Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The Secret is Out

Well it's not really a secret anymore, but this big writing project that I've been working on and alluding to every now and then...I can finally announce! The contracts have been signed and I have already started on the journey.

I'm writing a book.
In none of my wildest dreams did I ever think all the good things could happen all at once.

I've been on TV a few times
I've been written about in a number of publications
I've had the opportunity to participate in a bunch of amazing events all over the country
I did a FASHION PHOTO SHOOT (Remember? Wildest dreams...)
I have a couple of high profile sponsorship/ambassadorship opportunities.

WHAT FAT GIRL GETS TO REPRESENT ATHLETIC APPAREL COMPANIES??? 
This one right hyeah, y'all. RIGHT HERE.

I'm over the moon again and now I get to WRITE MY VERY OWN BOOK. 

I've always been a writer, but I never imagined that I would be writing about my running life, or that ANYONE would ever be interested in it. I always thought I'd be writing a book of personal essays at some point after I had experienced some life. 

FOLKS, in the last half decade, I HAVE DEFINITELY EXPERIENCED SOME LIFE. 

I hope that my experiences, fledgling wisdom and knowledge that I have accumulated over the past few years will be helpful to people considering becoming and embodying the athletes they already are. 

A Beautiful Work in Progress is scheduled to be published in October of 2017 which seems far away, but I know that in the blink of an eye that date will be here, staring me in the face as I await whatever is to come next. It's also my birthday month and the older I get, the shorter the years are so yeah basically this is tomorrow.

I took this title from a talk I gave to some middle school students at the Latin School of Chicago in January and thought that in terms of who I am and what I hope I represent, this phrase best describes all of the things that I endeavor for in my life's work, both in process and product, never allowing myself to forget the progress that I have made, and the fact that our raw humanity is indeed beautiful.

I am forever thankful to my literary agents Jane and Miriam at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management in NYC for believing in my writing and in my story, and for their extraordinarily conscientious and generous editing of the many drafts of my proposal. I am also thankful to Tanya Mckinnon of Mckinnon Mckintyre for having that initial conversation with my completely green self back in September of last year. I am also elated to have on my team, Margaux Nissen Gray, my publicist.who has been at my side since I started not being able to handle all of the requests for interviews, writing, appearances, etc. all by myself.  

And finally, I am grateful for the opportunity to be an author because acquisitions editor, Erin Calligan Mooney at Grand Harbor Press believed that I could actually bring this book to fruition and that it might be remotely interesting to some!

This is so exciting, friends. As I say a lot when I'm having a difficult time on the trail and I forget that I have the exquisite privilege of running that not everyone has, I AM LIVING THE DREAM! I have the exquisite privilege of writing a book This is my dream, and I am living it. 

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

HOW TO BE A FATRUNNER IN 10 SIMPLE STEPS

Updated on June 1, 2016: GLOBAL RUNNING DAY


If you're not a runner yet, you can become one today !
It's easy to become a FATRUNNER. Here's how:

1. Embrace the name.

  • Many times, nomenclature makes decisions for us. It's time to take the name and do something with it. Use it as a weapon, a sign to let people know who you are and what awesomeness you are about to achieve. LIVE IT. Be proud. Be active. And even though many of us are trying to lose the fat for health and wellness reasons, EMBRACE it and LOVE it. 

2. Decide to run. 

Tammi Nowack Photography

3. Look in the mirror and smile, even if it doesn't feel genuine. Sometimes, we have to fake it until we make it.

  • Thank your body for how it has supported you thus far. Make a promise to your body that you will honor and nourish it, as it has you. 
  • Have a favorite mantra? Now is the time to repeat it several times. I like this one from Christiane Northrup, MD:  "I love myself unconditionally right now."

4. Put on your running clothes

  • Do you only have sweats or jeans? Yoga pants or cargo pants? Have a favorite t-shirt that makes you feel and act fabulous? WHATEVER, they're running clothes so put them on.

5. Put on your sneakers, kicks, tennis shoes, gym shoes, wedges, stilettos, sandals, Doc Martens. Or not. You can run barefoot too. 

  • Shoes tattered and falling apart? Totally fine, because that's why duct-tape and Crazy-Glue were invented. 

6. Look in the mirror AGAIN and admire yourself for being a badass fatrunner.  

  • Repeat your mantra again, several times until you start believing it or until you start feeling crazy. Either totally works.

7. Leave your house. Lock the door if you're in Brooklyn.


8. Take a breath, or several if you're asthmatic. (Maybe you should take your inhaler too...)

  • Seriously, there are a lot of people out there with asthma and sometimes this makes us scared. Talk to your doctor about exercising beforehand. If they discourage you from exercising without trying to find a safe balance for exercising, find another doctor. Our bodies were meant to move and there are tons of successful athletes dealing with asthma.

9. Take a selfie to record this momentous occasion--YOU KNOW YOU WANNA POST THIS ON INSTAGRAM!


10. Run. 

  • Run-walk. Walk-run. Run to the lamppost. Breathe. Take another selfie. Run. Again.
Originally posted in March 2015