Mirna Valerio: If You Want To Learn How Your Body Works, You Gotta Use It -R4R 152

Whose opinions really matter to you? If you were to start a project or set out after a goal that you’ve always wanted to do but have been scared for one reason or another, who would encourage you? Who would have your back? Who would tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing? These are important questions to answer. Deciding who influences what we do can change our entire lives. And, unknown to some, we CAN choose who influences our decisions. First and foremost, we ought to listen to ourselves. If we don’t master our own ships, then we’ll never get to choose where we go. As for the rest of the opinions that we consider? Make sure they come from people that love you. The Mirnavator! If there’s one person who knows how to surround herself with people that support her, it’s the Mirnavator. Mirna Valerio is a woman, a New Yorker, black, and as she likes to say, a fat runner. She is not the stereotypical runner, and she knows that people think that. But the best part is, she doesn’t care. She doesn’t even believe that there is such a thing as a stereotypical runner. Mirna has surrounded herself with people that love her and her mission. She has a strong community on Facebook and in real life that have become comfortable calling themselves runners. It’s not easy to believe that you are a runner when online chatrooms shout otherwise, even when you have done marathons and 50k trail races. The power that words have is strong. Thankfully, our simple daily efforts are stronger. Mirna has shown that time and time again. How to Get to Know Your Body From her early days in middle school, Mirna has loved to move her body. She played many sports growing up, but never considered herself a runner. She started running because she simply wanted to perform better in field hockey and lacrosse. As time passed, she began to love running for the way it made her feel. Mirna enjoyed setting goals and accomplishing them, and she liked feeling the muscles in her body work. With every finished run, there came a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude. So how do you get to know and love your body? Use it! For Mirna, she doesn’t need to fit into a certain mold to love her body, and neither do you. The more we use our bodies, the more we love and understand them. They are quite literally the reason that we are alive. Use your body and be grateful for it. Change Your Feed As you begin to use your body, or go after other lifelong goals, you are bound to get some pushback. It comes in many forms. From unknown internet offenders, to family members, to random aghast faces on the street. While we can’t avoid every rude comment or criticism, we can moderate it. We can mute or unfollow those that don’t support us. We can stop reading comments entirely. We can smile at the people that give us funny looks. And most of all, we can seek out likeminded people. Sometimes the easiest way to brush off or get rid of the negative, is to find an abundance of positive. Let the good push out the bad instead of simply deleting the bad and being left empty. There are people out there waiting to be your friend and believe in you. Go find them. Try and Try and Try If it feels overwhelming to run a marathon, or a 5K, or a mile, start smaller. If you are lacking confidence or willpower, stop worrying and just give it a try. Try every day. As Mirna says, some days you will take five steps back when you feel like you haven’t even taken two steps forward. That’s okay. Keep trying. You may think that your body can’t run a marathon. And you may be right, for now. But with each day you try, you get closer. If you are scared or anxious about something you want to do, just try. Really. There’s no pressure. If you fail, that’s fine, you will always be happy you tried. Let's keep moving our bodies. Let’s surround ourselves with amazing people. And let’s keep trying. The Mirnavator would be proud. Resources: A Beautiful Work in Progress Mirna on Instagram Mirna on Twitter Mirna on Facebook FATGIRLRUNNING Facebook Group Patagonia on Instagram   Thank you to Bodyhealth, Janji, and and Marathon Training Academy for being the wonderful sponsors of this episode of The Running For Real Podcast.   Friends, I mentioned Marathon Training Academy in the show, and how much you will enjoy their podcast if you are not already a fan, you can find their podcast on iTunes hereor at their website page here.   If you are struggling to recover quick enough from your training, my little secret is to use BodyHealth Perfect Amino to get you there. It contains all the essential amino acids, and is very easy for your body to use and begin the repair process. Click the link and use code TINAMUIR10 for 10% off.   JANJI is an official sponsor of the Running 4 Real podcast, I am so excited about this! They visit designers in countries all around the world to help with their upcoming clothing lines and any profit they make off of that design 5% goes right back to that country to supply for their clean water supply. The materials they use are recycled which I LOVE. Go here and use code TINAMUIR for 10% off and if you want to know my favorites click here.   Mile 20 Mental Training Course: Win Your Own Race goes on sale in just over a month. The doors will open for a VERY limited time, and then close until May 2020, so don't miss out. Even if you do not intend to start the 12 week course until early 2020, you can begin at any time, but you cannot purchase at any time. To get on the Mile 20 Mental Training Course: Win Your Own Race waitlist, where you will be guaranteed a spot on the course, sign up here. Or learn more about the course here.   Thanks for Listening! I hope you enjoyed today's episode. To share your thoughts: Leave a note in the comment section below. Join the Running for Real Facebook Group and share your thoughts on the episode (or future guests you would like to hear from) Share this show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. To help out the show: Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews will really help me climb up the iTunes rankings and I promise, I read every single one. Not sure how to leave a review or subscribe, you can find out here. Thank you to Mirna, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the show.