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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: August, 2018
Aug 29, 2018

Listeners will be excited to hear from Maia Turek, our Michigan Department of Natural Resources State Parks guru, as she sits down with Heather to talk about upcoming happenings around the Mitten this fall. (As Maia puts it, “Hoop-la” season is about to get underway, everyone!) Along with sharing fun and interesting spots to explore, and cool events like harvest festivals taking place at our state parks – did you know we have 103 state parks and 138 state forest campgrounds? – Maia and Heather talk about the State Department of Natural Resources’ Centennial celebration in the coming year, Heather’s end-of-summer trip to the Upper Peninsula and Van Riper State Park (did someone say moose-sightings?), AND how all of us can contribute to a joint project between the DNR and MRG that’s going to help us all explore our gorgeous state even more.

As was announced on the blog a couple of weeks ago, Michigan Runner Girl is teaming up with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to create an online guide of the best running routes in Michigan from the runners who know Michigan best…you

We all have our favorite Michigan routes – the ones with the perfectly located scenic overlook, or the road with the breeze off the lake, or simply the route with a great mix of scenery and geography to create an exhilarating challenge. 

Share your favorite routes to help visitors “know before they go” so they can be more confident in exploring some of Michigan’s most beautiful places. These spots can be in a Michigan state park or trail, your nearby hometown, or favorite vacation spot. 

Submit as many running routes as you want by Labor Day, Sept. 3, and you will be entered to win either a Michigan Runner Girl hoodie or Michigan state park sweatshirt!

Click here to share your favorite running route! 

MRG is super excited to be part of this project. This is another way we’re partnering with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources — did you also know that MRG participates in the DNR’s These Goods are Good for Michigan program? Michigan Runner Girl is among the businesses partnering with the DNR to raise awareness and financial support for Michigan state parks, trails, and waterways. A portion of the proceeds from these products, including MRG online store items, will be donated back to programs and amenities that benefit natural resources and outdoor recreation in this state.

Haven’t been over to the store lately? Been wanting to snag your own cozy MRG hoodie? Check out the MRG store here »

The Michigan Runner Girl Show is made possible in part by the Grand Traverse Resort & SpaTraverse City Tourism also helped make this episode possible.

If you enjoy what you’re hearing on the Michigan Runner Girl show, we’d be so grateful if you’d take a few moments to write a review on iTunes. This will help more runners and Michigan lovers like yourself find the podcasts. Thank you!! Also, the quickest way to get the podcasts is to subscribe to the show via iTunes or via Stitcher or your favorite podcast app. 

A special thanks to Mike Moran, Mike Youker and Jonny Tornga of Quarter After Productions in Traverse City, Mich. for producing the show. Check out this studio’s work here.

Aug 19, 2018

The summer of 2017 started out well for Ali Lopez, with big plans for triathlons as well as trail running and racing. But this all suddenly changed when she critically injured her left eye in an accident while at her home. 

Ali went from competing in a northern Michigan triathlon to the next day facing downstate surgeries and weeks of recovery. She couldn't be upright (no walking or running) and in fact had to spend significant amounts of time laying face down as her eye healed.

Ali, a wellness chef and health coach, is a longtime contributor to MichiganRunnerGirl.com, writing columns about fueling smart and sharing delicious recipes. She opens up about her experience last summer -- "Mentally, it was tough," she shares -- and what it's now like being on the other side of this injury and getting back into running, triathlon, and cooking. 

"It was hard ... but now when I am running and it's really hot or I'm running and it's really cold, or whatever, I just laugh. Because this is not hard. Yeah, this hard, but this is nothing compared to [what I went through]. I keep telling myself, you get to keep doing this. You couldn't do anything last summer, so everything that I get to do, I am just so grateful for. Even now, I just hope I finish [a race]. I hope I'm not last, but I just hope I can finish. I can be in the water, I can be on my bike, I can be on the trails, I can be running, I can be doing stuff. Because it sucks when you can't."

 

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