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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: January, 2019
Jan 15, 2019

Though he grew up playing sports and being an active kid, Dave Hester found himself “always achy and miserable” during the time following his college years. “I layed around a lot, I worked a lot and gained a lot of weight,” said Dave, who is 6’6” and during this period weighed 270 pounds. “That was the only time [in my life] I had been like that. It was four or five years, I sunk into a depressive state. One day I said, ‘Nope, not anymore.’ I needed to turn my life around. I ate right and started exercising. My motivation was not wanting to feel that way.”

Holly Olszewski also experienced a somewhat similar “a-ha” moment relating to her health and well-being. “After my third child was born, I weighed 237 pounds and my doctor said, ‘You’re going to die and you need to do something about it. You’re not on a good path.’ That really spoke to me and really motivated me to change. I had three children in two years, so there was a lot going on. I made up my mind that it was important to be there for them and help them learn a healthy lifestyle.” She started walking a mile every day. “Then it turned into running and the running turned into triathlon.” She lost 90 pounds and has maintained a healthy weight.

Holly and Dave, both music teachers for Traverse City Area Public Schools and teammates with Tri Again Fitness, share their inspiring journeys with Heather. Both are training for this summer’s IRONMAN 70.3 Traverse City. They describe what it’s like to have found their tribe—Tri Again Fitness—of like-minded people. They also talk about the ups (making strong connections with others, accomplishing big goals) and downs (losing friends) that come with making a big lifestyle change.

Holly and Dave are candid about what they’ve learned as they became stronger athletes and some of the biggest hurdles—Holly had to overcome a great fear of deep water in order to learn how to swim and complete a triathlon and Dave says he’s learned so many lessons from his race mishaps early on in his journey.


Jan 7, 2019

On this very first show of 2019, Heather is joined by two frequent guests and friends Maia Turek and Pam Carrigan to talk all about the upcoming second annual MRG Winter Weekend Getaway in Roscommon, Mich.

But before diving into the details of this amazing event (we’ve still got spots available!), these three catch up on one another’s holidays, the snow that (finally) has arrived in northern Michigan, how they’ve been (attempting) to stay active, Maia’s discovery of how not to pour drinks into Solo cups, snowshoeing with dogs, and the power of January 7 (when the new year and resolutions really get underway, right?).

The MRG Winter Weekend Getaway is next month, Feb. 8-10, and is again taking place at the Ralph A. MacMullen Conference Center on Higgins Lake. This is a beautiful Department of Natural Resources property, located in the woods on the shores of the lake, and the all-inclusive, 2-day retreat features cross country skiing, snowshoeing, running, rest & relaxation, Sunday morning yoga, great food and drink, and lots more (including a “live” podcast recording with a special guest talking about ways we can prevent and treat common running injuries).

Maia, who works for the DNR and took part in last year’s event, and Pam, who is MRG’s event coordinator, reflect back on last year’s event, which included 30-some other women from around the state (and beyond – one participant traveled from the west coast to join us!). “There are two people from the retreat last year – one of them I keep in touch with on Facebook only and I love to see when she accomplishes things and gets in her miles and finishes her races,” Maia shares. “I get to cheer her on over Facebook…and then another woman, she came by herself and she immediately connected with me and my friend and became the three musketeers throughout the weekend and she’s one of our favorite people.”

There’s an amazing group of women signed on for this year’s event – women of all ages and at varying stages of life and health and wellness journeys. All are welcome, whether you’ve only begun to run, are thinking of starting to run and be more active, or you’ve finished many races and have been active for a long time. Get the inside scoop on this great gathering of like-minded women during this episode. 

More details here, too: https://michiganrunnergirl.com/2019-mrg-winter-weekend-getaway/

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