. Three years

6:33

. I am I'm

6:36

I like to run a lot

6:38

of it . You know I'm

6:41

a racer . I like your quick 5Ks , 10ks

6:43

. I'm all about a cruise . I love

6:45

a good cruise . I'm very much happy to

6:47

get out there and cruise . But I

6:50

like that quick little go over now and then A

6:52

little , a little angst , a little excitement , you know , and

6:55

I pulled back . I

6:57

PR'd in racing and

7:00

I pulled back on my pace , ramped up mileage

7:03

according to the plan . I

7:05

trained with Cara which is awesome , kira

7:07

, I never quite say the name right , I'm sorry With

7:11

Yankee Runners , my Yankee Runners out there

7:13

, but I

7:16

love the group , it's awesome , the camaraderie is great . But

7:19

my very first time around I ended up with a

7:22

femoral neck stress fracture and it turned labrum

7:24

. So that sidelined me for

7:27

a while there , which was really hard for me , and

7:30

, healed from that , came

7:32

back around , trained for a second time , took

7:35

out my left femoral neck with

7:37

another stress fracture after compensating

7:39

for the right side . Oh yeah , I

7:43

don't think a lot of people know that , you know . So

7:46

I ultimately ended up with bilateral

7:48

femoral neck stress fractures . And

7:52

so

7:54

last year when I got to the marathon , I put a

7:56

post out right beforehand and I

7:58

was so stoked to make

8:00

it to the marathon . Every ounce

8:02

of my being in that moment was like I'll

8:05

go to a marathon . You know , it took

8:08

me three years . Three years

8:10

to get there and

8:12

with running being as much as it is to me

8:14

, it wasn't about that . It wasn't about

8:16

tackling 26.2 , it was about getting there

8:18

. It was crossing that finish line . It wasn't

8:21

about making it to Boston , it wasn't about running as fast

8:23

as I could , it was about running the marathon

8:25

. Get me to the starting line and I will

8:27

cross the finish . You know , run , walk

8:29

or crawl , I will finish . And

8:32

the day that I got there and

8:35

we were ready to run , it was just like that

8:37

feeling stays with you . You know

8:39

the

8:42

crowd , the vibration , the

8:44

morale . It's just amazing . I was running live

8:46

twice during the Chicago marathon . I

8:49

was like I'm running a marathon

8:52

and I was so amped when I was

8:55

running it that I

8:57

didn't even realize that I could do what I did . I

9:00

ended up running Chicago

9:02

last year for the first time and I ended up running

9:04

a 336 . And I was super

9:07

stoked . I had no idea I didn't

9:09

even , but it was just the entire time I had this big smile on my

9:12

face . I went live

9:14

, I cheered everybody on , even

9:17

though I got in with the lottery . I ended up running it from

9:20

Mercy Home . So I raised the money

9:22

from Mercy Home and when I reached mile 17

9:24

and they were out there cheering me on , I was like , yes

9:26

, you know , and

9:29

it was huge . I hit

9:31

miles 20 to 22 and it was like , alright , guys

9:33

, we got to wrap this up , you

9:35

know . But

9:40

I finished across the finish line and it was

9:42

just like , oh , my god , I

9:45

ran a marathon . You know , it

9:47

was like I had so much

9:49

angst and

9:51

excitement about finally making

9:54

it there that

9:56

I didn't even know I was capable

9:58

of doing what I did and smiling I

10:00

always say , smile while you're at it , because

10:03

it's like it just

10:05

takes from zero to 60 . So

10:07

, as my biggest

10:09

thing is trying to convey that to others , I

10:12

know how bad it can

10:14

feel and just how bad

10:16

things can be at times . You know , I

10:18

do what I do for a reason and I focus

10:20

on the outcome of what I do , not

10:22

why it is I do what I do , because to me

10:24

that's not the importance

10:27

of it . The importance for me is

10:29

I did

10:31

it . You know what , today might

10:33

not be a great day . I might have a lot going on , you know

10:35

, maybe I'm little in my head right now , got a lot on

10:37

my plate , I'm super stressed out and

10:41

I can get out there and I'll start running and I won't even

10:43

wanna do it , I won't wanna be there

10:45

and I might postpone

10:47

15 , 20 minutes in my car . I think to myself

10:50

, why are you doing this ? 86

10:52

degrees in humid , you know you

10:54

go from showered and ready

10:57

to go to a hot mess very

10:59

, very quickly . But

11:01

that's beautiful

11:03

, you know I might , I will be saturated

11:07

, just gross . I'm

11:09

just like , yes

11:11

, this feels good , you

11:14

know , and I will . I'll have an even

11:16

bigger smile on my face at the end

11:18

of a run that I ever did going

11:21

into it , because it's

11:23

in that moment I did what I needed

11:25

to do and I showed up for me and

11:28

that's everything . And

11:31

by showing up for me , I show up for everybody else . And

11:34

my boys are my number one , you

11:37

know , and they see that . They

11:39

tell me you can go for a run mom , you

11:42

know , cause they know how happy it makes

11:44

me and how good it feels , and I

11:46

love to get them out there with me too , you know , and

11:49

I want them to see that , no matter

11:51

what mom's gonna make it , we're

11:53

gonna , you know , I will , I will , I will

11:55

always show up , I will always

11:57

bring it , and I'm not there to compete

11:59

against anybody else , just me . That's

12:02

me , that's my moment , my momentum , my

12:06

time , and I build on that . And

12:09

I want so much to show that to others

12:11

, and even more so my boys , cause

12:13

I want them to have that it's important

12:15

.

12:16

Well , I love hearing how running makes

12:19

you happy and the energy

12:21

that races brings you . You

12:23

know I love your story about you know

12:25

you inspiring others and

12:27

others inspiring you and getting

12:30

to that starting line . So you know , but your

12:32

real focus is is getting to the finish line

12:34

. So you know , really inspiring . And

12:36

then you know , talking about family , that's also

12:38

very important . You know our family

12:41

will or especially kids will mimic

12:43

what we do . Right , it's not

12:45

about just about what we say , but it's about

12:47

what we do . So it's important to show up

12:49

, not only for ourselves , but also for them

12:51

.

12:52

Yes , and when I have them there , when

12:54

they're there and they're sharing me on , it's , it's

12:57

everything . I , you know , I went out

12:59

of Chicago and my family came down

13:01

and my kids were lined up and they were all sharing

13:03

me on For 26.2 miles

13:05

. I looked for them , 26.2

13:08

miles . I looked for them , not knowing

13:10

where they're going to be . I was , I was way

13:13

ahead of the tracker , so my family was

13:15

chasing me as much as I was running the crest

13:17

, you know , in Chicago . So

13:20

when they would pop up in the 19 , I'm like , oh

13:22

, my God , you know , and my kids would

13:24

be oh , so happy and yelling

13:27

and I , and I don't know who was more excited , them or

13:29

me , you know , and that was that

13:32

to me , is everything . There's

13:35

nothing in the world that you know

13:37

. When my kids look at me like that , and I know that they're there and

13:39

I , and in that moment it's like , yes

13:41

, you know , it's

13:44

awesome , it's amazing , and

13:47

I want my boys to know that there's nothing that

13:49

they can't do and that

13:51

to be afraid to try , there

13:53

is , there is nobody

13:55

out there you can be against by you . It's

13:58

about showing up . It's about , you know

14:01

, I I so barely want

14:04

to convey to people to take the chance

14:06

. But

14:08

at least by taking a chance you have , there's

14:11

a chance and a possibility . If

14:14

you don't take that chance , there is no change . It

14:17

is what it is . So

14:19

putting yourself out there

14:21

and following

14:23

through for you is everything

14:26

. Everything , regardless of what it is that you

14:28

choose to do . Show up for you every

14:30

single time . Don't be afraid

14:33

to try new things . Take on a challenge .

14:35

And then when ?

14:35

you're at it . You know , show everybody , show them what's

14:37

up Like look what I'm doing . You

14:40

can do this too . Look how good it makes you

14:42

feel . You know what I mean . There is somebody out

14:44

there that needs to

14:46

see that , somebody out there

14:48

that they can't . You know what ? If

14:50

she's doing it , I could probably do it

14:53

. Yes , you can . You

14:55

know , and that's that's , that's

14:57

awesome . I think that don't

15:01

be afraid to put yourself

15:03

out there , don't be afraid to

15:05

to take on that challenge and try new things

15:08

and to test the waters . And you know what ? If

15:11

it doesn't work out , it doesn't work out , but

15:13

at the end of the day , it worked out because

15:15

you tried , you

15:17

showed up For sure

15:19

, and that's the victory , that's the win .

15:23

For sure , for sure , very inspiring

15:25

. Well , I know our listeners are already

15:28

inspired by your message here and

15:30

you know I'd love to just a quick story

15:33

about when you're talking about the kids and cheering

15:35

for you . You know , I had a race many

15:38

years ago as many years ago

15:40

a few years ago , we'll say and

15:42

I remember I was just struggling through that

15:44

race . I was chasing this kid who

15:46

might have been like 10 years old at

15:48

the most and I'm just watching the back

15:50

of his feet for the entire race and

15:53

I remember we're like turning the corner , we're

15:55

heading back to the school where it

15:57

was actually held at my old high school , and

15:59

maybe a 10th of the mile to go and all

16:01

I hear is go daddy , go

16:03

daddy . And I'm hearing my son and

16:06

I'm like I'm coming , andre , and I'm

16:08

running and I'm running and I really

16:10

finished strong and I was so excited

16:13

to kind of finish that

16:15

race strong , especially after just a

16:17

challenging race . And then I'm looking

16:19

around and I don't see anybody

16:21

. So you know , I waited for another

16:23

family member to finish and

16:25

I walked inside the school looking for

16:27

my family and I found them . They were

16:29

enjoying the breakfast . So

16:31

unfortunately it wasn't my

16:34

son who was cheering me on

16:36

, but somebody's son was cheering for their dad and it was enough

16:38

motivation for me , so that's a little

16:40

bit of my story and in the meantime , I think that , yes

16:43

, yes , it's momentum .

16:45

Is that ? Yes , yes , I swing

16:47

out and I give high fives to the posters

16:49

that say super power . You know , I want that

16:51

, mario , super power . You

16:53

know , I swing out and I give all the kids high

16:55

fives on the side of the road , that's everything

16:58

. And then it , yes , yes

17:00

, it's a beautiful thing and as

17:02

it really is , that's awesome . It's

17:05

an amazing feeling and I went and tried it for the

17:07

world .

17:09

So so tell me , julie , like through

17:12

your journey , what are the

17:14

some of the things that you've learned , you know , through

17:16

your , your running journey ? What are , like , few things

17:18

that you share , things you wish you knew

17:20

before when you started , or maybe something

17:22

that surprised you kind of along the way ?

17:27

Nutrition is huge . Nutrition

17:31

is a key component to not

17:33

only you know overall health , but

17:35

being able to do what you do and building

17:38

upon doing what you're doing , especially with what , depending

17:40

on what you're training for you know . So

17:44

I really try to hone in on nutrition

17:46

and make sure I got adequate protein intake . Sleep

17:49

is huge . I'm working on that . I'm

17:51

not really good at it , I

17:54

get it . I got to work on that a lot more , but

17:59

sleep is huge component of that as well . Rest

18:01

and recover your rest days are just as

18:03

important as your training days . Rest

18:05

is training . Sometimes you got to train to rest because

18:07

if there's one thing I don't do well , I don't rest

18:09

. I think protein

18:12

and sleep is huge . You know , I think the big I

18:14

think too , it's it's not being so hard on yourself

18:16

. You , it's so important

18:18

, you know . Another thing I say

18:20

a lot is if I can't enjoy

18:23

, if I can't have fun , I don't want to do it . Enjoy

18:25

the things that you choose to do , because

18:28

it's a choice , because that's

18:30

something you have to do , so enjoy

18:32

it . You know , the

18:36

more you enjoy it , the better you're going to do , the more you're

18:38

going to excel , the more you're going to want to be there . The more you want to

18:40

be there , the more you're going to want to go , you

18:42

know , and be

18:45

in that moment , be present , you know , get

18:48

out of your head for that little bit and

18:50

focus on

18:52

what it is you're doing in that moment for

18:54

you . You know

18:56

, I think we get so caught up in saving

18:59

the world and taking

19:01

care of everyone and everything else that we

19:03

so easily lose track of taking care

19:06

of ourselves . And

19:08

I wish I would have learned

19:11

sooner that

19:14

self-care is not selfish . Self-care

19:17

is pivotal . Not

19:19

only is

19:23

it mentally , physically

19:25

and emotionally , it's through and through

19:27

, you know , in all the ways . And

19:30

I wish that I would have realized sooner that

19:32

it's okay to take a moment

19:34

for you . And there's

19:36

nothing wrong with doing that , you know

19:39

, because as much as we sideline ourselves for everybody

19:41

else , you can't even take a moment for you too . Even

19:45

more so , maybe an extra one , you

19:48

know , I

19:50

wish that I would have learned that when

19:52

things start to hurt , to

19:56

listen to my body a little sooner . That

19:58

was a big lesson for me when

20:01

I took out my femur

20:03

. I

20:06

am such a die-hard runner and it

20:08

is very much my therapy . So when

20:10

I can't run and I am sidelined . It's

20:12

huge for me . I

20:16

definitely feel that , not

20:19

just physically but as a whole . It's not

20:21

just physically and emotionally . It's like , oh

20:23

my God , this is my thing . But

20:25

it's not a crutch , but it's very much

20:27

what carries me . So

20:32

it's very important , when something starts to hurt

20:34

, that okay , you know what . Maybe we need to take

20:36

it down a notch . If you're training for a

20:38

race or a marathon and you got to tone it

20:40

down , maybe step away for a little bit . Maybe

20:42

you know what this is just not meant to be right now . It's

20:45

okay , there will be other

20:47

races , there will be another day to train and

20:49

there's always going to be more to do . But

20:51

what's more important is that you take that time to take care

20:53

of you , because you

20:56

don't want to take yourself out for

20:59

the long term for something in the interim . You

21:02

know , I think everything happens for a reason

21:04

and when your body starts speaking to you , we

21:07

need to listen . And

21:10

just because you can't do something right then

21:12

and there or maybe at that moment , at

21:14

that time , doesn't mean you fail . It

21:17

doesn't mean you can't do it . It just

21:19

means you know what . I gotta do

21:21

, something else right now I'm meant to be doing something else right

21:23

now . So that was a

21:25

big thing . I ended

21:27

up segwaying into cross training . I've

21:29

always , you know , I got into working

21:31

out too . I've always liked

21:33

working out , but I got into it a lot more and

21:36

I that

21:38

really got me into cross training a lot more

21:40

. So I got into Chicago Try

21:42

and I did this . I signed up for the Chicago Try

21:44

. My sister-in-law got me there . So

21:48

cross training is huge . I would highly recommend

21:50

cross training to the runners

21:52

out there . It's to keep

21:54

the pull . I get a pull

21:56

everything together , you know . Pull

21:58

it all together as a whole the nutrition , the

22:00

sleep , the cross training is not like well , you

22:03

know , I can't . If I can't do all these things , I

22:05

can't run , or I can't run if I don't do all these things . No

22:07

, this is all about moderation . It's

22:10

all about self-care , self-love

22:12

and being kind to yourself . And

22:14

being kind to yourself isn't just the

22:16

mental , isn't just the physical part of it , it's

22:19

the mental , emotional part of it too .

22:21

Yeah , for sure , for sure , and

22:23

you know I love your message there . You

22:26

know about prioritizing

22:28

yourself and you think you said this

22:30

before , and probably in a different way that

22:32

we prioritize other

22:34

people and other things , and

22:36

it's not often we prioritize ourselves

22:38

. And it's okay to do that , right . It's

22:40

okay to spend

22:43

time , you know , working on yourself

22:45

physically and mentally and emotionally

22:47

, so you could be a better person , you

22:49

could show up better for those you

22:52

love or those in your life . So

22:54

I definitely appreciate you sharing that . And

22:56

you know some of the tips around nutrition

22:58

and sleep and recovery and

23:00

knowing listening to your body . So

23:03

, if you're injured or if you're on a path

23:05

to getting injured , listening to your body

23:07

and taking steps to prevent that super

23:10

, super important Because , yeah

23:13

, if you overdo it , if you over-train , you

23:15

can get injured and

23:17

it is kind of part of the process

23:19

, but you can also take steps to

23:21

avoid it as well . So , really , really important

23:24

tips and lessons that you've learned .

23:27

Yes , and I'm learning

23:29

every day . Good

23:32

shoes , get good shoes . Shoes

23:34

are very important . Yeah

23:37

, I learn every day . Every time

23:39

I'm out there , I learn . You know , I'm learning new

23:41

things about myself or my form

23:43

or how I could improve , or

23:45

maybe I need to pull back on this , or maybe you know what ? Maybe

23:48

I just don't do this today Because

23:50

there's always something else I could do . And

23:52

maybe you know what ? Maybe maybe my

23:55

my thing today is to

23:57

do nothing . Maybe my

23:59

thing today is to have a movie night

24:01

with my kids . You

24:03

know , I'm figuring it out as I go .

24:06

So tell me , Julie , you know what would you say

24:08

was the biggest obstacle kind

24:11

of during your running journey , and how'd

24:13

you overcome it ?

24:14

I think , wanting to do it all and

24:16

not being able to , there

24:20

is so much I want to do and

24:23

there's

24:25

only so much time in the day . You

24:28

know , I don't just , I don't just want to run , I

24:30

want to cross train , I want to , I want to bike

24:32

and I want to swim and I want to lift and I want to do this and I want

24:34

to do that , I want to be , I want to be that

24:36

mom that's very much present in that moment and always

24:38

there and you know , and

24:40

fully involved and at the same time , I'm also

24:42

a full-time nurse , you know . So I'm a full-time

24:44

mom , full-time nurse . I try to get that

24:46

run and I want to get that work out and I want to be present for my

24:48

kids . What are we having for dinner ? What's bath bed Repeat

24:51

? You know my day starts at 4 am

24:53

. My kids are up just after 5 . I go run around work for 8 hours

24:55

. I try to run around outside for

24:57

just a little bit , you know , and just this is all

25:01

the time . You know , it's carrying

25:03

the weight of the world on your shoulders without

25:06

letting it drag you down , and

25:09

I think

25:11

that I constantly

25:13

have to remind myself that it's

25:18

okay to slow down . You

25:20

can't do it all , it's enough . If

25:24

I could do everything that I wanted to do

25:26

and just make

25:28

it all happen , I would do it on heartbeat . And I can't

25:30

, and it's acknowledging the fact that

25:32

I just I can't , but

25:35

I try and

25:38

I'm going to keep trying and I'm going

25:40

to , you know , keep showing up and I'm going to

25:42

keep moving forward regardless

25:45

. You know

25:47

I will . I will find a way .

25:51

Okay . So what's next

25:53

for you , julie ? You know , I know you talked about

25:55

Boston a few times . I don't know if that's

25:57

in your future or you know

26:00

what keeps you moving and what's next for you .

26:04

So I have a I'm going to do the

26:06

Naperville Sprint Triathlon coming up , that's

26:09

, I'm going to do that in a couple of weeks

26:11

. I'm excited . So I decided

26:13

I would do the Chicago Try again . But

26:15

then I also thought , you know , maybe I would check out these sprints

26:18

. That's kind of cool . It's even shorter just since it's even

26:20

better . Because

26:23

I can't ultimately I can't do other running

26:25

for a marathon , I can't do other training

26:27

. I have to cross train . My body just doesn't

26:30

tolerate and I know that now and that's the

26:32

one of the ways that I have , you know , I acclimated to

26:34

training for the marathon is that you

26:37

don't have to run every run . You can swim , you can

26:39

bike , you can lift , you could take a rest

26:41

day , you know . So

26:45

I'm going to cross train and

26:47

I got some , I got the

26:49

sprint coming up and I'm going to do the Chicago Olympic

26:52

again . And

26:54

actually , since you asked

26:56

, august

26:58

5th , at guaranteed

27:00

rate park , guaranteed rate free field , at

27:02

home with the White Sox , I will

27:05

be participating in the run , your socks

27:07

off , 5k . So

27:09

if you want to come run , come run with me

27:11

, come have fun . You want to run around guaranteed

27:13

rate field , white Sox

27:15

, you finish on the concourse . It's

27:18

kind of cool . The big green fuzzy dude

27:20

is going to be there . There's

27:24

a discount code in my name , julie

27:26

Rise 5 , number 5

27:29

. And you can get a discount and

27:31

you can come run August 5th 9am , guaranteed

27:33

rate field home with the White Sox . It's

27:35

pretty cool , that's really

27:37

cool . That was super exciting

27:39

. When they reached out to me I was like sure

27:43

I could

27:45

do that , you know . And

27:48

then I have Chicago . I'm training for Chicago

27:51

, so

27:53

now it's

27:55

for me Chicago

27:58

. The marathon is my A race , you

28:01

know . The try , the Chicago

28:04

try , is my B . So

28:07

this next

28:09

sprint I have coming up is my C . It's

28:11

everything . I take it in steps , you

28:13

know , I have my big goal and I have the stepping

28:15

stones to get there , and

28:17

the stepping stones are the things that I'm

28:19

hoping will help me to maintain so

28:22

that I can get to the marathon

28:24

. You know I

28:26

have no intentions of running the marathon in any

28:28

set time . I always just I

28:30

never have any sense of . You know , people , what are you

28:32

going to pace today ? What's your plan ? You know , what do you want to

28:34

do ? I'm like I'm just

28:36

going to finish . I'm just going to do the best

28:39

I can . That's

28:41

it , because

28:43

you're too much pressure on yourself . You know what I mean . I

28:47

always show up and do the best that I can . That's

28:49

it At the end of the day . I'm not

28:51

going to the Olympics , I'm more power to the people that

28:53

are . That's awesome , I'm not , but

28:56

you know . So , ultimately at the end of the day , I

28:58

just I want to show up , I want to run my run , I

29:00

want to do my race , I want to have fun and

29:02

I'm going to smile on about it and

29:04

when I finish , I finish . You

29:08

know that is my medal , that is my , my victory

29:10

and my ultimate goal . So

29:13

I want to get to Chicago

29:15

, I want to make it to the marathon , I want

29:17

to get to that starting line and I will cross the finish

29:19

. I don't know how long it'll take me . It

29:22

probably won't be pretty . I won't do the pickle juice . I

29:26

learned that last year . Never

29:29

try something for the first time during a race .

29:31

No , no , that is definitely that's

29:33

a big tip right there , don't

29:36

do it .

29:38

Okay , little tip , don't try anything else

29:40

.

29:41

Yes , yes , for sure . Well

29:44

, I was going to say you know we'll try to get

29:46

this episode out before then , so you

29:48

know we'll promote you and the race and

29:52

so on August 5th I think you mentioned , so

29:54

that's pretty cool and you know just

29:56

kind of as we wind down here . So I definitely enjoyed

29:58

this conversation . You have a lot of inspiring messages

30:01

for our community and the lessons learned

30:04

are super helpful for someone

30:06

who may not be as far along in their journey . Definitely

30:09

gave some really great tips there , so I appreciate that

30:11

. So , julie , how can our community

30:13

find you and follow your journey online

30:16

?

30:17

Well , you can find me on Instagram . I am on Instagram

30:19

under Julie Rise Above Runner and

30:23

then you can find me on Facebook . I'm under Julie

30:25

Felton , that's F , as in Frank E-L-T-O-N

30:28

, so you can find me on Facebook

30:30

or you can find my Instagram . My

30:33

Instagram is where I probably post the most . So

30:36

, julie Rise Above Runner on Instagram , come

30:39

follow me . If you see me at a race , say hi

30:41

. Smile . I'm

30:44

just I think that's one of the things too is

30:46

like . You know , I

30:48

never expected things to take off kind

30:50

of like they did . You know , I don't do anything

30:53

to promote anything that I do , I just post , that's it . You

30:55

know . And

30:57

I've met some people at races and you know they're like oh my gosh

30:59

. You know , it's so nice to meet you . I

31:02

am no different than you , I am

31:04

no different than anybody else . I am

31:06

you , you know . So

31:09

come over , say hi , come around with me

31:11

. You know , get

31:13

out there and have fun , smile while you're at it , because

31:16

when you smile at that other person , they smile at somebody

31:18

else . You know , to chain

31:20

reaction , it's a beautiful thing , and when you

31:22

do , you lead the way . When you lead the way , you light the way for

31:24

others and people follow . You

31:27

know , and I think that

31:31

that's probably one of the greatest

31:33

gifts there is . You know , the gift

31:35

of a smile I don't know , sounds

31:38

corny , but

31:40

that's me .

31:42

I think it's wonderful . Keep smiling . Definitely

31:45

appreciate you sharing your story here . I

31:48

will put your information in the show notes to make it

31:50

easy for our listeners to find you . Good

31:52

luck at your races , good luck with your

31:54

training and again , thank you

31:56

so much , julie , for coming on the show and have

31:58

a great day .

32:00

Thank you so much , richard , for having me too .

32:04

That's it for this episode of Inspire to Run

32:06

Podcast . We hope you are inspired

32:08

to take control of your health and fitness and

32:11

take it to the next level . Be sure to click

32:13

the subscribe button to join our community and

32:15

also please rate and review . Thanks

32:17

for listening .