Good morning, Reader

When I was new runner, I was guilty of saying to more experienced runners the line "well I know this is nothing to YOU, but I ran 2 miles today!"

Every time, I was met with a stern "stop that. That's a BIG DEAL."

Now, new runners speak to me that way! And what's shocking is they always LEAD WITH THAT!

"Andee I ran a mile today. I know that's nothing to YOU!"
"Stop! That's a big deal!"

Doesn't that surprise you? That in our lives, we are trained to lead in conversation with our perceived inadequacy?

I did it, for years, about everything.

And then I became a runner, and every single solitary step I took was celebrated.

Our sport celebrates every effort. Every. effort.

It is frowned upon to not celebrate yourself and others.

We celebrate the "back of the pack" oftentimes MORE SO than we do anyone else. They are the most inspiring people.

A friend of mine was a first time marathoner in the New York City Marathon this past Sunday.

She was in the last wave, which started at almost noon. (This is the worst possible time to start a race because it's the hottest time of day. Sunday was also unseasonably warm with a high of 75 and humid, potentially dangerous conditions for marathon running.)

After 6 hours, 30 minutes from the last wave start, the tracking live map on the marathon app goes away. This is because at that time, the RFID checkpoints on the roads are removed. A "sweep bus" begins to collect the water stations, clean the streets, and reopen them slowly to traffic. At this time, runners have an opportunity to drop out, and many do.

New York City leaves up the finish line until (I think) midnight, to allow for runners to finish.

I was tracking my friend at that time, and I was left in the dark about her progress. I sent her a message, but it went unanswered. Her last check in was 18.6 miles.

After a lot of dead air on the app, I was SO excited to be notified that she finished. She did not drop out when MANY other runners did. She kept going. She put one foot in front of the other and she finished the race.

And that was fucking beautiful and amazing.

What an accomplishment. I am so proud of her.

​

Our sport celebrates every person. If you show up, we celebrate you. We do not require you to wow us with some accomplishment for us to tell you that you are Hercules.

Unlike so many other things in life where someone is trying to sell you a bill of goods that "there's three easy steps to doing this," we acknowledge there is not. We acknowledge that it's hard! Because EVERYTHING IS HARD!

Nothing is easy without time, persistence, and showing up. And we celebrate everyone for every step they take in that journey.

It took me years for my body to be able to do what it does.

For example, when I was a new runner, my pores did not produce sweat. (I used to get beat red and my heart rate would skyrocket to about 180 bpm.)

It took me three summers of heat training to not feel sick doing long runs. I used to have to do them at night because I couldn't cool myself efficiently.

It took years of building the muscles in my body for it to require the amount of fuel it does.

Yes, at this point in my life I can take a day to be completely sedentary and the body I've built still burns through about 2,200 calories. If I'm active, 2,500-3,000. That is a privilege I have that took years to acquire.

Yes, I can run 20+ miles while chit-chatting. That took thousands of miles of training and effort.

Runners don't sugarcoat the fact that the chemical and biological processes of the running economy take time, so we don't shit on a person for where they are in this moment. We celebrate them.

THEY ARE OUT, doing the damn thing. They are out while many are home. They are running for themselves, their spirit, and their soul. Many run for love ones sick or passed on. Many run for charity. Many run for mental health.

They are warriors and we support.

Everything in your life takes time, persistence, and showing up.

Everything.

It is disrespectful to other people and yourself to not honor the place you're at.

Had I not been a distance runner, and had the experience of being celebrated for my process, I might have not stayed in business. Business is the same kind of "hard."

If I wasn't a distance runner, I'd have not seen the immediate gratification and given up.

I'd have allowed the countless ads I get for "the three easy steps to-" or the "scale to 80 billion dollars in six weeks" to fool me.

But I know better. There's no Slimfast version to helping people transform their lives, or to your own growth.

I know how to actually facilitate transformation. For real for real. It's wired into my DNA now. I am an unstoppable force of a human.

And I help others to be the same way through inspiration, rote fucking monotony, and a ton of inner work that is an absolute non-negotiable.

You need it all. Thump thump. One foot in front of the other.

And, please love yourself above all else.

Stay beautiful,

-Andee

PS: I am accepting applications for one-on-one clients to work with me in the new year. (And through the end of this year, as I don't want people to get confused about being on that dumbass "new year, new me" train.) If you're curious, reply to this email. Updated application coming this week.