After college, Deena traveled to Amarosa, Colorado to train under Coach Joe Vigil. That's when her running took off.

To discover why and how this happened (it wasn't better training), Deena joined me on the Strength Running Podcast to discuss the mental journey she's taken throughout her career.

Our conversation focuses on several topics:

• How to turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts - while running or in everyday life
• Why Deena used to race "with fear" (and how she recovered from this dangerous mindset)
• The mental expectations she's had to abandon to reach higher levels of performance
• How to "participate in the process" rather than overly worry about results

These are all major themes of her award-winning memoir Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory.