Another Mother Runner

Sarah Bowen Shea and Amanda Loudin chat with three mother runners who let their avocation be their vocation, turning their love of being active into their work (or at least a side gig). First is Eleni Drake, who launched Mile Markings, a company that creates inspirational temporary tattoos for runners. Eleni details how a need to let out her creative juices, plus a desire for motivation while on a race course, prompted her to launch Mile Markings with her husband. The next guest is Cynthia Vissers, who started working at a running specialty store after her youngest son started kindergarten. Laugh along with the trio as they commiserate that while there’s no job that entails eating bonbons on the couch, at least Cynthia can get hired because she likes to drink a beer post-run! Cynthia also shares advice on becoming a brand ambassador for favorite brands.The final guest is Paula Johnston who, last year, started fitness coaching and teaching group fitness classes. She describes what an “interesting puzzle of logistics” it is to combine a full-time job, parenting, running, and teaching classes and training clients. (Phew!) She gives great advice on how to follow in her footsteps. The conversation takes an awe-inspiring detour when Paula reveals she lost 110 pounds (!) since 2012.In the intro, Sarah and Amanda talk about the college admission process—Amanda’s oldest is almost at the finish line of that saga, while Sarah’s oldest is just starting down that road. The first avocation/vocation mother runner joins the program at 17:30.Please help us out by taking a quick survey about our podcast.Get $50 off the purchase of an AfterShokz wireless bundle at amr.aftershokz.com by using code AMRBUNDLE at checkout.Receive 20% off your Nuun order by visiting nuunlife.com and using promo code AMRHYDRATE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Special episode: Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell answer questions lobbed at them on a Facebook Live! They offer fueling advice for half-marathons and marathons. The duo are in agreement on the ideal first marathon. They give suggestions for cross-training with young kids, plus getting grumpy kids on board with mom’s race training. Several queries related to the Boston Marathon, with Dimity revealing whether she’ll be on the sidelines spectating her husband run the race and SBS dispensing advice for an optimum Boston experience. Lots of shared laughs plus a few jinx-say-same-word-at-same-time moments. Fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea is joined in this special crossover episode by a male co-host (a first!), Yuri Hauswald of the GU Pinnacle Podcast: The duo interviews Katie Arnold, the 2018 winner of the prestigious Leadville Trail 100 Run, at a live recording party at GU HQ. The author of a just-debuted memoir, Running Home, and fresh off setting a 50K PR in a race two days prior to podcast recording, Katie details how progression is crucial in her book, running career, and life. Katie, a mother runner with two school-age daughters, details how the motion of running helped her get out of “that worry brain” after her father’s death from cancer and during the early years of motherhood.Katie talks at length about the state of hyperattention she is able to attain while running and how tapping into that intense “flow” state—as well as the power of nature—propels her in trail races. Katie discusses the importance of taking something big and breaking it into manageable chunks (classic AMR advice!). Laugh along as Katie details why her daughters were her “secret weapon” at Leadville.Find out what JRA stands for (we encourage you to use it in a sentence this weekend!), plus how a whoopee cushion enters the highly engaging conversation.Freshen up your running gear with a Mercury Mile box: Take $10 off your stylist fee by using code AMR at checkout at MercuryMile.comListen to Murder Book, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, and check out Dark Sacred Night, Connelly’s latest #1 bestselling detective novel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell offer long-run nutritional advice to Renée from Naperville, Illinois, including the importance of eating well the day before the big effort. (In the answer, find out what SBS sometimes does in the shower!) They talk through dynamic stretching drills for Lindsey in South Carolina and give Kelly in Boston loads of advice for her first ultramarathon. The duo wrap up the show talking Emily in Sherman, Illinois, how to rejigger the days of a training program with Dimity tossing out the brilliant phrase, “wavy intensity.”  Living Proof: Experience beauty products developed by MIT scientists! For a free sample of their award-winning dry shampoo with a purchase, visit LivingProof.com/amr and use promo code AMR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea and Maggie Palmer have a ball gabbing with Ali Feller, host of the “Ali on the Run” podcast and a new first-time mom. The laughs start when Ali talks about how pizza factored into her transformation from a life-long dancer to a runner. From there, the blogger shares secrets of a great action-shot selfie. Ali, whose darling daughter is almost five months old, tells the tale of running a 10K race at 38 weeks pregnant, including why the Central Park jaunt stands as one of her favorite races ever. Bonding with Maggie over working out at OrangeTheory Fitness, Ali details why it was ideal while she was pregnant. The new mom offers return-to-exercise post-partum tips, and she shares how her marathon training for the New York City Marathon will be different now that she’s a mother runner.Learn the biggest thing that’s helped the guest deal with mommy-guilt—and find out how it involves Beyoncé’s alter ego, Sasha Fierce. After the laughter subsides, Ali talks candidly about how pregnancy helped her stop hating her body. This conversation runs the gamut, and you’ll find yourself laughing—and nodding—along no matter what stage of life you’re in.The laughs start (and SBS can barely stop laughing!) in the intro, in which Sarah and Maggie bond over being #DanceMoms. Ali joins the lively conversation at 21:22.Make over your beauty routine with Wander Beauty! Save 20% at wanderbeauty.com/amrGo to Airbnb.com/amr and start hosting: You’ll receive a $100 Amazon Gift Card if you generate $500 in booking value by May 30. Terms and conditions apply.Go to ThirdLove.com/amr to find your perfect-fitting bra—and get 15% off your first purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea and Maggie Palmer dive into a candid conversation with Mirna “The Mirnavator” Valerio, the author of A Beautiful Work in Progress, which was an extension of her Fat Girl Running blog. Mirna, a plus-size ultramarathoner of color, talks about how she feels about the public attention she garners, including how she shuts out naysayers. She reveals how she feels about “failing pretty publically” in some races. Mirna shares how she practices visual and visceral self-love. A finisher of 22 marathons and ultras, Mirna offers loads of advice for ultrarunners as well as giving a suggestion for an ideal first-time marathon. Find out how bacon enters the conversation. And applaud what she says about walking in a running race.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join elite ultra runner + Train Like a Mother Club coach Stephanie Howe Violett and Dimity as they talk through training for—and finishing!—your first 50k or 50-miler. Among other things, the duo cover how to pick the right race for you; what kind of prereqs, both mentally and physically, an ultra requires; and why conservative (not crazy!) mileage is actually key for a great training cycle.On March 2-3, 2019, use code ULTRA2019 in the Train Like a Mother Club to receive 20% off the 50k + 50-mile plans, 24-week, comprehensive programs that will get you primed to run a long, long way! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea and Tish Hamilton chat with three single mother runners about how they juggle all the demands of parenting, running, work, and life. The first guest is Bethany Mazura, a mom of two young sons in Albany, New York, where she works as an attorney. Bethany reveals she re-started a stalled running habit because she “needed a goal to restart” her life post-divorce. Marvel at how she then not only knocked out a marathon, but also a 50K! She shares her secrets of a yin-yang balance of tight scheduling, yet also being flexible. Bethany also talks about why a coach is such a worthwhile investment.Next is Susan Landolt of Hillsboro, Oregon, who also runs ultramarathons. This widowed mom of four, including two youngsters, confesses seeing a treadmill almost makes her cry as it reminds her of the countless pre-dawn miles she put in on a ’mill in her garage. Susan tells how she manages to tackle 60 miles in a week (!!) in addition to working full-time, finishing a business degree, and solo parenting. (“I don’t have time for shenanigans.”) Yet find out why she watched 31 continuous minutes of Netflix on the final day of January. The final mother runner is Julie Burke of Greensboro, South Carolina, who has run on both sides of the proverbial street: Starting at age 16, Julie was a single mom to her older daughter, and now Julie is married with two more kids. Julie talks about how she worked in workouts, including ones with her young daughter by her side. After describing the “relentlessness of single parenting,” Julie reminds all parents to “have patience with yourself--and your kids.”Nuun drinking game: Chug every time a guest admits all her friends are other runners. In the introductory chitchat, all roads lead to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park—it’s where SBS will be running this weekend, and it’s where Tish gutted out a New York City Marathon-qualifying race. The first guest hops on at 9:00.Start your vitamin ritual today at ritual.com/amr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell counsel Kara in southern Indiana on starting a running group, plus organizing runs for people of various paces. They offer differing advice for Marcella from Arizona on the best ways to utilize a pacer in a race to hit a goal time. Dimity sheds light on why Leah in Fort Collins might be particularly susceptible to a “cold bum,” then Sarah and she offer suggestions on how to keep her bootie warmer on a run. The mother runners tell Diane in Chicago how to tailor her marathon mileage to help ensure a prime training cycle. (Spoiler alert: Substitute some junk-miles with strength training.) In the intro, SBS explains how she discovered suddenly she herself is on a training plan (surprise!). The duo shares their favorite classes at the recent AMR Retreat at Rancho La Puerta. Make over your beauty routine with Wander Beauty! Save 20% at wanderbeauty.com/amr Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell welcome Christie Aschwanden, author of the just-released GOOD TO GO: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery, to talk about, you guessed it, recovery. Christie, a former competitive runner and Nordic skier, tells how people undervalue recovery—and how that oversight can limit people. Learn what she deems the most important recovery “tool,” as well as why runners should have something ritualized that helps them recover. A “coffee nap”: Find out how this seeming-oxymoron can be beneficial (and how to take one!). Christie stresses the importance of accepting stress and how it can impact your body and mind. The trio talks about why you don’t want to disrupt the inflammatory cycle after a hard workout or race. After trying myriad recovery methods and tools, for her book, Christie shares her favorite—and least favorite—therapies, including the one that finally quieted her “monkey mind.”In the intro, the AMR duo recounts some of their favorite experiences at Rancho La Puerta. Laugh along as Dimity tosses out the phrase, “beginning stripteasers.” And Sarah explains why she tossed out the “micro-dosing” call. Christie joins the episode at 13:55.Listen to Murder Book, a new true crime podcast hosted by bestselling author Michael Connelly, and check out Dark Sacred Night, Connelly’s latest #1 bestselling detective novel.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices