When the rhythm of your footsteps syncs with the heartbeat of a friend, you've entered the realm of connections that transcend the average run around the block.
We can't wait to share how the discipline of running has interwoven itself into the fabric of friendships, offering a support system as reliable as the most advanced running shoes.
Joined by Alex Alexander from the Friendship IRL podcast, we dissect the layers of camaraderie unearthed through different seasons of life, the kind that acts as a fortification against life's relentless marathon.
Have you ever considered your friendships as a series of incremental goals, much like training for a marathon? Through heartfelt discussions and laughter, this episode stitches together personal tales from her upcoming book, "Are we Friends Yet?", alongside engaging conversations with my dear friends Ashley, Becky, and Julie.
They reminisce about Ragnar relay races and their power to transform strangers into family, and we ponder how friendship isn't exclusive to extroverts—it's about the consistent effort to let others in, even if it's just sharing the silence of a pre-dawn jog.
Wrap yourself in the warmth of stories that celebrate friendships born from running—a support network that cheers you on, no matter the distance. As we recount monthly slumber parties with friends and their families, we reinforce the simple joys that shared experiences can bring, and the unexpected laughter that bubbles up over miles.
We also extend an invitation for you to join us, whether you're lacing up for the first time or you're a seasoned marathoner looking for that next burst of inspiration, because here, every stride strengthens the connection, and every laugh shared is a memory etched in our collective journey.
Join the newsletter list for updates, special offers, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Want to become a member of Time for Brunch+ to show your support of the show? Join here.
Join the Brunch community on Facebook or follow us on Instagram.
When the rhythm of your footsteps syncs with the heartbeat of a friend, you've entered the realm of connections that transcend the average run around the block.
We can't wait to share how the discipline of running has interwoven itself into the fabric of friendships, offering a support system as reliable as the most advanced running shoes.
Joined by Alex Alexander from the Friendship IRL podcast, we dissect the layers of camaraderie unearthed through different seasons of life, the kind that acts as a fortification against life's relentless marathon.
Have you ever considered your friendships as a series of incremental goals, much like training for a marathon? Through heartfelt discussions and laughter, this episode stitches together personal tales from her upcoming book, "Are we Friends Yet?", alongside engaging conversations with my dear friends Ashley, Becky, and Julie.
They reminisce about Ragnar relay races and their power to transform strangers into family, and we ponder how friendship isn't exclusive to extroverts—it's about the consistent effort to let others in, even if it's just sharing the silence of a pre-dawn jog.
Wrap yourself in the warmth of stories that celebrate friendships born from running—a support network that cheers you on, no matter the distance. As we recount monthly slumber parties with friends and their families, we reinforce the simple joys that shared experiences can bring, and the unexpected laughter that bubbles up over miles.
We also extend an invitation for you to join us, whether you're lacing up for the first time or you're a seasoned marathoner looking for that next burst of inspiration, because here, every stride strengthens the connection, and every laugh shared is a memory etched in our collective journey.
Join the newsletter list for updates, special offers, and exclusive behind-the-scenes content.
Want to become a member of Time for Brunch+ to show your support of the show? Join here.
Join the Brunch community on Facebook or follow us on Instagram.
Time for brunch. Empower, inspire, connect. Ignite your journey.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Time for Brunch, the place where every stride brings us closer not just to our running goals but to each other. Hello, I'm Coach Christine, and today's episode is all about the power of running and forging unbreakable friendships. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Well, for me, it began with friendships that have been the soul of my journey. Get it Soul Like the soul of a running shoe. I know that was really bad. I'm sorry. I won't do that again, at least not during this episode.
Speaker 2:While friendships can ebb and flow like the tides, I found the ones that I've formed on the run to be the most sticky, the kind that stays with you through thick and thin, through every hill, repeat and every valley of life. They've been a constant my support squad through every season, be it training for a marathon or navigating the marathon of life. So in today's episode we're diving deep into this topic with a very special guest, the host of Friendship IRL podcast. She's a beacon in the world of friendships, but that's not all. We're also joined by a terrific trio, a group of friends who embody the spirit of what it means to prioritize friendships on the run. They've met with their running shoes on and they've been inseparable ever since.
Speaker 2:And because we love to mix in some fun with our serious talk, we're introducing a fun game for today's episode that you should have found in your weekly newsletter the fantasy run crew challenge. Think a little fantasy football, but for running. We want you to pick your ultimate run crew maybe a lightning fast sprinter for those short, sharp runs and endurance master for those grueling long runs, or maybe just the most entertaining companion for the post run coffee chat. We're talking running celebs, local legends and maybe even a surprise choice or two. If you are not on our newsletter list, please do use that link in episode notes to sign up so you can make sure to stay in the loop and in the know with all of our future games that we'll be playing throughout this season.
Speaker 2:So, friends, without further ado, let's lace up our shoes, grab your headphones, let's hit the road together. It's time to explore the beautiful intersection of running and friendships right here, and welcome in our first guest. Welcome, friends, to the brunch table Alex Alexander podcast, host of friendship IRL, a podcast on a mission to help shift the focus of connection and relationships to prioritizing friendships and community. Alex, as you already know I'm a huge fan of your work and your mission. It's one that's near and dear to my heart, one that I'm so excited to have you here with us to share with our audience. So thank you for being here.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. It's so fun to get to chat with you again and yeah, I just I really enjoyed our conversation last time. I'm really excited about this one.
Speaker 2:I know I love to have the tables turned a little bit and get a chance to actually learn more about your story. Now I do follow you. I followed your story. It's such one that's so powerful. I love how you created your own community, your own family. So let's get right to it. What precipitated friendship in real life or IRL?
Speaker 3:Oh, it honestly just naturally came about. This friendship, community connection, as you mentioned, is incredibly important in my life. It's like friendship isn't a nice to have, it's not a luxury. I really think friendship and community is foundational Survival. I think it impacts all the other areas of wellness in our life because it creates a solid foundation for all of the others. And I didn't have that as a kid. I didn't have a solid support system, and somewhere in my teens, 20s, I basically was so desperate that I decided I'm going to lean in and I'm going to use my friendships in my community to get that solid foundation. I didn't know what I was doing at the time and that really has just made this such a central piece of my life that naturally I would talk about it with people and over time people started saying you know, you really should be sharing this on a bigger scale and that led to the podcast and my work.
Speaker 2:And now here I am today. Yes, and, as you guys will hear about here, there's a book in the works and I am like ready for my pre-order the minute that it's available, because it's something I feel passionate about. But I will say, you touched on something. I was terrible at it at first and well, I think, with speaking from point of grace, aren't we all terrible at pretty much everything? In our teens and 20s? I mean in my 40s, I still feel like I'm terrible at most things, and it's an evolutionary process. So did you find that it was difficult to make friends at first?
Speaker 3:I don't know if I've ever found it difficult to make friends. I think funny enough, being on this podcast, I use running quite often as a metaphor from making friends that we need to think of our friendships in our community as skills and habits and showing up for those consistently. That's what's going to build what we need. So you know, I'll tell people like that moment where you have anxiety about showing up to the running group or the holiday party or that new friend date you set up, that's no different than the moment that you look at your running shoes and absolutely dread the idea of putting them on, but you put them on anyways and you convince yourself that if you can just get outside and run five minutes, that you know that it's easier. And over time it becomes easier to convince yourself to run 10 minutes and 20 minutes and 30 minutes and suddenly you're running 5k and a 10k.
Speaker 3:Friendship is no different, it's a muscle and you work it that way. So for me, because you're asking me specifically I am constantly tweaking my friendship habits In every new season of life. What worked to get me out the door before may not work anymore. The time slots that I fit that in may be different. So it's just being mindful and consistently checking in with yourself to hone those in. That is what I don't know if I struggle with, but I'm constantly working on.
Speaker 2:So we talk here at brunch quite frequently that there's different seasons of our running and it sounds like that's dry again that parallel. There's different seasons where, maybe because of our life and the other obligations we have, that it's easier to get out the door for a Saturday brunch with your friends, and there's other times where it may end up having to shift into texting or a different way of staying in touch, and I love that you're always looking at a way of making sure that, while it's still an incredible, foundational, important part of your life, that it's not always going to look exactly the same, yeah it's just like.
Speaker 3:Here's an example of that. Right Yesterday, as we're recording this podcast, I went and spent the day with a friend of mine who is a stay at home mom and her two little girls. We used to get up and go meet up for brunch and do all these things, and we do that sometimes. But with childcare it's a lot harder for her and also me. Being able, with the flexibility of working for myself, to go down on a Wednesday is so fun for her because it mixes up her. You know the grind of the stay at home mom life. We probably won't do that forever, but currently that's what works. I'll give you a second example.
Speaker 3:I have a very close friend of mine and she moved away and we were not doing very well at texting or phone calls. She was in grad school, it just we weren't meeting up. And one day I texted her and I said, hey, I want to try something new and if it doesn't work, I'm okay, but can we commit to trying it for a couple weeks? And what I wanted to try was an app called Marco Polo. If you have ever used that, it's like a video app.
Speaker 3:And I said to her I think this will be easier because when you're, let's say, like driving home from classes, you can just put it in your cup holder I mean, I've been able to see your face like that's fine and hit record and vice versa and we can just like leave each other voice memos. And at first she was a little hesitant. She's like I don't know, I don't need another app. I think this is going to be a lot, but, like I will try for you. For two weeks we use it all the freaking time we Marco Polo multiple times a day and if she moved back we may not do that necessarily, like we might shift into something else, but currently in this season, that's how we're making it work.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think actually the pandemic is what brought me to learn about Marco Polo and it was actually I was using it a little bit beforehand, but it became a game changer for my relationships and it's so funny the evolution, speaking about different seasons and self acceptance as well, Because I remember at first I was like, oh, it kind of has.
Speaker 2:I'm in front of a video camera because you can choose to do a video and I felt like I had to brush my hair and be a little bit more quote unquote, presentable. And now I'm pretty sure that I look like a gremlin and 99% of my Marco Polo's and I'm okay with that. And having my friends accept me for who I am is also very affirming, I should say. So I want to know in this process and then doing some of your work, you are incredibly passionate about this, of course, and one of the really powerful taglines or sayings that you have is a connection is air and we're all suffocating it's. I'm just going to let people sit with that for a second because it hit me like a little. It punched to the stomach when I heard it. What does that mean?
Speaker 3:Connection is air and we're all suffocating that phrase, I think. Well, when I very first started doing this work, I had a different kind of tagline, and it was that we want to find friendships that feel good, not look good. I think that one's true, I think that's what we want, but it maybe didn't touch enough on how dire I think this is, as I mentioned in the beginning, like how foundational. A lot of people out there that are talking about friendship and they're not that many I could count them on like two hands. There are very few people discussing this, which is crazy, because most of us have more friendships than we do any other relationships. Most people not everyone have one partner, have a few family members, and yet you might have five, six, seven friends, even if they're simpler friendships, but we're not talking about it. So very few people are doing this work and most of the people that are are really coming at it from a friendship is nice to have lens, and when I watch other people's content it's great. I love that other people are doing this work, but the piece that I was at home, you know, yelling at the wall was this isn't a nice to have, this is so necessary and we're treating it as if we can just keep kicking this area of our life down the road. Like I'll make friends People tell me this all the time like I'll make friends when I get married and I can make couple friends.
Speaker 3:I'll make friends when my divorce is finalized and I don't have to figure this out. I'll make friends when I have kids and I can make parent friends. I'll make friends like stop, stop the fallacy. You're just going to keep saying I'll do it next Monday, over and over and over again. You can't do that. And the other thing is that the moment where you need your people is the moment you won't have the energy to go out and build these connections. So doing this work, setting yourself up, investing now, is going to help future you, who needs that foundational support, like in the moment where connection is air and you are suffocating. You will have built oxygen masks for yourself. So don't wait, you can't wait. And that's really the lens I come at this from.
Speaker 2:You're absolutely right, because I'm thinking of those really pivotal times in my life, like when you just mentioned the individual, the scenario of going through divorce and I'll make friends when I figured it out on the other side I can't imagine navigating my divorce or the loss of a family member, or the celebratory aspects of my life either, without those friendships there. So I really love that your, that this again is your work that you're making, and as we go into the new year, where so many times we have kind of the same resolutions that come into play and I'm not going to go over the list of resolutions, but in the top 10 is spending more time with friends and family. So with that, do you feel that you've seen in your work that? Is it about reconnection or is it sometimes needing to start a fresh in a new what I talk the most about is adding in both categories starting a fresh in a new, and reconnecting.
Speaker 3:I just talk about adding in general because there is a lot of conversation out there about like letting go, how to end friendships, how to break up, how to put up boundaries, and, while that is important, when we put all of our energy on that, we're just whittling our connections down further and further and further and further, and that's a lot of like negative energy on what's not there. So instead, why don't we focus on what is there and what we can add To build what we need in this current season of life? And that could mean Making a new friend. And when I say make a new friend like, that doesn't need to be your new bestie forever. That could be a new friend for a new interest you have or a new area of life You're pursuing. So, for example, when I started my business my really serious I was like I need more online entrepreneur friends because most of my friends work corporate. They don't understand what I do day today and I need to add that to support myself. So that's one way, but it also could be, just when you're saying reconnecting, like adding Something new to an existing friendship.
Speaker 3:I think quite often reason the reason a friendship doesn't feel very good anymore. I'll use my friend that I went and saw yesterday, the stay at home mom, as an example. If we were just continuing to try and force Saturday brunch when that's really difficult for her right now, that friendship would probably feel like it's not working. And Most people out there will tell you to put up boundaries and state your needs and do all that. Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:But instead I looked at that friendship and I was like what can we add in this season of life to Give it something new? And then we'll do that again and again and again. In a few years Her kids will be older to be easier, and maybe we'll add in brunch or maybe we'll add in like some totally different activity, but in both I really just like to focus on that idea of adding, because when you add it's also a lot easier to let go of the things that aren't working. You don't even need to put as much attention on it. They'll just kind of fall by the wayside quite often not always, but quite often because your attention is over here on all the good stuff that's happening.
Speaker 2:I love this aspect of focusing on adding and augmenting and taking, like that base recipe If we're gonna talk about food, from our scenario and look at adding different seasoning to it, if we will, or a different ingredient or a different way of preparing it. I also do want to touch on, as you mentioned, a little letting go, because you did already talk about that letting go of the idea of what it should look like, because you even mentioned that with your online Marketing friends or your online business entrepreneur friends. So what does that mean and how have you found that in your work?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know I talk a lot about just like checking in on the expectations you have of your friendships and if we're gonna zoom way out like, where, overall, did you get your beliefs about what a friend is, what is a friend? Because when I talk to most people they can't actually tell me what a friend is and the definition they have quite often actually isn't even something They've come up with. It's probably something they've absorbed through media or books or, you know, maybe it came from Like your family. Growing up.
Speaker 3:Most people haven't spent the time to really think about what is a friend and the messages that are out there are Really Overwhelming. Like a best friend should be there for you in all the ways, all the time, no matter what, and if they can't do that, they're not a true friend, real friend, best friend, forever friend, whatever. That is so much pressure and if we look at that on ourselves, like in my current season of life I can't even show up that way for my friends, like I don't have the capacity right now to do that. So I think one of the easiest places to like start letting go is to just check in on the expectations of your friendships and Reconfigure those expectations so that your friend can meet them.
Speaker 2:And I think what I'm hearing too, is also like meeting them ourselves being fine. What I'm hearing you say is finding compassion For others through giving ourselves compassion, because you nailed it in terms of I can't necessarily meet these expectations. Why would I think that others could meet that expectation right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and putting some of the responsibility back on yourself and honesty, right. That's why I talk about like adding, building what you need, and. But I'm gonna talk about me right here, like I need to build what I need. So Some of the messaging out there might say that I started a business and my closest friends should show up for me, they should buy all my products, they should support all my things, they should just lean in, right, some of them aren't my ideal customer. They sure pay attention and they cheer me on I'm not saying they're negative, but they may not have listened to every single podcast episode I've released.
Speaker 3:They Sure as heck don't know what I do day to day and what it takes to record a podcast and the intricacies. So if I'm having a really hard day and something went wrong, they aren't gonna be able to be a solution. So I need to take responsibility for myself and build other friendships that I can lean into for that area of life and I can also support them in their online Entrepreneurial journey and that takes the pressure off my other friendships and lets them really thrive in the ways that they already do.
Speaker 2:Yes, I hear what you're saying in that and to Folks that are listening in, what was the catalyst for you to say this is where I need to build what I need, but again as augmenting to my life. How did you feel like what's a practical way of doing that? I?
Speaker 3:think a practical way of doing that is for somebody to actually sit down and Think about the people in their lives and the areas of Maybe not areas like the shared interests they want with people, the areas they want support, the ways they want to spend time together and maybe actually write that down and you know, we tease my book earlier. My book actually walks you through all of this and gives you, like literally a Plan at the end for where you're gonna invest your energy to build what you want. But spend some time reflecting and then take responsibility for yourself, because what most people are doing is entering a new season of life or a New journey or a new something and just expecting that all their friends are gonna get it and we want them to be supportive and positive, but that doesn't mean they're gonna actually truly understand what you're going through and be able to support you. So take Responsibility for yourself and put yourself in places to build those types of connections that you need.
Speaker 2:Do you consider yourself an extrovert? I do.
Speaker 3:Okay, I do, but with the caveat of most people who are Like my audience. Most people who message me are not, and they are doing this Okay.
Speaker 2:So it's not just because I'm extroverted that it's working that was gonna be my next question, because that's what I can hear. I can already hear people in my ears saying yeah, but that's because you're so extroverted, because that's generally a conversation piece that comes into play. But what I love about your work again and I can't wait until this book comes out because I'm literally going to have everybody read it is the fact that you're asking people to take reflection and accountability. Again, talking about running, all of those things, people can't progress in their running journeys until there's that accountability piece of what is it that I need for my running at this point? Or my wellness journey, or my health journey? So in looking in those spaces. So if what they're looking for is just a nice easy run, then they're not going to necessarily program or have a bunch of speed work on their training plan right then and there.
Speaker 3:So I do enjoy those parallels, so I think that most people we are following for anything like on the internet, in their books, in their programs, whatever, right. They're very extreme version, normally right, because it's so important to them, it's such a priority that they've really centered a lot of their life around it. I am a really extreme version, which is what makes me interesting to people. But that is not to say that what I have is what other people should have and I say that in my podcast nonstop. Like what I have built might sound terrible to you, don't do it. It should not look like mine and it shouldn't look like what the Friends TV show looks like and it shouldn't look like the Instagram posts, you see, but what it should look like is whatever you envision when you sit down and do that reflection.
Speaker 3:So I'm interesting because I'm extreme. But a lot of people out there that are doing this work alongside me are coming back to me and saying you know, I really sat down and realized like I want to maybe add one friend in this new area of my life and I've kind of let some stuff go and I really have that core group of three or four people and I feel really good about it and my response is. I love that. That's great. It does not need to look like what I talk about. I'm just fascinating Because if you looked at, if I wrote down Awkwardness of Friends, like I have dozens of friends, which is that extroverted version, but nobody's needs to look like mine.
Speaker 2:Yes, I wholeheartedly love that aspect of what your work is as well, because, again, it is the matter of I do make friends easily, and I do also have what I would consider quite a few friends, but it has also been not something that I just had overnight, and it's not something that I am able to maintain just because I say it to be so. Now, the people that I would say that probably have been closest and have weathered those seasons of changes in my relationships where we still stay in touch quite frequently is because we've both been able to be flexible with this evolution of who we are as people, which, though, thankfully, because of technology, that's been a really powerful thing. For me. That may not work for everyone, just like you said, marco Polo.
Speaker 2:Marco Polo is a game changer for me to be able to stay in touch with my friends that are digital nomads and today may be here in Orlando with me, and tomorrow they may be in a completely different time zone. So one thing, though, that we hear a lot of is that we've started to think. Brene Brown and her work has a poignant conversation piece where it's we've mistaken information through technology as connection. How would you say that? That is a challenge that we can maybe work toward integrating it, as you have embraced technology or I know you've had guests that embrace technology and helping them to stay connected versus just that passive information or following.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So there's a lot of attention pressure, whatever put on vulnerability in our friendships, on sitting down with somebody and sharing our inner thoughts and our inner workings or doing that via text message. And what I like to remind people is when we made friends. If you go back to, let's say, high school, the friends or college, the friends that you are closest with now, it's because you did life together. At one point. You ran errands together, you took each other to get oil, changes you like, let each other into the minutiae of life. You know, maybe you invited each other to dinner with your families or you had dinner at your friend's house in high school. So much of our connection was built on just shared experiences, shared interests, just being present in each other's lives. So when there's this pressure to share information, as you're saying, via technology, take a step back and think like can I, instead of feeling like I have to update my friend on the inner workings of my brain every day, can I find a way to just do something with my friend once a week, like share a moment of life together? And if you live far apart, that could mean like cooking dinner together via FaceTime, but doing something like that, even the FaceTime dinner, if you think about it like that, lets your friend into your life way more than sharing the inner workings of your brain via text message. Because when you're on FaceTime, your friend gets to be like, wait, you buy that brand, I buy that brand too. Or when did you remodel that thing in your kitchen? Or why did you pick that pan? Wait, wait, wait, can you zoom in on the cookbooks behind you? I think I want one of those.
Speaker 3:Right, when we are in each other's lives, we pick up so much information just by being present and being together. Same thing if you were gonna let's say you weren't runners and you showed up to a running group together. That's a very vulnerable thing to be a beginner. With a friend Like you might peter out and lose your breath five minutes in and they're there for that and it's like are you staying with me? Are you running ahead? Help me find water, whatever, right, that is so much information, so much vulnerability just by being present with each other that you aren't getting if you're just on text messages back and forth. It's so different to experience that than it is to get a message that said, I lost my breath at five minutes in, absolutely so. If you feel this pressure to share text messages all the time and it's too much for you and this information is a lot shift your focus to finding some of those moments to be present with each other, even if it's through technology, and it will totally shift your friendships.
Speaker 2:It's funny that you specifically talked about cooking together with FaceTime, because, again, when Marco Polo first became kind of the way that my closest friend, GripenEye stay in touch, one of the things that we did was share what the inside contents of our refrigerator was Completely mundane. It felt so silly, but we had so much fun being like, oh you have that or would you use that spice for whatever the case may be, and we quite literally still talk about it to this day and it's probably been years since this actually happened. So again, I think you're nailing it. You're hitting on all of the reasons why it's not to look at it as this idealistic relationship. Just like we've come to the conclusion that our romantic relationships are not going to model what we see on TV or in movies, Our friendships will not either TV movies are meant to get ratings, and so much of friendship and relationship in general is not exciting enough to get ratings and to hook your attention.
Speaker 3:Like that's the point of it. We don't want that dramatic of a life, but you have to let people into the simple stuff.
Speaker 2:I will say, though, I do think that inner workings of our refrigerators and what we have in there may get ratings. Maybe not, it may not be a big Hollywood big budget film, but somebody may be interested in it. I do love that. That's definitely great Now, with again the podcast and where people can continue to get all of your wonderful information and hear from your guests what is maybe a really unusual way that you heard a guest start to build their friendships in their community.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, so many. The first one that pops into my mind is I have a podcast episode I want to say it's episode 28, I'm pretty sure and it is about Erica and her family. Erica has two kids and her husband they connected with this other family. She like knew the mom from, I think, college, but they weren't friends, they were just kind of you know, they would see each other in classes or in the dorm or whatever they knew of each other and on Facebook, the other moms that she was moving. I want to say it's a little over an hour away from them in Denver. They ended up meeting up at the aquarium in Denver. Their kids hit it off so well Maybe it's an hour and a half apart because it's a little bit of a drive and after their second meetup they decided that they were going to start doing monthly family slumber parties.
Speaker 2:I want to do that Right, their entire.
Speaker 3:I do that. I do do that with my friends, like we have friends that stay here. We say this is very common for us but it's not common for most people. So it was a really fun episode to record. But their entire family, dogs included, they take turns going back and forth and they talk about how you know it's that whole idea of like shared space and existing together. They aren't necessarily jam packing their weekends. In fact, I think most of the time they barely leave the house and don't change out of their pajamas but they all just hang out together one week and a month.
Speaker 2:I mean, it sounds like that's going on. My list of things to tackle in 2024 is inviting my friends for a slumber party, a sleepover, because it sounds incredible. Now I don't think that. Again, talking about seasons of life, I'm not at the point where I could commit to that on a monthly basis, but this is where we have to find what works with us and how we're able to make it happen. Now I'm definitely going to the link where people can listen to your podcast. I absolutely want folks to continue to follow you on Instagram and TikTok because you share so much of your work there. Are you at the point where you could tell us a little bit more about your book that's coming up?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't have a date. I will soon. It's early 2024. But my book is called Are we Friends Yet? And I accidentally wrote this book. I did not ever plan to be an author. I sat down, I meant to write 30 pages and suddenly I had over 200.
Speaker 3:My book is one part reframes for how you think about friendship, some of which I've shared here today, but a little more in depth.
Speaker 3:And the other part is this kind of guided reflection tool everything from what is your ideal vision of your community and connections and that's going to change over time but, like right now, what does that look like and what time do you have right now?
Speaker 3:Like, what is your time, what are your boundaries, what can you give, what do you want as far as support? And we use all this information, all this reflection, and, at the end, the goal is that you come up with anywhere from one to three habits, actions, things that you want to implement over the next three months, whether that's setting aside time to respond to your text messages or setting up a monthly FaceTime cooking date or joining a new club, like it's going to be different for everyone, but the idea is if you actually pick some actions that you're going to prioritize in your life. As you mentioned earlier in this podcast, none of this is going to happen overnight, but if you start to do this and show up in this area of your life, you'll wake up in a year, two years, five years and, like that vision that you had can become a reality.
Speaker 2:I love that you broke down such a practical way of pursuing those friendship goals, as many of the runners that are familiar with Time for Brenton are philosophy here, where we wouldn't have them go run a marathon tomorrow. They're going to have an actionable setting aside a specific time, a specific distance goal, a specific mileage goal. Just the very fact that you talk about setting aside time to respond to text absolutely brilliant Sounds like I mean, when you say it sounds super like. Why didn't I think of that? That's such a great way to stay connected, because who doesn't necessarily like see a text and they can't get to it right then and there they forget all about it and then three weeks go by and like, oh, I was supposed to respond to that text.
Speaker 3:I feel so guilty yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love this. It sounds like it's part of actually kind of a toolkit in this book as to how to move forward with this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the idea is to find these super small, like almost so hard to not achieve habits in your life. You know, I mean going to running, as simple as literally putting on your shoes, walking out the front door. If you hit the sidewalk and you're not going to run, at least you put your shoes on and walked out the door, like sometimes that's where you have to start. And you need to do that every day for one month so you can set a new goal that you're going to go around the block Like most people come in and say, just, I want to make new friends. That's so overwhelming. What does that even mean? How do you do that? So I like to take it way back, way back, and pick some super small goals and build on those over time and make this more of kind of a way of life so that you can be making those micro shifts and adjustments down the line. If you're really starting kind of from scratch, you'll get there.
Speaker 2:Okay. So we're definitely going to have everybody stay in touch, because when are we friends? Yet Drops. We have to have this as an official book club selection and hopefully have you back. I feel like I could talk to you about this forever and learn. I seriously am just so excited about it because, again, this is incredible work that you're doing. But before we go officially and I'll make sure that everybody knows where to find you and follow you and see this incredible work I'd love to know, talking about brunch, if you had the ability to get together for a brunch with a specific person, who would you want to have brunch with? Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:Dead or alive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are no rules here.
Speaker 3:My grandpa, bill, that's who I would want to have brunch with.
Speaker 2:Okay, grandpa Bill and you would have a wonderful brunch chatting and maybe he would get to hear all about this incredible book. So again, friends, definitely please head on over, follow the podcast, listen and, as you guys start thinking about your New Year's resolutions, know that this is an incredibly important, foundational aspect of your wellbeing. So thank you, alex, so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, christine, and that was Alex from Friendship IRL sharing some truly insightful perspectives on the value and intricacies of friendships in our lives. I hope you find it as enlightening and inspiring as I did. The beauty of what Alex shared isn't just the ideas themselves, but in how we can actually apply them in our daily lives, especially in our running journeys.
Speaker 2:Now, speaking of applying these friendship lessons, I'm thrilled to introduce our next guests. They are living, breathing, running testaments to the power of friendships formed on the move, and just a whole lot of fun. These three have not just run miles together, but they've also journeyed through life, supporting each other, through highs and lows, both on and off the roads. Together, they're here to share their story, to inspire us and show us the lessons that they've learned in how what we've heard from Alex can be woven into the fabric of our running journeys. Questions like how do they maintain their bond? What challenges have they faced? How do they overcome them together? Who would get the invite for a celebrity to join their run crew? Well, friends, all of those questions and more will be answered in this next segment. So, without further ado, let's get this running friendship party started. Hey, friends, I am so excited I mean I'm actually ecstatic to bring to the table not one, not two, but three incredible, wonderful women who actually are the embodiment of the conversation that we continue. From Alex from Friendship IRL, we're gonna delve into how these three can actually actively nurture and enjoy their friendship amidst the hustle of daily life. And, of course, we're gonna welcome back to the brunch table Becky.
Speaker 2:Becky is been with us before. She's vibrant. She has so much that she has contributed to the running community, especially as a go-to coach as well. But she's bringing along her besties, whether we've got Julie White from Louisville and Ashley from St Augustine. These are her official best-running friends, and I've heard some of the shenanigans and I gotta say I'm a little envious myself.
Speaker 2:So this trio is a living example of how to cultivate and prioritize friendships, no matter the season of life, whether juggling kids' careers and personal challenges. They demonstrate that friendship isn't just an aspect of life, it is a lifeline, a source of strength and a whole lot of fun. Welcome back, becky. So glad to have you with us again. Thanks, I'm happy to be back, and you brought with you Julie hello, julie, hello. And Ashley, we're so excited to have you here as well. Thank you, hello. Now, friends, I have notes in front of me, just so that you all are aware, as we're recording this, and it's actually Becky and crew. But I have to ask, is that how you guys would refer to yourselves, becky and crew, or do you have a more formalized name for your rock star band?
Speaker 4:Mm, I don't know. We kind of have taken off with the soul sister theme as we were getting ready for the Berlin marathon. That was our name in German, so we kind of refer to each other as our soul sisters.
Speaker 2:Okay, we could do that. We'll have soul sisters here. I'm gonna occasionally prior refer to you guys as the terrific trio, so I'm gonna ask right out of the gate if maybe, Becky, you wanna give us a little bit of how you all met and what sparked your decision to start running together.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. I had been running some Ragnar's and I was enjoying that and I had spent my summer in Michigan and I had never done the Michigan Trail Ragnar. So I decided since I had some family here to watch these kiddos that it was time for me just to jump on a team. So I found a team blind, and I showed up at Hanson Hills and that is where I met seven other amazing people, one of them being the amazing Julie White who was also coming into that team.
Speaker 4:Blind, had no recognition or recognition of any of those people and after that friendship accelerator of those 48 hours together running, eating, not sleeping, doing all the things we knew that we were sisters from a different lifetime. We realized we had so much in common we could go on and on about all the things we have in common and we just knew that we were gonna be a part of each other's lives, which takes us to. A month later we jumped on a hood to coast team and that's where we met Ashley and since then we have been running and traveling literally the world together.
Speaker 2:I feel like we should give Ragnar a big shout out for being like the true incubator of friendships of people who maybe wouldn't connect in any other way. So I love to definitely hear that story. Now I'm gonna ask, ashley, if you tell us maybe something about what struck for you. What was something that kind of struck out for you in meeting Becky and Julie and how you were like, yeah, I'm gonna make this happen. I really wanna make this friendship connect and stay in touch with these gals.
Speaker 5:Oh, so I would say our laughter through some crazy situations that we've been put, through, our determinations to finish these races where all like everything is going nuts around us and just making it through some of these road races, trail races, van experiences, midnight hours, no sleep, bird days, all together Do you guys think that with Ragnar, it's the fact that you're going off so much like sleep deprivation that you're getting to see the true colors of the individual, and that's what helped you guys connect a bit more so?
Speaker 6:I think, like I know, for me and Becky, our big thing was we got married almost at the same time.
Speaker 6:Our oldest children are within a couple months of each other.
Speaker 6:Our second children, both named Benny, are within a couple months of each other and it was literally like there was a number of other things, but it definitely, when you are doing a Ragnar or any relay, really the vulnerability that happens because you are sleep deprived, because you are in a tent with these strangers, because you are out on these trails that are maybe unfamiliar to you, like it really does, and you'll have these Ragnar moments where you're sitting at the campfire and you're like it's three in the morning and everybody else is sleeping, but there's a handful of people that are out still running and you will just have a conversation with that person and there's no airs.
Speaker 6:You're just completely raw because everybody's out there doing the same thing and everybody is positive. I have yet to have a Ragnar experience and we all know, like, how many Ragnar stories I have when they've not been, where you don't connect with somebody, like there is just somebody out there and I really do just. I know that this is gonna. We're gonna try not to keep this all 100%, ragnar, but there's relationships that are built on those trails and on those roads and in those vans, unlike anything you will experience.
Speaker 2:I think it's a lack of shower For me anyway, like I feel like if I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to be with people in that van without a showering for like two full days. There was nothing that I couldn't tell them, that they wouldn't judge me on, so but I am curious because I've done Ragnar, I've connected with people, I love them. I felt like this is awesome, this is a friendship for life, but that doesn't necessarily always translate the way it has for you ladies. So what was that next factor? How did you make it happen? Transition from van or trail life to? I'm gonna keep this rolling with these ladies and stay in touch.
Speaker 4:I think part of our goal study, like we kind of said, you know, like let's do another one. This was fun. Oh, you've never done this, let's try this. And then we roped in more people because there are more of us. We've got the genies in there that we could include, who I was just with last night, who talked me into coming to North Carolina, and now I think I'm picking up Ashley on the way she don't even know, like February and I might just drive on over.
Speaker 4:You know, see how it happens. We find out that somebody's doing something and we know that it would be a gosh darn good time and we can't go and miss out on that. But at the same time it's that escapism from the life that we have to live all the time Not that any of us have terrible lives, but the fact that we're always the work person or we're always the wife or the girlfriend or the mom. And this is the chance where we really get to be Becky, julie, ashley, the genies, you know. We really get to kind of be ourselves and that person kind of gets lost in the shuffle after years and years of doing all the things for everybody else. So we love that we can find those times to really go out there and still have a piece of us, and our families support it, because they don't really understand it. They're like, yeah, we wouldn't want to run that thing, you should totally go do that and it's a little sanity for us.
Speaker 2:So you nailed it. Like you guys are extremely busy, it's not like any of you have just all of this extra time to be able to devote to really stoking the fires of friendship. So how do you stay in touch in between all of the really fun, crazy, spontaneous adventures?
Speaker 1:Marco Polo no yeah really honestly, it really is. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 6:And I, honestly, I had had one experience with Marco Polo. We used it on a bourbon chase, and then when I met Becky like she does that with her sister and I was like, well, this is amazing. So we set up a group and we it's I mean like you'll just throw up a video and the other person watches it, and sometimes you might be days before you watch the video, but it makes you feel like you are so much more connected than just text messaging. And who has time to make phone calls? Really? Yeah, like sometimes also too, you really just want to throw your dirty laundry like out to somebody else and just let it get it off your plate and they can either choose to listen or not. Like you would just claim the beginning of it.
Speaker 6:It's like I just want it out in a way. For me, you know, yes, you know. So it's an interesting way of communicating that you know what I mean. Like that solves a lot of like. You know what I mean Different for different reasons, like you know, maybe I just want to see your face, you know.
Speaker 2:So for friends that aren't from Marco Polo, I mentioned it when I spoke with Alex. But basically Marco Polo is like an app where it's video conferencing on demand, so you don't necessarily all have to be like on Zoom at the same time. You're able to kind of leave a message. I listen to it a lot when I go out for my runs and catch up with my friends' lives. That way During the pandemic it was a lifesaver for us and we even did something super casual where we just showed each other like what our contents of our refrigerator was, just because it's in. Like that's now like the gateway for anybody who joins our group. When we add people in, they have to show us the contents of the refrigerator so that they can kind of just be part of the group as well. But it's such a great way of staying in touch. So Marco Polo is absolutely awesome. Do you feel like that was, or that continues to be, a really vital way of you guys to communicate? Oh for sure.
Speaker 5:Because we probably are on that every single day, so we know exactly what's going on with our families, with our kids, with work and meeting our running goals.
Speaker 2:Would you say that this is the way that you guys are able to balance it all Because, again, you have careers, you have your family. How are you getting in the Marco Polo time?
Speaker 6:In between driving from like. So the two days I'm in the office it'll be on the way to work in the morning or away back from homework. Becky, when she was on her streak, every single night we get a Marco Polo. She would listen to ours and then she would send one back when she was doing her long runs on Saturday night. I'm like I don't care what time it is, you need a Marco Polo when you get home so we know you're safe. You know that type of stuff.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I love that. Ok, so we are staying in touch with Marco Polo. I should also mention for folks that maybe haven't caught in quite yet geographically you guys are spread all over out, so you're even in different time zones at this point with your relationships. So Marco Polo allows you to stay in contact no matter the day or time, because you kind of again are able to come to it on your own accord whenever it's kind of on demand where you can listen in. But how did running together start to change your perspective on your friendship? Now, you started your friendship with running, but now you've actually gone off and made plans to run races together where, ragnar, you're kind of tag teaming. You guys tackled Berlin together last year, didn't you?
Speaker 4:We sure did. The three of us tackled that and we've come to this agreement that we all have the school to run 50. So we are total nerds. If you haven't caught on, we have the giant spreadsheet and it is tabbed out. It's color coded as to who's ran what state already, what we want to run, what year we're going to run it, hotels, airfare, like we are at. We need this like joint bank account, because we've been about each other money so much for all the different things, like we should just start depositing money in there and just take from it as we need to. So setting those long-term goals is and you know not, we just wouldn't want to talk to each other daily anyway, but those long-term goals have really created this like oh, we're going to be in each other's lives for a while. Our calendars are now booked out through like late 2026, now booking into 2027.
Speaker 2:Holy smokes. So with your traveling and running together, do you actually run together when you're on races?
Speaker 6:It depends on the race, okay, it depends on everybody's individual goal. Like we are really respectful of each other's goals. We are really like okay, so for instance, for Berlin, I had told Becky and Ashley my other two marathons I had stayed with people. So the difficulty there is you have your ups and downs, they have their ups and downs, you guys have to go through all those ups and downs together and it makes you essentially slower. I also wanted mentally to tackle that marathon on my own, to know that I could do it, because the mental aspect of that is so much, you know, so intense you know if you've not tried it. And so then Becky had a whole another complication that happened the day before the race. So we were very we're very honest with each other about what we're trying to accomplish, Like Vegas, when we do Rock and Roll Vegas, that will literally probably be a two and a half hour half marathon where we take pictures and are silly and don't give a hoot when we finish, so that we all, like we stay in that realm.
Speaker 6:We communicate really, really well with each other and sometimes we do. Sometimes two of us run together and the third ones on their own. Sometimes what all three of us are separate. We all meet up at the finish line. You know it just. It just depends on what everybody's goal is.
Speaker 2:So I'm loving the fact that you're just straight up saying Brad, the gate, the way that make it work, is to communicate, even if it's something that's not necessarily comfortable to talk about, or maybe you're a little concerned about how other perceive me. You just straight up say this is what I want for this goal, this is what I'm going to do, and it sounds like there's a lot of mutual respect and love and admiration.
Speaker 5:Absolutely yeah, and we can read each other pretty well too. So someone struggling, we know, you know, leave them alone.
Speaker 4:They're not matching their actions.
Speaker 4:No, no, I know what you really need or what you're really not saying. Definitely, I would say Julie is the best reader of the group. She can definitely bring out and analyze any one of us just from a sentence we say a look that we gave like she's very intuitive. But I do have to give mad props to Ashley. As we were going into Berlin, as Juliet said, I had a mishap with my knee all of a sudden just swelling up and Julie was feeling so strong that day and Ashley Ashley's training hands down was top notch out of all three of us. But Ashley knew that I wanted a PR and she didn't care that I was struggling. She was going to drag me across that finish line, as she had to, and she motivated me every step of the way and did not leave me and because of her I got that two minute PR. So I mean that's a good friend right there.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. That is amazing. Knowing when to push, but not to push too hard, is absolutely beautiful. So, guys, we all want the like, the best friend lockets that you guys have created for yourself. But what about when it's not rainbows and sunshine, or does that never happen?
Speaker 6:Okay, so I'm going to go into like so I'm 48. Ashley is about to be 40 and Becky turned 40. And there's something that to be said for women in our 40s and going into our 50s One we are literally dropped the BS. There is no BS. So the whole no sunshine and rainbows is basically like, look, I'm having a bad day, okay, I'm having a bad day.
Speaker 6:Like nobody know, like every one of us is so brutally honest in the most genuine way, and so the other.
Speaker 6:You know, we just respect each other and I think that that's the I mean like I think we, we value and, honestly, we know when, like when Becky says that we know when each other are struggling with something, we know, even if they don't necessarily are putting it all out there, even if we don't necessarily understand what it is ourselves that we're struggling with. But we, all three of us, it's I don't even know. I think the reason why is because you really do grow out of that caddy stuff that women do to each other in their 20s. It's, it's, it becomes so much more. And this goes back to what Becky said about we. You know, like I work for UPS, right to giant conglomerate, been there 26 years. I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm a UPS or I'm a, and when I'm out running and I'm with them, I am only me and the best part of me, which makes me be a better UPS or a better mom, a better wife, because I get to genuinely be that person.
Speaker 2:Julie, if there's ever a testament to exactly what, why this episode has come to fruition is because of what you just said.
Speaker 2:This is something that I feel super passionate about, and it's trying to really cultivate. We put a lot of emphasis on other types of relationships and other hats that we wear, and I feel like prioritizing our friendships can make a complete difference in everything that we do in life. So thank you so much for saying that, and I do love how you basically said you know what? We just got past that age, we ain't got that kind of that kind of time to spend on any kind of petty drama. Plus, there's too much running to do. You guys are literally running the world. So, with that said, what would you guys suggest for people that are listening right here and saying you know, this is what I'm missing. This is the kind of friend group that I'm looking for. This is what I would like to see my life something in 2024 that I gravitate toward doing is really cultivating these kind of friendships. What would you guys say is key for folks?
Speaker 6:Joyne, she runs this town. Yes, that's what that was. The gateway for me in Louisville was Louisville, she runs this town. At the time, we were moms run this town and it was the gateway for me into women running women, friendships, women supporting women. It was it, was it literally. It changed my life.
Speaker 2:I feel like people are going to think that I brought you on to just say all the things that I'm constantly talking about, because between Marco Polo doing the Ragnar races and she runs this town it's one of my absolute favorite run groups and I'm going to give a shout out to my local run chapter as well. Absolutely incredible. So join a run group. If not, she runs this town. Join a run group. And how do folks? Maybe what's the next step? They join a run group or they join a race or something like that, and then how do they venture out and kind of introduce themselves? Because I kind of get the feeling that all three of you are a bit more on the extraverted side. Did you feel like you always have been a bit extroverted, or am I? Am I getting that wrong?
Speaker 6:I don't think Ashley is, ashley is not, ashley is very I'm. Ashley circle is small and she keeps it that way and she's she's protective, like. So basically like, if you get into Ashley circle you're going to be there forever. But to get into Ashley circle is a little bit more. So I don't necessarily like I think it really does it. I think some of it has to do with chemistry and respecting you know, like.
Speaker 6:But but I will say and you guys weigh in on this, because for me it was you got to be willing to get up on a Saturday morning, go to a coffee run. Not worry about your speed, about your like, what you look like in your tights, do not who, no one cares. Put on the stupid shoes that you bought from wherever, because somebody is going to probably give you a lecture on going to the running store after you. Tell him that your feet hurt. But do that.
Speaker 6:Get out there and be vulnerable. Tell people you know, tell people like, get you know, just put yourself out there, because the other, because women are looking for the same thing. And if you have taken the step to put the shoes on and go to the coffee run in that morning, and it's funny. I say the coffee run for us because we have monthly where we meet up at a coffee shop, we do a certain amount of mileage. Everybody at the beginning introduces themselves, says how many mileage miles are going to do and how fast they're going to go, and then we come back and drink coffee. Yeah, but get out there, be be really honest.
Speaker 5:Oh, I completely like so. For example, I'm a single mom and I work from home, so you know getting out there for these runs is huge and you need that support.
Speaker 2:Okay, ashley, talk to me. How do you do that? Because I'm hearing right now when the minute that I hear you say that goes through my head is like, how do you do this? How do you balance it all? How do you find the time? Because I feel like you probably get like three hours of sleep, so I do?
Speaker 5:I don't think a lot. I do a lot of runs at lunchtime to give myself a little breather at work and a little stress reliever, and I, you know, I plan these trips and I get away from the insanity. So we make it happen.
Speaker 2:You guys feel like this is almost the most important part of prioritizing yourself and your self care.
Speaker 4:I think it would be really easy to give up on myself when things get busy, but I know that my soul sisters are going to be out there starting their training plan, doing their runs, their count on seeing me in February. They're counting on what you know like. I know that we've made these plans, so that helps me hold myself accountable, because I know if I'm having a bad day one, they're going to accept that. They're also going to give me that loving push like you should probably go out there. You'll feel better when you get to the house, and so it really is. Although you feel like you're not wanting to let your friends down, you really are making that time for yourself.
Speaker 2:I love that and I love to do like you guys could do that with Marco Polo. It doesn't necessarily have to be IRL in person. You could just say, hey, I need to go out for this friend for this run and keeping each other accountable and motivated that way and supporting each other with helping yourself with self care. Now I'm also super curious. Let's be honest. Everybody's going to want to join your friend group, so how do you guys really make space for bringing on new friends, because I'm already hearing you guys have more people. This, the soul sister group, is definitely larger than the three of you. How do you guys navigate that? Or how would you suggest others to navigate? Reaching or kind of reaching into those friends grips that are already kind of solidified.
Speaker 6:We're an open book, like we don't have it, like I don't even know what, what you picked. Our circle is more like a cell thing. You know, people can like drift in and drift out, and we're fine with that. The one thing that I do find is that people, people are intimidated by the fact that we do prioritize ourselves in like so. So there's a lot of people who aren't like necessarily ready for that. I do give them the 4050 lecture, like way to get to your 40s. You'll understand how important this is and I mean, like I hate to do, the whole age is something, but it is. There is a, there's a maturity that happens like later when you realize you know that how important this is. But we are 100% not an exclusive. I mean like we, we have another. I mean I don't think we can just keep naming them the people that either well, show up to make a Ragnar team with us, show up to a half marathon to do you know, I mean like we were very welcoming.
Speaker 4:I would say and women, we know those, but we have some. We have some good bro skis to that we know what. Jump out of playing in a minute and have to show up in Boston before you're even off your plane because they heard you need a runner and you're like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6:Ashley. Ashley's running with her friend Scott tomorrow. So I mean like it, you know she's got her people that she meets and yeah. So I mean it's a. It's yeah like we are not. We're not at all exclusive, we just happen to be. I think the one I think sometimes is people look at us like I don't understand how you're doing. You know how are you doing this because, and I'm like, and then I have to revert back to you know the spreadsheet it's we have.
Speaker 2:Friends, all of my love languages on that one, because I love me some spreadsheets. But what I'm basically hearing is that you're for folks that are looking at like this is the year I want to really have these really a strong bonds of friendships in my life. They have to just be okay with being brave and like that's what it sounds like. The most that I'm hearing is just be yourself, and it sounds try, it sounds like it should be on a T shirt. I'm sure it is, but truly it is just being yourself and showing up and throwing yourself into the mix of things.
Speaker 6:Yeah, exactly what you put out in the universe, you get back. And if you're willing to, you know, throw yourself out there, into, you know, into some of these scarier places, it's. It pays you back tenfold.
Speaker 2:Okay, julie, you already touched on it. You said something really powerful where you said that you didn't want to get into the ageism but 40s and 50s, that you can't stress enough how important this friendship and having these strong friendships are to you. So I'm going to ask Ashley and Becky what are some of the unexpected benefits of having these strong friendships that you guys have found in your life? Or maybe you didn't even know you were signing up for this kind of awesomeness.
Speaker 4:Ashley, you want to go first?
Speaker 5:It really comes down to the support. You know we're all moms, we all have relationships, we all have really demanding careers and we know how we handle things and where we need that support and each one, you know, just can fill that. That, you know we'll just we'll jump in and just help you, like make sense of it, or talk you down from a ledge or say, go run, you need it right now.
Speaker 2:So it kind of goes both ways. It sounds like while you get the unexpected benefit of having all this extra support and encouragement, you also have to kind of get exactly what you said, Julie. You have to give that out to get it back, kind of. So it just becomes very reciprocal and very much a collaborative relationship.
Speaker 4:Well, and what I was thinking too, was I'm like you know, I'm still really good friends with people that I went to high school with and people that I went to college with, and I still consider them some of my best best friends.
Speaker 4:But, again, we're all in different areas of the country, we're all in different phases of our life, we're all in careers, we're all in moms, we're all doing the things. So it's, I feel, like it's just a little bit easier that we have this common bond of running because, again, accountability to ourselves, making ourselves better so that we are less stressed in those careers, less stressed as parents, better wives and girlfriends, and things like that. So I think that that piece of it makes it a little bit easier, because I can tell you like my love, my college girls, but they're not going for a run with me, like they might be the ones to sign up for a three day cruise with me, but you know that's going to be a one off a year. You know like it's not going to be something on the regular, whereas this running thing we've picked up has become so much a daily part of our life, a regular part of our life, that it's easy to sustain this for the long run and to be in each other's lives more often.
Speaker 2:I love. I love that you threw in that here, sustaining it for the long run, and also the fact that, let's be honest, the best part of our running friendships is that we could talk ad nauseum about all things running, that everybody else is exhausted listening to us talk about. Yes, okay, I'm going to have you guys think of maybe describing your friend group in three words, because I think those three words may really help encapsulate what folks may want to consider when they're going to pursue their own friend groups. I'm going to start with you, julie what are three words that you would use to describe this friend group?
Speaker 6:Mine are all like interrelated, but it's fill my soul. I think that it's so important at this stage of the game really at every stage of the game, but you just got to be smart enough to acknowledge it how important it is to find things that fill your soul. And I know that's a very cheesy kind of like, but when you think about it it's like you know that's what makes the low times survivable is the fact that you have your consistently putting stuff back in the cup. The cup is not just draining all the time. You know you've got to be able to, you know, refill that cup. And us laughing us in the middle of the night, you know with I mean like we have so many inside jokes that you can just about you know what I mean. Like that we come home with new ones every time, funny team names, I mean this type of stuff, it fills my soul. And I come home and I say that to my husband. He's like how are you doing? I'm like my soul is full.
Speaker 2:I love that. I really. I can't tell you how powerful that is. All right, ashley. What three words would you have?
Speaker 5:So I'm going with laughter because we have to laugh through a lot of these situations. Also, sometimes people will start laughing and we all just can't stop laughing too, just for no darn reason. Supportiveness and like adventure. So we are signing up for these states, these different states, these different countries. You know, berlin was a 10 night fun filled Iceland October Fest. Berlin like adventure. So you know, we're all, we're all planners and we all just jump in and and have fun.
Speaker 2:Was it a 10 day adventure with like a 26.2, like little pause in between?
Speaker 5:The very last day actually, we had the last day oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:We're home. Talk about a cherry on the top of that perfect 10 day Sunday. All right, my friend, and tell us, becky, what are the three words that you would think of as friend group.
Speaker 4:You know, I kind of was going to go with the adjectives, but when Julie threw a phrase out there, I'm going to shorten a phrase to give you three words. Terrible idea when you know, like that's how we're going to go, because that is so how we are. Like nobody wants to train for a marathon, nobody wants to spend that kind of money and do the things, but it sounds like a great idea to do it with you. So when are we going? So that is a terrible idea.
Speaker 2:When oh, my goodness. Okay, and just a little bit more. If you could, maybe and like, extend an invitation right here and now to have a celebrity join this group, who would you guys want to extend that invitation to, and why?
Speaker 6:Neither one of you better not say Taylor Swift, I'm not.
Speaker 5:I'm not no, no, no no.
Speaker 6:I'm not Julie testimony against.
Speaker 5:Taylor Swift. So I would go with Kevin Hart because for one he's a runner, he's so funny and also he's short, so Becky wouldn't get those short jokes anymore.
Speaker 2:True friendship, that is true friendship. She's got your back, becky.
Speaker 4:Oh gosh.
Speaker 2:I think it's a hard one to follow up for the record because Kevin Hart is great the minute you said that. Yeah, you said laughter as one of your first words. I'm with you All right.
Speaker 6:Thank Becky Mine's pink. I have literally. There's one person that I have always just wanted to have a friendship with. It's pink. I've seen her in concert numerous times. I like follow her. I think that she's a phenomenal mother and a phenomenal representation of what it's like to be a woman, and I think that she would have us laughing and in stitches and would probably be the most real person you know to have with us on a running trip.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, so far, I'm really. I want the invitation to this brunch, the celebrity friendship brunch group that you guys have going on.
Speaker 4:All right, I'm going to grab a running celebrity. We're going to grab Des Lyndon, because she's definitely on my definite list. To me, she's a goal crusher. She's from my hometown of Charlevoix, michigan. Every time I'm up there I'm hoping to run into her, you know, at family fair. It hasn't happened yet, but I feel like she'd be a great addition to this group.
Speaker 2:Well, she drinks bourbon. So I mean like oh right, she belongs with us. She does. She needs to do the bourbon chase with you guys next year or the year after that.
Speaker 4:So I think okay we've officially put that into the universe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, christine is going to come to Bourbon Chase with us too. I would absolutely accept the invitation.
Speaker 2:Yes, right here and now. Not a celebrity can't bring that Des Lyndon or that Kevin Hart or that pink energy, but I will bring my authentic energy and I know that you guys look, accept it for what it is. So I want to thank you guys because, honestly, I'm so passionate about really us as women, specifically making that effort and finding our connections because, as you guys have touched on, life has its ups and downs and you have to have this crew that's willing to to get into those terrible ideas, bring you a little bit of laughter and, at the end of the day, it absolutely fills your soul. So thank you guys, so much for joining us, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you, friends. That officially wraps up our episode. I really hope that you take away so much joy and so much inspiration from these conversations. There's stories and insights aren't just motivating, but they're also a reminder of the profound impact that friendships can have on our lives, especially when combined with a shared passion for running. A big thank you to all of our guests for joining us today and for showing us the true strength that lies in running together.
Speaker 2:Before we wrap up, I want to encourage each of you to not just listen to these stories but to actively engage with them. Reach out to your friends, form those connections, join the run group, maybe even hit the road for a run or a walk together. Remember, it's not just about the distance covered, but the shared experiences and bonds that are formed along the way. And hey, why not make it part of your New Year's resolutions? I mentioned it during the segment with Alex, but I'm being for real. This year, let's prioritize creating meaningful connections and, however they look for you, let's make an effort to weave more connection and meeting into our daily lives, not just through running, but in all that we do. Don't forget to share your stories, your runs, your fantasy run crew and your friendships with us. Join our online community episode link. We'll show you how and let's keep this conversation going. Please do share your goals, your challenges and your triumphs, and let's build a community that runs on the power of friendship.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining Time for Brunch. If today's conversation sparked your interest, be sure to join our supportive online community. Don't forget to sign up for our weekly newsletters to keep the inspiration flowing. It's packed with insights, stories and tips to fuel your journey of growth. Follow us, subscribe and stay connected. Until next time, keep smiling and let your journey shine.