I grew up in Northern California as a multi-sport athlete for my entire childhood. I loved being able to push my limits, physically and mentally, and I loved the comradery of being on a team. In high school, my passion for the sports I had been playing dwindled, so during my sophomore year, I decided to leave my old sports behind and join the track team. It was a big leap of faith, as I was not a big fan of running, but that quickly changed as I began to experience the joy of running. I was able to see the fruits of my training as my times ticked down, and I was able to celebrate my progress with a team that was incredibly positive and supportive. I continued running for the rest of high school, doing both cross country and track, and my passion for the sport only grew during this time.
The summer after I graduated, I ran my first half marathon, and that’s when I really got hooked on distance running. The juxtaposition of so much pain with so much joy was something I had never experienced before, and somehow I wanted more. During college, I ran two full marathons, in addition to countless other races of shorter distances. I wrote all of my own training plans, and with this training, I was able to achieve personal bests at each of my goal races. After spending 3 years in Seattle for college and running thousands of miles there, I moved to Minnesota in 2020 to pursue graduate school. Soon after this move was when I did one of the bravest things I’ve ever done: admitted I needed help. While from the outside, everything in my life seemed to be going so well, and I seemed to be healthy and fit, the truth was that I had an eating disorder that was progressing and starting to cause serious damage to my body.
When I started the process of eating disorder recovery, I was advised to not exercise in order to let my body heal, and to retrain my mind. With a lot of therapy, my mindset shifted from feeling like I “needed” to exercise to understanding that the movement we engage in should make us feel good, and that it’s okay to not exercise if that is what your body needs. I was so excited to be allowed to get back into running with this new perspective, and when the time came, I bought some cute new running clothes that fit my new body and headed out the door. As I continued to get back into running, I was surprised by how “out of shape” I felt given the amount of time I had taken off.
Nevertheless, I kept up with my training until I hit a breaking point. I went for a run at my usual pace and distance, but instead of it feeling appropriately challenging, it felt like I was having a heart attack. Crushing chest pain, nausea, dizziness, and of course, lots of fear. Then began the process of figuring out what had gone wrong (thankfully, it was not actually a heart attack). Months later, after lots and lots of testing, I was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). POTS is a neurological condition that affects your heart rate: when moving from a lying or sitting position, POTS causes your heart rate to increase significantly, which can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, and more.
After my diagnosis, I went almost a year without exercising. Walking to class and grocery shopping were incredibly difficult to get through without fainting, so running was completely off the table. I finally started physical therapy, and to get a sense of where my fitness was, the exercises for my first week were three minutes of exercises performed while lying down. That was all I could do. However, thanks to my amazing physical therapist and a lot of work on my part, after about 4 months, I was able to return to running. While I was so thankful to be able to run again, it was also difficult emotionally. I had essentially had to completely retrain my body how to exercise, so the running I was able to do felt completely foreign compared to what I had been doing before I developed POTS.
Since my return to running, I have had periods of running consistently, periods of running sporadically, and periods of not running at all. This is due to additional medical diagnoses, busy schedules with work and school, and just not having the motivation to run. All of this brings us to now, when I decided to become a fitness coach. Given my story, I know how precious the ability to joyfully move your body is, and I want to be able to foster that passion in others.
My current everyday running shoe: Asics Novablast 4 (but I recommend everyone get fitted at a run speciality store and not just buy the shoes their favorite influencers wear!)
My favorite distance to race: Half marathon. Short enough to be fast, but long enough to be really grueling.
My favorite post-run snack: A gluten free pastry from a local bakery.
My academic background: I have a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. My day job is working in infectious disease epidemiology!
My favorite movie: Portrait of a Lady on Fire
My favorite travel destination: Ireland! I was only able to go for a few days while I was studying abroad in London, but I would love to go back.