Inspire to Run Podcast
Inspire to Run Podcast
Why Running Communities are the Secret to Staying Motivated with Kayla & Jarrod
#134 - Are you struggling to stay motivated with your running routine? The secret might not be a new training plan or fancy gear, but rather the power of community. In this episode, we sit down with Kayla and Jarrod Zwirko, founders of H2gO Run Club, to explore how running communities can transform your running journey and help you achieve goals you never thought possible.
From their transformation from non-runners to marathoners to building an inclusive running community that welcomes "all paces and faces," Kayla and Jarrod share valuable insights about the importance of connection, accountability, and support. This conversation highlights how finding your running community might be the most critical step in your running journey.
Topics Covered:
- How community accountability helps runners stay consistent and push beyond their perceived limitations
- The importance of avoiding comparison with other runners
- Building an inclusive running space that welcomes everyone from complete beginners to experienced marathoners
- How running communities provide both the initial inspiration to start and the ongoing motivation to continue
Today’s Guests
Kayla Zwirko
Kayla's running journey began in 2020, inspired by her husband, Jarrod. After an unexpected opportunity to run the 2022 Boston Marathon—she returned in 2023, cutting over an hour from her time. This ignited a passion that led to multiple marathons, a 50-mile ultramarathon, and a run coaching certification. Now, she coaches with NYRR, provides 1:1 coaching, emcees for the Hartford Marathon Foundation, and co-founded H2gO to inspire and connect runners.
Jarrod Zwirko
Jarrod started running in 2020 after being inspired by The Hole in the Wall Gang’s NYC Marathon team. A former swimmer, he took on marathon training as a new challenge and has since completed seven marathons, now aiming for the World Marathon Majors. Seeking a running community, he and Kayla founded H2gO Life to connect and inspire fellow runners.
H2gO
H2gO is built on inclusivity, welcoming all paces and faces, and since 2023, has quickly grown through local collaborations and a wider meetup radius, showcasing our dedication to building a strong running community. Whether you're training for a marathon or just getting started, it’s a supportive space for runners and walkers of all levels.
Follow H2gO:
- Instagram - @h2golife
- Website - https://www.h2go.life/
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Hey, my friend, today we're going to talk about the one thing that can significantly improve your running experience the power of a running community. You'll also hear inspiring stories from a husband and wife who recently started their own running journey and set out to help others do the same. Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Inspire to Run Podcast. Here you will find inspiration, whether you are looking to take control of your health and fitness or you are a seasoned runner looking for community and some extra motivation. You will hear inspiring stories from amazing runners, along with helpful tips from fitness experts. Now here's your host, richard Connor.
Speaker 1:Hi, my friend, Welcome to Inspire to Run podcast. I have the pleasure of sitting down with Kayla and Jared Zwerko, runners and founders of H2Go Run Club. H2go is built on inclusivity, welcoming all paces and faces, and, since 2023, has quickly grown through local collaborations and a wider meetup radius, showcasing their dedication to building a strong running community. Welcome to the show, kayla and Jared. Thanks, richard, thanks for having us.
Speaker 3:We're so excited.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and just for the listeners, I met Kayla and Jared just about a month or two ago and attended one of the run clubs, which was super fun and I'm a bit of an introvert and just in general, but especially when I'm running, I generally run alone and unless I'm running races, and it was just really a cool experience and cool to see what you know you guys have built. So you know, really love to learn more about you and learn more about the run club and just kind of running in general to help, kind of, our listeners as they, you know, progress in their running journey.
Speaker 4:So you know, with that Jared, I'd love to just start with you and just hear a little bit about you and your journey. Cool, thanks, and thanks for that nice compliment. We loved having you and I'm glad that you had a good time meeting up with us. As you said, I started, you know, running somewhat kind of on a really weird journey.
Speaker 4:I was never a runner, I was a swimmer my entire life and I had run one 5k before.
Speaker 4:But I went to the 2019 New York city marathon. I worked for the hole in the wall gang camp and I went to cheer on our charity group and I was so inspired by just watching all of these people come from all walks of earth and are out there trying to do this awesome feat. And I came home to Kayla and I said I don't know what this means, but I'm going to do this next year. I'm going to run the New York City Marathon and that really kind of just started my journey. And I remember getting on the treadmill on January 1st of 2020 and trying to really like run three miles and it was painful but I just kept with it. And now we're seven marathons later and kind of just working towards the world marathons and that was a that kind of that kind of that was a little impetus in kind of our running journey and I'll let Kayla tell about her her running journey and then a little bit about how H2Go came about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know, very similarly, I didn't start running until 2020 either. I grew up, my parents are big runners and so it's always been something that's been around me, but my dad used to just tell us to like go out, go run, and it just never seemed like something I was interested in, so I would never considered myself a runner at all until 2020. Jared comes home with this crazy idea I'm going to run the New York City Marathon. I said you have barely run a 5K, what do you think you're doing? And he's like I don't know, I just have to do this. And so he, uh, he, he signs up. And you know, I thought, well, he's going to be out there training for something. I guess like, I'll, I'll sign up for something and we'll just see how I do.
Speaker 3:And so I started running and it was painful and hard and, as you know, you know you're starting out and you're like what? What even am I doing? I can't consider myself a runner. I'm run, walking, there's so many different layers to it and, uh, you know, we, being in 2020, kept having these races that were postponed and then they were canceled and finally I'm like I'm just running. I don't even know what I'm running for anymore, and so that quickly snowballed.
Speaker 3:We were given an opportunity to run Boston. That ended up being my first marathon, which was just a wild time. And now for me, six marathons later, I am, you know, I'm definitely in the if you do it, I'll do it camp. So we have plenty of people who will approach us and say, hey, I want to do this this weekend and I never thought I would ever be the person to drop of a hat sign up for a half marathon. So, Jared's right, we're on our journey for the you know, the six world majors that that we're attempting, and so we're well on our way there.
Speaker 3:We're both running Chicago in October, so I'm really excited about that. Hopefully we can both get a nice, nice little PR. So we'll see. But the fact that I even am thinking about those things is just so wild to me in the long run. So that's a little bit about us and like the journey of how we got here In terms of H2Go you know that was something that I had in my brain is like this idea of I wanted to be able to get back to different races. I think that was the initial precipice of it and being this cool group that maybe was a dedicated aid station at all these different races locally and I wanted to call us Hydration Station and Jared said no, I wanted to call us hydration station.
Speaker 4:And Jared said no, cool for a water stop, but not necessarily for like a run club.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the community was not. So for anyone who's listening, who also is part of H2Go, know that we could have been called hydration station, so imagine that on the sweatshirts. But yeah, so we kind of played around with this idea. I thought I was crazy. Jared was super supportive of it and we came up with H2Go. We had this idea of like water and endurance and like making sure that you're hydrated in a time where, like, you deplete the tank pretty regularly, whether you are just starting and you have no idea what you're doing, or you're training for something really epic and huge. So we had that piece of it and we wanted that like go mentality, that movement that you know just have that forward momentum. And so that's really how H2Go was born.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think one of the other things that we that we kind of came to the conclusion is meeting people as adults is tough, and so we moved down to Connecticut about eight years ago from New Hampshire and we were trying to meet people. And when you're a kid you go out and play and it just kind of comes naturally, and so we kind of thought of this as like a combination of, like Kayla said. So we kind of thought of this as like a combination of, like Kayla said, you know, giving back to the community, inspiring you know other people and motivating other people, really inspiring and motivating us so that we could run with other people other than each other or ourselves, but also to actually get to meet some people. So it really kind of broke the ice for that to be able to have meet people that are like minded.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with that, and the flip side of that is the rare and unique case of meeting somebody during your travels. That then connects you guys with me right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right my coach met you guys during your travels together and that's just really rare and excellent that that happened, but that's not common right? So, like you said, it's not easy to meet folks as adults and I kind of love what you've built and, yeah, I think you've made the right choice in terms of your name and branding I do agree there. So that's kind of cool to hear the backstory. You definitely made the right decision.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's fair.
Speaker 1:Thanks, so that's cool and congratulations on all the races that you've done and the paths and the marathons. And you know, I had that dream at one point in time of like, hey, I'm going to run my first marathon last year and I thought it was going to be New York city. And then for a brief moment I'm like, well, I'm going to run New York city, I might as well do the rest of the majors, and I can do that over the next five years, of course. And so then I was quickly brought back down to earth and I'm like you know what, let me just see this one out first and figure out the rest, which you know. You may know my story. I didn't get into New York City, which which is fine, but I ran my first marathon last year and it was just an amazing experience. So I totally get what you went through the kind of the first time around, but you stuck with it and I think that's awesome, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1:And then you built this amazing community and you know I've been thinking about this a lot, right? So we talk about mindset, movement and motivation on the show, like there are three pillars. And motivation is really interesting because you know, you're not always motivated to do your workouts or, you know, do your runs or really kind of have that kind of fitness mindset for a variety of reasons. But if you have a race on the calendar, you know that kind of motivates you to stay on plan. Or, you know, maybe a friend of yours gets you into fitness in the beginning so that kind of gets you going. But I love what you built around like community because I feel like maybe we come because someone gets us into it but then we stay for the community. I feel like that's the vibe that I got from you know, at least whenever I attended your run club.
Speaker 1:So you know, maybe we could talk a little bit about that and your kind of perspective on that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, jared knows I say it pretty regularly and it was something that, a concept that we came up at the very beginning, when, I think, we had our first meetup and like three people showed up. But what we really wanted to be able to do is, you know, we wanted to provide a space that allowed, you know, the inspiration for people to get started but then that motivation for people to keep going, so really encompassing everything that you're talking about, because it can be really intimidating and you know, there are a lot of people out there who haven't been running their whole lives, who just decided to pick it up or wants to get into it. So I think that there's something really special there, and our community is built of people who are just that. They might have never run anything before.
Speaker 3:We've seen plenty of people come and show up on, you know, their first day and feel like, okay, I might be a run walker, I might be a walker and like, with aspirations to run, I might have run something a long time ago, but I'm just getting back into it.
Speaker 3:Or, hey, I'm out here because I'm training for a marathon, I just don't want to do it alone. You know, we kind of run the gamut of all the different personalities and people that we have, and it's allowing that opportunity for people to get together. And we always like to say too you know, it doesn't matter for us if there's been someone who's been with us since day one or this is their day one. We want them to feel like they are part of that community. I think that's super important to us. Overrunning, we laugh and say you know, we're a run club with a social agenda, because that social piece and being able to communicate outside of run club whether it's through our social channels or whether it's just sticking around after the run for a coffee or a beer or dinner, whatever that looks like it's allowed for people to really get to know each other. And we've seen, we've seen friendships form, we've seen relationships form.
Speaker 4:So it's really cool to see how it went from this inception and this concept all the way through what it is today the community the people that show up that allow other people to feel comfortable and to continue to come back and I say that jokingly, that I'm like, no, you're the reason that this community works. I don't think it's because of us. I think that we kind of had this idea, but it's the people that are there that make everyone else feel so comfortable when they're, when a new person shows up or they're coming back and they remember your name and they're excited to hear how your week was, or they knew that you had something, you know that you were, that you were working towards. So it really just kind of like fulfills itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, I think you guys need to give yourselves a little bit of credit, Like you're the catalyst and you created this environment where runners feel welcome, they feel safe, they feel like, hey, this is exciting and something to look forward to, and you guys created that Right, and of course it's a, it's a team effort, so they contribute and they help that, you know, spread that to others. But I started with you, which I think is incredible ourselves.
Speaker 3:So we understand a little bit about like are you training for something or are you just out here training for life? What kind of pace do you like to stick around? Because then we can also help making introductions with other people that we know are roughly around the same. So Jared likes to say we have a lot of Gatsby moments where we're like oh, richard, welcome, it's your first day, what kind of pacing do you like to stick around? You're like oh, richard, you know, welcome, it's your first day. What do you know? What kind of pacing do you like to stick around?
Speaker 3:You might say oh, I'm, you know, I'm really between that like 930, 10 minute mile, and we'll say, oh, let me introduce you to Sarah, and we just introduce. And then we're like oh, sarah, have you met Richard? Vice versa, oh no. And they start talking. And then Jared and I just like slowly back away because you know we're out here. As much as I want to think that, like all 500 plus, you know people who show up to different events and like the you know, 1300 followers we have on Instagram are all my own personal friends, but at the same time it's not. It's not for me, it's not for us, it's for the community and we, we thrive on that. I mean you can probably hear it in my voice Like actually is something that means so so much to us I could cry.
Speaker 3:Anyone who knows me now I could cry just talking about it.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So let's talk about a little bit about first the community, and then I'd love to focus the conversation on you two for a little bit. So for the community, what are the top three things that you've learned, observed or coached people on as they've come to the run clubs and again, they're kind of on their journey? But I'd love to hear are there any trends or themes that you've seen that you think would be helpful for other runners to kind of hear?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think my cousin used to say this all the time and I hear people that kind of just you alluded to it earlier is just like sometimes you just need that little accountability of like I need something that's just going to make me go and do it. Ever regrets working out. You can find a million and one excuses on why you don't want to work out, but when that workout is done you feel so good. No one, no one, ever regrets it. And um, I I hear that a lot from people that are like I wasn't going to come today or you know, like it it really was hard to get myself moving, but like I'm so glad I'm here and um, I think not only for their physical movement but also that socialization of just getting out and talking to someone and meeting people and I think it's just allowing themselves to have some time in their day for themselves.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my thing that I tend to say to people a lot is it's all relative With running. It's all relative. You have somebody who shows up their first day. Maybe they don't like to run, maybe they aren't even sure if this is something that they want to be doing, and then all of a sudden you see that front pack go out and they are, you know, going out at a decent pace and they sit there and they're like I don't know if I can be a part of this, I'm not this fast, I'm not this, I'm not that, and I spent a lot of time really talking with people to let them understand like it's all relative.
Speaker 3:Half of those people were exactly where you are today, and that comes from consistency and that comes from showing up not only for your friends but for yourself, and so you can't compare yourself of where you are today with someone who's been doing this for years or might have been doing this just for the last six months, and so I think that's a really important thing to think about whether you are fresh starting your journey and you have no idea, like, how you're even going to run one mile, let alone how you're going to do the you know three miles that we have laid out for you for the day, or if you have run before and you're taking a step back, or you're a mom who's coming, you know, back to get in shape again, or maybe you're, um, you know, uh, a marathoner from two years ago who you know.
Speaker 3:Let yourself fall off a little bit and you're looking to get back into it. You're like I used to be able to run X, and we hear that quite a bit, and I think it's all relative. Where you are at today, meet yourself where you're at and know that pace doesn't matter. It's consistency that matters over everything and that's going to get you where you need and where you want to be at the end of the day. I think that's one of the biggest pieces of advice I'm constantly telling people, week over week.
Speaker 1:I love that, I love that. So you know, first off, I would say, you know, if I was to summarize kind of what you shared is, if you don't feel like doing it, like life gets in the way, you're not in the right mindset, like just do it anyway and you'll feel better. You know, afterwards you'll feel great that you did it and you'll just kind of build up that habit Right. So the next time where you're maybe you're feeling a little down, well, you have that habit and that routine and you get to the point where you'll miss it if you don't. Right, absolutely. So the top of mind, like no, I have to do this. This is part of my routine where I get to do this. And then you know, I always try to share sayings, although I always get them wrong. But I guess, kayla, what I would say is comparison is a thief of joy, right?
Speaker 3:Oh my God, true words have never been spoken. Okay, I got it right. I feel better about myself. I love that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, like you know, don't compare yourself. Who is that kind of six minute, you know per mile runner, or someone who you know just seems like they're that much farther ahead. Like you are where you are and you know whatever your goals are, you can work towards those and it's going to take time like it did for anybody else. Right? Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And I think that it's a really supportive community of wherever you are. I mean, we have an awesome group of people that come and walk every single meetup and we have some people that are run walkers and everything in between, and they are so supportive. You're not feeling like I'm the only person that's doing it, and I think that that's. That's pretty amazing, and if you have aspirations to go from a walker to a walk runner, there are people that will get you there. If you just want to go out there to walk and socialize and move, then awesome, we're here for you. Yeah, and we do that you know.
Speaker 3:we, you know we're people who are avid runners. We might be training for something in the moment, but at the end of the day, you know, there's still a Friday morning and Jared's out there walking, because he'd rather be out there moving his body walking than doing anything else. And so it's really great we always have. We have people who are constantly, you know, I think, cheering each other on.
Speaker 3:You hear a lot of words of affirmation being thrown around. A lot of you got this and a lot of great job and a lot of you look great and we all see a lot of high fives, like if we have some out backs, we have some areas where we have loops and the high fives are high fiving Like we see, we see people who just want to make sure that they are being the encouragement that other people need, because it's probably what they need too, and so we we see a lot of that, and it brings me a lot of joy, I know it brings you joy
Speaker 1:too, that's awesome, I love it. So you know I'd love to. Well, first I'll just share a little bit about my story, because I really resonated with. You know the point that you made, kayla, about. You know everything is relative. So if I think back like six, seven years ago, I remember telling my coach like I would never run a half marathon or like I never run a marathon, and he's always pushing me to do, you know, do better, do more. And he's coaching me and helping me, which has been awesome because I've been on this kind of journey to do things I've never done before and overcome fears, and like he's been a big part of that, which I'm truly grateful for. But wouldn't you know, like over time, like a year or two into it, I'm like all right, I guess I'm running a half marathon and I got to train for it.
Speaker 1:And then you know, last year, as I mentioned, I ran my first marathon.
Speaker 2:I'm like, okay, you know at one point in time I never thought I could do it.
Speaker 1:And here I am, so I definitely can resonate kind of with what you shared there, caitlin.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no. And, to be honest, like we, well, we resonate with that too, because the amount of times I would say I'm never running a half marathon, I'm never running them. And then when I finally did run a half, actually I was like, okay, but I'm never running a marathon, right. And then you know, you're presented a bib to Boston. You're like I can't pass this up, I'd be, I'd be crazy. And then, uh, actually one of my favorite stories, even for myself, was the fact that I completed the Boston marathon, my a great story about that is I decided to run with Jared.
Speaker 3:We did not train properly for it, shocker, you know, your first marathon, you don't really know what you're doing. And so we went out. We were, you know, we decided we're going to stick together the whole time. And so he and I are out there and I am hurting, I'm hurting hard. And what is Jared doing? Waving, having the best time, high-fiving every kid, because my all-out pace is Jared's easy pace. And so we'd be out there running and Jared would just go oh, where's Kayla? And he'd kind of slow down. I was like, oh, get away from me, I can't deal with this. And so I was really emotional at multiple different points.
Speaker 3:No matter if you're running a 5k for the first time or you're running a you know a marathon for the first time, you're like what did I get myself into? Why am I out here? What am I doing? So we crossed the finish line and Jared's like, let me guess you're never doing that again. And I said, oh no, I'm coming back next year and I'm going to have the most ultimate redemption.
Speaker 3:And I did. I came back to Boston. I found a charity bib. I committed, I trained all year and I ended up cutting an hour and seven minutes off of my time from the year before. That probably just goes to show how much I was struggling. But, at the same time, the dedication that you put in, and when you have a community of people who are encouraging you whether it's the person you live with or whether it's a community from you know run club you know I am that person who went from I'm never running more than my turkey trot to all of a sudden being like, no, no, got to come back for redemption on that marathon. So I think too, if people are listening and they're like, yeah, okay, I just want to run in between the different workout classes that I do. I get it. It's not for everybody, but once you dip your toe in.
Speaker 4:The bug gets you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's something about it.
Speaker 1:I love that, I love that and you know I was going to ask you. You know, one of the questions I love to ask guests that come on the show is what is like the one thing that you're proud of, kind of in your journey. It kind of feels like the story you just shared might be that one. So if it is, I'll ask you a different question Probably what was the biggest obstacle you faced in your journey and how'd you overcome it?
Speaker 3:Oh, I feel like you've got obstacles.
Speaker 4:Yeah, my journey's been really bumpy along the way, starting with registering for New York to do it in 2020 in the pandemic. Stopping that, stopping that. Uh, in hindsight, you know, not having a race really for a year and a half because everything was canceled was great Cause it allowed me to just keep training and, and you know, getting better. Um, and, my first marathon was the Damar marathon in uh Keene, new Hampshire, and I didn't know any better. I went out way too fast.
Speaker 3:Classic right.
Speaker 4:And I hit a wall so hard it hurt so bad. I finished the marathon. I did not look good. It took a little coaxing from the medical team there just to take a little you know, coaxing from you know like the medical team there just to like take a little chill pill and relax Probably three hours. It took me to eat half of a burger after because I was just like in so much pain.
Speaker 4:But I was determined, like Kayla, to have like, I'm gonna do it better next time. And then I went on a string of having the hottest marathons on record at each of my next three. And so they were. They were just complete bad races, you know. You just there's nothing you can do about it. Um, but I think through all of that I I learned, really, uh, a couple of things. One is, um, about perseverance, not only in those races themselves but through the training process, and I think with that I've also learned that and it sounds very cliche, but it really is about the journey, like. I enjoy the 18 weeks of training and I think that that is what like is what marathons are all about, in that one day that you get to race is the celebration of all the hard work that you put into it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're not the same person. You're not the same person you were when you started this training 18, 20, 23 weeks ago. So it is an important thing to remember.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and so I think, like, but I don't think you get those without having those road bumps along the way and allowing you to, kind of like, take a step back and look at the work, the body of work that you've done. And you're not defined by that one race on that one day. You are defined by the work and the dedication that you put in to getting yourself to that start line.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I love it and I appreciate you sharing that because you know, for some folks and we're talking about this before, about, like, comparing themselves to others they don't see what's happening kind of behind the scenes, right. You don't see what it took for that runner to get to where they are and the obstacles that they face and the injuries and the learnings that they had along the way, the mental battle that they probably face. So you really gave a great example of that and I appreciate you sharing that, because that's not always easy even to talk about, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, it's it, but it's a reality and I think it's um, and it's okay, cause I, you know, I think to your point like no one does get to see that part of it. You get to see the the like crossing the finish and whether it's on social media or you know whatever, but there's so much that happens behind and, uh, um, I think that that's, that's the cool stuff.
Speaker 3:And fingers crossed that your next marathon won't be so hot.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:If, unless you're, I don't know if anyone listening is running on the Newport full in a couple of weeks, but let's all pray.
Speaker 4:It was. It's literally been a crazy streak. I streak, I, I five, I think, of my seven marathons have been like extreme heat and humidity events so they shouldn't have been on the dates that they were.
Speaker 1:But I have no control over that well, we'll have to do an instagram live or something after your race I'll give you a weather report too that's's really funny, so.
Speaker 1:So thank you for sharing that. You know what? What I love to hear you know now is you know, as kind of as we wind down, I really love to ask, like what is the one thing that you would say to kind of inspire someone to run but I'll qualify that given the conversation around community so, like, what would be the one thing you would say to inspire someone to run and be part of a running community as part of their journey?
Speaker 3:Such a good question because I think there are so many layers to it. You know, I think a lot of the time we're all on social media in some way shape or form. You know whether we, whether we want to be or not, and see these groups getting together, and I know it can seem really intimidating when you're like, oh my gosh, there's only 10 people at this meetup, are these people going to even like me, versus there's 50 people at this meetup. Am I even going to have a place here? And so I think it's yes, it's the act of just showing up and doing it, but also feel free to bring a buddy to find more people, because you know it really doesn't matter your pace and whether this is the group that you decide to join, or you know, or there's there's, you know, a million other run clubs, walk clubs, you know, whatever it looks like, it's the act of getting there and putting yourself out there that's going to help you grow, whether it's the group you stick with or not.
Speaker 3:What I think is great and I think a lot of the time, when we tell people that we have a run club, they're like, oh my God, there's so many run clubs out there right now, and I think sometimes that is from a somewhat of a you know, negative connotation approach of like, oh my God, they're just everywhere this influx.
Speaker 3:But what I think is so special is, you know, the reason people are creating run clubs across the country and beyond is because they're not finding what they're looking for. And so, whether or not we're the group that you show up with and it sticks, or it doesn't stick, or you decide to start your own, there's a little bit of something out there for everybody. So grab a buddy and come and try it out and see if this is what works for you and if it's not, you're not married to this decision. You know, and I think if, if you even have this inkling of like that could be cool, I said, go for it. Seriously, you, you have no idea who you might meet, and I I think that you know our group, even for me, has given me some of my best friends that I now have just because of taking that one step. Pun intended, yeah, nice.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and I think to your point earlier, richard, that I think people are looking for kind of that inspiration, motivation just to move and get out there, and I think we're also all really kind of looking for that sense of community.
Speaker 4:And I think it's something that you know we've all been trying to figure out over, you know, the last couple of years, and you know there's I think there's a book about like the third space. You know a lot of people have their work community and some, you know, have their their church communities. And then what is that other community that you know want, want to help you, whether it's walk better or run faster or whatever, um, but it's also to be there to support you and hear about your, your life and hear about your own journey and hear about your day, um, and so I think that that's cool, and for for us it's also equally as important that we get to support local businesses in the community, and so we're really excited about that. But to Kayla's point, there are so many run clubs that are out there and I think it just takes that little self-courage to say today's the day I'm going to go out there and try this run club and I'm doing it for myself.
Speaker 3:I also think, too, we see so many people who've just been able to find their space within our group. Just a couple of different examples are we've had people who have gotten really sick or really injured and have gone from hey, maybe running 10 miles every week to now only being able to walk and needing to work their way back up. You know people who've been injured. We've had people who could never even run a mile before and had no idea where to start and just started showing up and slowly getting further and further in the process. And now you know she's running, you know, two plus miles without stopping and that's, you know, this huge accomplishment. We have people who never thought that they would run you know, 5k or a half marathon, and we are seeing these people, just you know, sign up for something and commit and then having the support system behind them. So you know, those are three real examples of people who are in our community who, just by deciding to show up, regardless of where they were at, just making that move to be there.
Speaker 1:Love it, love it. Kayla Jared, thank you so much for sharing your insights, your journey, the work you've done with your run club and the importance of being part of a community and how that can help a runner in their journey. So really appreciate you coming on the show and sharing all those things. And, just before we go, how can our listeners find you and follow your incredible journey online?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. Um, we have our website, which is h2golife, um, our Instagram, which is h2golife, and, uh, I think that's it. Yeah, like we, we really tried to to make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 4:I'm like you know and our yeah, our all our information is there in our weekly schedule of our meetups and times and locations are there. And, yeah, we're, we're always available to through the the chat if anyone has any questions and, you know, is just curious about what, what it's like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ask questions before you show up, if that's what. That's what you need.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. Okay, so I will put that information in the show notes to make it easy for our listeners to find you again. Thank you so much for coming on the show and thank you for all that you do to support the running community and and with that, have a great day, can't wait to see you again and good luck
Speaker 4:on your races and with that, have a great day. Yeah, ditto.
Speaker 2:Can't wait to see you again and good luck on your races. That's it for this episode of Inspired to Run Podcast. We hope you are inspired to take control of your health and fitness and take it to the next level. Be sure to click the subscribe button to join our community and also please rate and review. Thanks for listening.
