10 mile morning! Happy Sunday <3

This morning was a beautiful run. Although it was quite windy out there and the incline got me a little bit on mile 5 it was overall a perfect run. Now ever since I moved to the new town I live in I have only run outside once before my run today which makes a total of 2 runs outside by myself in 7 months due to me being paranoid that something will happen to me in an unfamiliar place. Usually my outdoor runs are joined by my husband but other than that the treadmill is where I have been training and completing most of my runs which i’m sure its the same for most of you is that it was be sooo boring sometimes!!! Also trying to do 10 miles or more on a treadmill can be so mentally draining. Don’t get me wrong the outcome of a run is always a great feeling but the process can make you want to just give up sometimes. So to calm my fears of running alone out there I bought a pepper spray bracelet, got up this morning, drank my cup of mama fuel (coffee) ;), ate breakfast and faced my fears. 10 miles never felt better out there and I was so proud of myself for sucking it up and getting it done! I never had this problem in my hometown but moving states can be scary and moving to a place where you know no one is nerve racking. Facing fears and running those miles makes me feel so much stronger mentally and physically. Staying in my comfort zone will not get us anywhere so I encourage you all to do something new today for yourself, you got this!!

Running in a Winter RUNderland!!

It may have been cold but it was a run that was totally worth it. Don’t let the weather get in the way of a perfectly good run! You wont know if it is possible if you don’t get out and try. Your mind could be the only thing getting in the way! Go for it and get outside of your comfort zone! 🙂

14 miles of pain and joy

Yesterday I decided to push myself to cover the most ground I ever have before. The farthest I’d ever run before yesterday was 13.1 miles… I set a goal yesterday to run 14 miles and accomplished it proudly and painfully due to being dehydrated after my run. The whole run was great. Lots of up hill and nice beautiful snowy views. Up until about mile 12 I was feeling great, lots of energy and strength still left in me until my body started tightening up and feelings lots of pain. I didn’t give up and I finished strong but little did I know I was slowly becoming dehydrated and by the time I stopped and stretched I got into the house and got sick. I hydrated a little bit throughout the run but because im getting adjusted to doing long distance miles I am still learning how much I should drink and when a good time to enjoy some gel is. My overall all experience with this run was a lesson learned for my water intake but also an incredible feeling because I have accomplished another run that and distance that I had never done. Before my running journey started i never imagined being able to run 1 mile, let alone 14 MILES!!!!! Running is learning yourself and learning your body. There is always something new to learn about yourself when you are pushing your body to places its never been and its an amazing, wonderful thing. Get motivated and go do something good for yourself friends. ❤

A little back story to my first 4 mile race.

On 4th of July 2018. 4 months into the beginning of my running journey I did my first race! A 4 mile run for the 4th of July! Now the most distance I had ever done before this was 3 miles and I was quite nervous to push myself even further than my comfort zone. I knew my mind was getting the best of me so I agreed upon doing this race just to “see how it would go”. The race did fly by pretty quick but the challenges in the middle for me were the hills, trying to feel like I needed to keep up with others and also there happened to be a SNAKE in the middle of the trail!!! One major thing I learned after this race was that while in my mind I was stressing about beating others and trying to keep up with them when in reality I should have been focused on myself and running for me. Its not about winning or losing its about doing something for you that you never thought was possible! There Is nothing wrong with setting goals and smashing them but when you find yourself stressing and hurting yourself over it you just have to let it go and just run. Although through this race I thought I was going so slowww and in my mind after I crossed the finish line I was just amazed I did that distance, I looked at my Garmin watch and it told me that I had broke my record for fastest mile!!! Not knowing, I ran my fastest mile ever at the time at a 7:49 pace! This moment really made me proud of who I was becoming and I knew that running was so much more than just running. Its a life changer, a healer, a way of showing you that no matter what happens in life you can always push through pain and accomplish goals you never thought you were capable of. It gives you hope and confidence for more things in life. Not to mention that when I crossed that finish line my little boy was right there so proud and cheering us on. That’s what I live for is to make this little boy proud and set the example for him. I hope you all can take the things that are holding you back and throw them aside and jump right into what you’ve always wanted to do. Get running people!! Its god for the soul ;)!

You all were my motivation today!!!

I hit the treadmill this morning thinking in my head “Ehhh, im thinking I’ll run 4 miles today” knowing that getting myself off the couch this morning was already a big enough struggle. I mean who doesn’t enjoy sitting comfy with a nice cup of coffee right?? I get to the gym and put my little one in the little child care while I get into my “running mama mode” I hop on the treadmill and surprisingly feel great compared to what I thought I would feel after wanting sit and be a couch potato. After a while I start nearing 4 miles and my mind wonders to this blog that I was so excited to start.. I started really thinking about the motivator I want to be even on the days that I didn’t wanna get off that couch and set my goal in my mind right then and there that for you guys I was gonna push myself to continue running until I hit 7 miles. Now here I am enjoying my relaxing time knowing I pushed myself harder to show others that you don’t have to stop when your mind wants you to stop. After my run my little boy and I took a nice hike and enjoyed the snow and now here I am like I said enjoying my comfy clothes and coffee knowing I pushed past Lazy thoughts today and acted on my motivation to get up and GO. Happy Sunday all! Get out and do something for YOU today! 🙂

Running Mama

Hello runners 🙂 My name is Rylie Hatleli and I am here to share my story on how over this past year running has changed my life completely. I am a mama to an amazing 3 year old little boy and have worked full time since he was 5 months old. My mindset had always been excuses on why I couldn’t workout and how I couldn’t because I couldn’t find time between being full time mama and working. I found myself constantly feeling down on myself and wondering where to begin. I was lost and just wanted to start somewhere. A lot of my life I have struggle with anxiety and depression, depression was a big one especially after having my son my hormones were way out of wack and that’s when I knew something needed to change. My husband has been an avid runner for quite sometime now but I never understood why he loved running as much as he did or how someone could ever run as long and as far as he did. He inspired me but I just kept telling myself how much ive always hated running and how I really didn’t have it in me. One time I went to the track with him and I couldn’t even run three laps and that’s where I convinced myself I just couldn’t do it. Anyways this is where my running journey begins! One day came along and I finally decided after my husband (boyfriend at the time) had bought me new running shoes and I told myself “okay he just spent a lot of money on these I better put them to use.” March 26th 2018 I decided to head to the trail where my husband had ran at. I just started going and that day I jogged/walked 2 miles and I was dead… im telling you I was so tired and sore. But in all honesty despite how sore and tired I felt, my mind had opened up and mentally I felt better than I had in quite sometime! So the next day came and I got back out there again. This time I jogged/walked 3 miles. I continued this the rest of the week and I told myself if I take more than one rest day in a row I knew that would turn into 2 rest days then 3 and eventually I would give up so I set my mind to no matter what making myself get out and run 6 days a week. After a week of jogging/walking and finishing three miles at a 11:30 pace I decided to try and run at my own comfortable pace 3 miles with NO walking. And I DID it!!! I was so happy I cried because never in my life had a run a distance like that especially not non stop. It was then in that moment I knew that this was gonna be something that was going to make such a difference in my life. I knew if I stuck to it that someday I would achieve such greater goals because I had just achieved something I ever thought was possible. Now don’t get me wrong back to being a full time mom each of these runs I had to figure out where my son would be able to go for a little bit so I could get sometime to get in a run. That’s where it would become stressful but whether I took him with me to the track or got lucky that a near by family member or his dad could help watch him I figured it out and got it done. I continued to make a 3 mile run my everyday run and slowly as weeks past not only was my mind feeling much better but I finally started seeing physical results and that’s what really motivated me even more. I picked one day a week for a rest day and any other day was a run day for me despite the weather and I planned all of my plans around my run. After sometime I noticed my pace each mile had slowly started becoming faster and faster and before I knew it I went from running a pace of 11:30 min mile to the 10 mark to the 9 mark and eventually I made it down to running an 8:30 min mile pace. July came around and my husband convinced me to do a 4 mile race on the fourth of July. At first I thought “no” because my comfortable run was 3 miles and that was the furthest I had gone. My mind was trying to keep me in my comfort zone and I knew it so I agreed to doing the race with him but I kept reminding him how slow I would be and how bad I would feel holding him back from running as fast as he usually could. He didn’t care he was just happy that I agreed to do it with him. So race day came and as nervous as I was we completed the race and I realized that I ran the race at the fastest test pace I ever had before and that one of the miles I ran was at a 7:45 pace!!! And once again I knew in that moment I was capable of so much more than my mind would let me think. My little boy would come to the track with me and give me a high five after every lap I ran and he was so excited and I knew I was setting an example for him that he needed to see. Ive continued running up until this day and im proud to say that on Feb 2, 2019 I ran my first half marathon with my husband by my side! My goal was to finish in 2 hours and we finished just under 2 hours at 1 hr 58 mins!!! I had reached quite a few more running goals before we did this race and that consisted of lots of training and running uncomfortable yet accomplishing feeling runs. My hopes for sharing my story and creating this blog is to motivate and be motivated by any of you mamas out there who don’t think you have it in you to run and continue running. I hope that you guys will continue to run with me and inspire me just as much as I hope to inspire you.