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Michigan Runner Girl

The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is where you'll find a passion for running, hiking, paddling, and cycling crosses paths with a love of nature and outdoor exploration in the beautiful state of Michigan — and beyond. A mother, writer, gigantic Great Lakes fan, and book lover Heather Durocher, creator of the running and travel site MichiganRunnerGirl.com, hosts the show. Expect to hear informative, engaging, and inspiring conversations with others also on their own health and wellness journey. The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is about finding our way, through movement. Season One of 2022 now underway, with a theme of Reconnection.
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Now displaying: October, 2016
Oct 28, 2016
Heather introduces Amy Bailey, a mother runner in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on this week's show. Amy, who previously lived in the Lansing area for six years as an Associated Press reporter, is among the essayists who contributed to the book Tales from Another Mother: Triumphs, Trials, Tips and Tricks from the Road. This is actually how Heather and Amy met last year -- Heather contributed an essay to this 2015 book as well -- and the two became fast friends given their multiple running and writing connections. As a reporter and then editor for 15 years, Amy has always been a writer, but she didn't write about running until 2009. She only started running a year before that -- a few months after her son was born. Since then, though, she has done a handful of half marathons in each of the past several years. She's regularly running 4 to 5 miles a day on some of the nearby trails. Amy, who is a member of the Oiselle Volee ambassador program, talks with Heather about her love of running in Wisconsin and the midwest. Our neighboring states -- with a shared Great Lake -- are home to a growing number of awesome races and running communities, and Amy and Heather talk about how it's an exciting time to be a runner in the midwest. As the newest contributor to MichiganRunnerGirl.com, Amy will be exploring this very topic as she shares the races and places she loves running here in our beautiful region of the country. 
 
Links:
 
Follow Amy Bailey ...
Twitter: @Amy_Bailey
Instagram: amy_bailey
 
Tales from Another Mother: Triumphs, Trials, Tips and Tricks from the Road: http://anothermotherrunner.com/2015/04/01/tales-from-another-mother-runner-thurday-amy-bailey/

 

Oct 22, 2016
Thousands of women across Michigan, the midwest and beyond have taken to wearing a bright-colored flower in their hair while racing -- a symbol of what running has come to mean to them. Each flower -- 13 varying colors -- represent "different reasons, stories and purposes behind why we run." This community and movement, which began four years ago in Marquette, Michigan, is known as Fellow Flowers. Longtime friends Tori Sager and Mel Charbonneau are the co-founders of Fellow Flowers and join Heather on the show to talk about their running journeys and how their passion for women and running led them to become business partners and creators of a community that has touched more than 25,000 women across the country. Mel and Tori are both former collegiate athletes who came to running later in life. They ran their first half marathon together in Green Bay, Wis. "We always say, I think the universe knew something we didn't that day," Tori says of that race experience with Mel. A seed was planted when they crossed that finish line, they say, and years later, to celebrate her birthday, Tori and 13 of her friends (including Mel) "ran with flowers in our hair -- it was the 'infamous flower race.' There were amazing stories that came out of that day ... the flower was a symbol of connection and of our 12-week journey and what that meant to us." Mel, Tori and Heather talk about the reasons women run and how our individual "why I run" stories ultimately connect us to one another. Mel and Tori also share what it's like to operate a business together while living in two different cities -- Tori lives with her family in Marquette while Mel and her family reside in Madison, Wis. -- the growth Fellow Flowers has experienced since its inception, and the exciting plans for future adventures within their community. 
 
 

 

Oct 13, 2016
Some 250,000 people participate in runDisney events in Orlando, Fla. each year (more than half of these runners are women), and most make the journey to Walt Disney World not just to race but to also enjoy a fun-filled vacation at Disney theme parks. Michigan runner and writer Megan Biller is one of the many who share a passion for these races. In addition, Megan is the author of Magical Miles: the Runner's Guide to Walt Disney World, a tour book that guides families through all the aspects of a runDisney event, including resorts, restaurants, the races and more. Megan joins Heather on the show to talk about how she started running within the past 10 years, why she loves Disney races so much, and why she decided to write a book to help other runners make the most of their race experience in "the most magical place on Earth." Megan has run numerous runDisney events, including the Dopey Challenge, an event featuring four race distances totaling 46 miles in one weekend. Megan also co-hosts a Disney-themed podcast, Let's Run Disney. 
 
Links:
runndersguidetoWDW.com
facebook.com/runnersguidetoWDW

 

Oct 8, 2016
Well, we did it! Team MRG -- 12 women from Traverse City, Northville, East Lansing and Kalamazoo -- crossed the finish line (all together!) of the first-ever Reebok Ragnar Michigan this past Saturday at the Open Space in downtown Traverse City -- 29 hours and 40 minutes after starting this12-person relay race 200ish miles away in Muskegon. What an adventure! Heather is joined by five of her teammates in re-living this epic running experience. The girls give all the details (well, most of them anyway -- "what happens in the van, stays in the van," after all!) of their two-day trek on the west side of Michigan, on country roads and along the Lake Michigan shoreline. More than 150 teams participated in this inaugural Michigan race. Team MRG talks through the logistics of accomplishing such a feat, and also offers tips,  tricks and reflections on what it was like to be in a van together, cheer one another on (cowbells and lots of "woos!"), run during the night, and complete three different legs of running on little sleep. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to try a Ragnar -- and become a "Ragnarian" -- you'll definitely want to tune into this show. Heather also makes a call-out for listener experiences -- we'd love to share your Ragnar story on an upcoming podcast. 
 
Link: runragnar.com 

 

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