The Slow Lane: 6 Unexpected Benefits of Slow Running

Ever wondered why some runners seem to effortlessly glide through marathons while others huff and puff their way to the finish line? Angie and I unravel this mystery and more as we share the surprising advantages of hitting the brakes on your running routine. Slowing down, it turns out, is not just for the tortoises of the world – it's a strategy packed with benefits that can take your performance to the next level. From building endurance to mastering the art of fat burning for energy, we dive into the physiological and psychological perks that come with a leisurely pace. Angie's vibrant enthusiasm shines through as we discuss how this approach can transform your running experience, making it more enjoyable and sustainable in the long run.

This episode is a celebration of taking the scenic route in your running journey, focusing on how it can bolster your mental and physical health. We share stories from our own lives, including how incorporating walking and slower paces has not only eased back pain but also opened up a world of meditative bliss. Join us as we explore the zen of running in snow, the empowerment of a strong mind-body connection, and the importance of the mantra "run slow to run fast." The conversation extends an invitation to our community of runners to engage with our challenges and events, including the upcoming Taji 100 and the Do Hard Things challenge.  So lace up your sneakers, turn up the volume, and let's hit the path less traveled – where slow and steady wins the race.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:44

Welcome back, everybody to another episode of the Dwarf Things podcast. I'm JT running coach, certified high performance coach. Our mission here is to empower you to upgrade your health, wealth and relationships through mindset movement. It's another Monday morning. How you doing? Angie Angie's in the house with me this morning.

Speaker 2 1:04

I'm doing great. I'm here. It's Monday. Um yeah, today is going to be a great day.

Speaker 1 1:11

Yeah, it's a. It's a ice day here. We uh, the schools are already. They were called off last night and I'm looking out the window and I see the ice, so it's going to be another another. We had some interesting weather the last couple weeks, so another another day at home with the kiddos, yeah, yes. So welcome everybody.

Speaker 1 1:29

Today we're going to talk about the six awesome benefits of running slow. This is a topic and a challenge for many runners. As a running coach, I feel like I'm spending most of my time telling my runners to slow down, and we want to reiterate some of the benefits, the awesome benefits. If you want to run fast, you got to run slow, and there's some great benefits in doing so. We're going to talk about some of those so you're better prepared and you're not beating yourself up for, like man, did I do anything today? Did I just not? I didn't push it as hard. Tonya, you're doing a lot more than you think and we're going to dive into that topic today and uh, but before we get into that, real quick, make sure you smash that subscribe button so you notify our future episodes. Run Spotify, apple YouTube. We're live streaming on TikTok and all your socials so you can find us basically pretty much anywhere that you uh uh are on social media or go listen to podcasts. We're there, so make sure that you subscribe and that way you're notified when we have uh episodes and leave us a review. They go a long way to helping us uh spread the word and what we're doing here on the mission here with the Do Our Things Nation, and if you get some value you know we've sat such a share with a couple of your friends and let us know. We'd love to hear it, I mean, from you like, tag us in your social media post if you got a nugget of wisdom, or you can, you know, uh, message us directly. We love hearing back from our listeners to uh hear you know what it is that you gained and if there's any specific topics you'd like us to talk about, we're we're open to that. We want to. We want to serve the community. This episode is sponsored by Do Our Things Nation.

Speaker 1 2:56

We're a community living a life on offense, united by focus and continuous self-improvement. We empower people to improve their health, wealth and finances through mindset and movement, and I think that you need to community. The community aspect is critically important because, let's be real. You're out there improving your mind and moving your body and you might might people laughing at you, because it's just kind of an unusual thing, right. So we're a tribe of like-minded people rolling together to improve our lives. That's what we're creating. We have monthly challenges, merch that inspires network frameworks. I'm doing training on uh Thursday nights. We have the uh pro membership where you can get a customized running plan and uh group mindset coaching it's like a mindset for your gym access to the uh book club. So if you're ready to level up, you want to grow faster, consider joining the uh, the pro pro channel there.

Speaker 1 3:47

Alright, upcoming events we've got uh. We're currently finishing up Do Heart Things 28 and we're getting ready to transition into February. We've got a Tajee 100 team in this. If you're interested in that Um, well then you need to be in the Facebook page, you need to be on the newsletter, because that's where we're sending out all the updates. That's where you can join those events. But if you go to doarthingsnationcom and click on challenges, you can go there and sign up for that.

Speaker 1 4:11

Tajee 100 is a uh, an annual event that we do uh in support of Team Red, white and Blue and the uh. Well, that's the Tajee 100. They're their own nonprofit, uh, supporting veteran programs. We have Rock and Roll Marathon coming up in April, we've got the Do Heart Things 9-11 run in Rock in September, usmc in October, and there's a couple of other events coming down the pike and new challenges. So, uh, so that's it for the business end. But if, uh, you feel like you would like to support, go grab yourself some merch, go check out you know all the offerings and join the community at wwwdoheartthingsnationcom it's where the podcast lies as well. Go grab yourself a hat, grab yourself a shirt and, uh, join the community. So that's it for the business end of things. Angie, what's?

Speaker 1 4:58

up how are you doing Good? We have a few comments coming in. Uh, sherry Wilson, so slow that's me. I see morning. Have a great day. Have a great day y'all, appreciate y'all.

Speaker 2 5:07

Yes.

Speaker 1 5:08

Yes, yeah, streamers, but uh, yeah, angie, how are you?

Speaker 2 5:11

doing. I'm great, I'm, um, I'm really excited for our topic today, because this is just one of my favorite things to talk about. Why is that? Because, uh, most runners have a preset um viewpoint that if you don't run fast, you're not running, you're not a runner. A lot of people think if they're a slow runner, they're not a runner, they won't even call themselves a runner. Um, and so I have recruited people into running slower and to get them to enjoy it, and it just, it's a mind, it's a game changer. It's a game changer.

Speaker 1 5:49

It's a game changer. I think too, what you, what people beat themselves up a lot because they think that they have it goes back to the whole mindset of comparing yourself. A lot of people just compare themselves. They look at the people that are running super fast and they think that, oh, I'm just not as good, I'm just not running, I'm just you know, it's all this uh negative self-talk and uh but the the bottom line is there's a lot of great benefits to running slow and, at the end of the day, stop measuring yourself with other people's measuring stick. Do you, do you boo? It's all good.

Speaker 2 6:20

Yeah, and at the end of the day it's the same amount. It's the same distance. Yes, it's the same distance You're you're covering. If you set a goal of running five miles, it doesn't matter how fast or slow it is. You've done it. Yes, you've covered that distance, so just enjoy it. Enjoy it.

Speaker 1 6:37

Absolutely. So we're going to talk about six awesome benefits of running slow. Give yourself a little, uh, change in mindset when it comes to that, so you can give yourself some more grace. Stop beating yourself up and doing all that stuff because that's just, it's just not necessary, and so it can be incredibly difficult for new runners to understand that anything positive is happening when they're running slow, when they're running, when the running feels easy. Um, and here's, this is just a a trick in life in general, and this is what I have found.

Speaker 1 7:07

Yes, this is the Do Hard Things podcast and we put ourselves in in uncomfortable positions, but in all reality, like you need to be finding the sweet spot in life. I don't think that life there is suffering in life. I don't think we have to suffer in life, and that comes a lot with the mindset and being resilient. And we do these hard things put, make ourselves uncomfortable and we learn so we can have less resistance in life. And going back to running, you know 80% of your runs should be incredibly slow and that is really hard for runners. I was on a running thread the other day and they were like arguing about it, like I just can't believe it. This science doesn't make sense to me. Well, it's science. They've done this amount of research on it. You can run harder than you need to because you're stubborn, and that's you. But it's been proven time and time again. So we're gonna kind of dive into that. So hopefully we're gonna help bricks and bears. But, yes, it is incredibly counterintuitive. There's a lot of things happening when you're running slow that you can't get when you're running fast. So and we wanted to bunk that so consider pumping the brakes, go slow and give yourself some grace on it.

Speaker 1 8:30

So what does slow running actually mean? Well, from a running and scientific perspective, biological perspective, it's any run where your heart rate is at or below about 70% of its max heart rate, mhr and we often call this zone one or two training. There's like zone one through five. And if you're monitoring your zones, it should be zone one or two. And if you're getting up in that zone three, that's when you're getting up into threshold. That's where you're getting into a different layer of energy and things like that.

Speaker 1 9:01

And Lacey and I were doing our long run on Friday and she was running a little bit faster than I was and I was kind of lagging back. She's like are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm good, I'm watching my watch and I'm not getting into the orange. I'm staying in zone two and I was running a little bit slower because there's a window there, but I was running a little bit slower than normal.

Speaker 1 9:21

But when you have a heart rate spike like that, that's just saying that your body's tired. So you got to back it off, but I was very disciplined about doing my long run at that really slow pace because, well, we're gonna talk about that in a minute Benefits of mitochondria, but that's it. So if you don't have a watch and you don't have a heart rate monitor and I tell all my runners that don't always listen to that or sometimes run without the watch then look at the perceived effort. On a scale of zero to 10 of perceived effort, you should be somewhere between a four and no more than a six and you should be able to have a full conversation. So if you don't know what that heart rate zone is for you, then the indicator is you should be able to sing a song easily, like just be able to have a full conversation. That's when you know you're running easy.

Speaker 2 10:04

Well, you know, jay, to that I got on live to run on the treadmill a couple of times. I got on six talk live because it made me feel like I was in a group run, but I was able to. I was running at conversation pace where it was an easy conversation. I was able to talk the entire time and several people were like how are you doing that? I'm like I'm just running slow, like it's all good.

Speaker 1 10:30

Yeah, just a slow pace, You're able to chat without gasping for air, you know, and I think it's a great, that's a great drill. Like you said, you're going live on TikTok and just kind of sharing your work out with the world. You know you get a lot of great feedback and motivation is pretty cool, yeah. So but the rule of thumb is this if you think that you're running too fast, if one of my runners were to ask me, hey, am I running too fast? You probably are, so just back it off. And it's so counterintuitive it is so hard for my newer runners to break that. And you know, running in the army for years, it was like every run had to be long and fast and it's not the most efficient. It's not the most efficient, so all right. So the first benefit is higher latte threshold. So it's very logical to think that the only way to get to run faster is to run fast, but it's the slow.

Speaker 1 11:21

Running actually increases the density of the mitochondria in your body. Here's where we're getting geeky. You lost me at mitochondria. All right, you got to listen. Folks. Your mitochondria are like your little soldiers inside of you. You're the general and your cells are the troops, and the mitochondria. They're the little organic cells. They're the ones that are carrying oxygen In your blood cells. They're moving around. They're helping you metabolize lactate, which is a byproduct of glycosis. All right, so it's like oh, what the fuck? Anytime you start reading this stuff, you're like oh, your eyes start to glaze over what's really happening. Your body's turning food into fuel, and that's what's happening in these little soldiers. The mitochondria are just doing all the work.

Speaker 1 12:10

When you run slow, you're able to produce more of the mitochondria, which makes this process more efficient. You can only create them when you're running slow, for whatever reason. I didn't make the rules, I don't know, but you can only make more of them when you're running slow. When it feels like you can't make them. When you're running faster, you can only make them when you're running slow. That's when your body makes more of them, and so it just helps you with fatigue. It just helps you process your blood cells and oxygenate your body. And when you do have to run fast, you can run faster because you got these little soldiers that are doing your bidding on your behalf, but you can only make them in slow running. So when you're slow running, you are in the business of making mitochondria and letting the body do its thing.

Speaker 1 13:01

To me, that's what I was talking about. That's your number one priority. When you're slow running, this thing is happening. You don't really realize it. Like I said, it's counterintuitive, but that's what you've got to have. I don't want to get into a lot of science because I know people's eyes are going to roll in the back of their head when I reach out to stuff. But just know, the mitochondria, that's what you're making.

The Benefits of Slow Running

Speaker 2 13:20

Yeah, you're making the mitochondria and it helps you. So also think of this the more mitochondria you make when you're running slow, the faster you can run when you're running fast, when you want to go fast.

Speaker 1 13:34

Yeah, boom. So your mitochondria, the density, the amount of mitochondria you have, can increase your lactate threshold. Lactate threshold is like when you completely like, it's like when you burn out. So when you hit that wall you've hit lactate threshold, and if you have more mitochondria you can actually push longer and further. It basically pushes that wall out further, and that's what we're in the business of building. And so when you run slow you're able to do that. So that's number one. So number two reduce your chances of hitting a wall. We're kind of segue into that.

Speaker 1 14:11

So runners rely on fast twitch muscle fibers for speed work. But there is fast twitch fibers that are somewhat convertible and they utilize your. I'm trying not to get so geeky here with the science here. The bottom line is you also have slow twitch muscles that enable you to run long and slow. All right. So you've got fast twitch for fast, you've got slow twitch for slow.

Speaker 1 14:40

And when you are during a long, slow run, when the slow twitch fibers start to tire out, your body recruits some of the fast twitch fibers to help out. So it's like okay, this part's burning out a little bit. We need more fuel for the fire. Bring some more logs right. And it's like, okay, that's what's happening, so, but you need the logs to do that, and so that's what the mitochondria and all of these extra fibers are doing. It's like having more resources available to you. So when you tire out, you got more coal, like those old locomotives, you throw more coal in the fire, right, yes, that's what we want. If you don't have that coal to throw in the fire, well, you're going to burn out, right, so that's. But you can only make that when you're running slow. I'm trying to use some analogies that might make sense.

Speaker 2 15:24

No, you're doing great, hey, you are doing. You're way more creative this morning than I am. I appreciate it. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 15:33

So, instead of gobbling up more lactate, the mitochondria helps metabolize your fat and that's what it's using, like that fuel source as well. So when your body's running, it primarily relies on glycogen, which is your stored glucose, and you have about 20 minute reserve usually on that before you have to start fueling yourself, and about an hour into a run that's when you really have to start fueling yourself. It's just like starting to throw logs on the fire and it's like sugar, so it's almost like kindling that burns up really quick, but your proteins and your fats, when you throw it it's like a bigger log. So you're having a log on the like, a like, a big, like burning log on there. So you only have a limited supply and you know when you completely run out of fuel. That's when you really, that's when you bonk out, that's when you hit the wall, and so but as a backup, when you're completely out of fuel and I've I've ran a long distance without like having like snacks on me or something like that when you break through that wall, then your body starts to tap into your fat stores and that's known as triglyceride and that's your fat stores. So but bottom line, when you're running slow, you're training your body to be more efficient with the fat burning and fuel and You're just less likely of hitting the wall when you run slow.

Speaker 1 16:57

Yeah, if any of that made sense. Hopefully, I'm trying to try to do this in a way that doesn't Glacier eyes over. So there's. There's some sort of some biological things that are happening now. The third thing that I think is incredibly important is like look, people go to run. They often they get bored with running because they're doing the same route, same pace. They don't stick to it and it's because they're just they got bored with it.

Speaker 2 17:25

Yes, I, okay. So I was just at school with a bunch of people, bunch of young people and of the mindset that you must, that running must suck, that it must be horrible that they have to go all out balls to the wall every time. And I'm like you know what, just come run with me, just give it a chance. Come run with me, we're gonna go, we're gonna run slow, so you're gonna be running like peanut butter turtle running through peanut butter. So expect that we're gonna go slow. So don't go, we're not going for time, but we're going to enjoy ourselves. We're gonna stop and take pictures if we see something pretty, because we would run a route around a lake. And so I'm like, if you, if it's pretty, we're gonna take pictures. We're just gonna stop and enjoy it, but we're gonna cover the same distance. So if you'll just come with me, I'm going to try to change your mind about running.

Speaker 2 18:20

And when they came and then we ran and we ran at my pace, at my pace, my enjoyable conversation pace, they're like this is great. We didn't know running could be fun. Yes, enjoy. This is why I have so much fun, because I go and I enjoy myself and it was just really cool to to watch their perspective change on running and and here they're Hear them talk about it in a positive way, like it was just, it was really cool. I felt, I felt super honored that they gave me that chance and that it changed the way that they thought about running.

Speaker 1 18:51

Yes, really neat. There's a time and place for speed work and doing hard runs. But most of your 80% of your runs, if you're a runner and training for a marathon or program or whatever you're doing, should be easy. It should not be a stress producer. It should be like a stress Eliminator, supposed to. You're supposed to go out and enjoy it and have fun. So, and that's that's a challenge.

Speaker 1 19:14

When I talk to veterans too, because it's like all their lives they're just expected to run hard and fast. It's mm-hmm, it's, you know, like One of the things that I think about just getting up at this hour. It's like you know, you got to be a PT, it's o dark, 30 in the morning and you're freezing. It's like every aspect of it like sucked. But when you can go out on your own and you're not getting yelled at and you can just have fun and you can enjoy the scenery, man, it's a magical thing. It is, and we as humans were designed to do that. Yeah, we were. And when you can just take the stress out of it and the pressure of I mean, even my runners, like so many Somebody, my runners get so caught up in the data. They're like constantly looking at their watch. Run without your watch and just do your perceived effort and just go enjoy it. You can upload your your data later on Strava. Whatever your, it doesn't have to be perfect and so enjoy running for what it is. You know, lacey made a great point not too long ago that it really resonated with me. It's like she's like you know, what I love about running is that every individual run is its own experience. You know, if I go to the gym and sling weight, it's very repetitious, it's very kind of mundane. It can be and I like it. But running there's something that the environment is different, the temperatures are different, the scenery is different. You can modulate the speed, the people. Every individual run is completely different. Sometimes they suck, sometimes they're great, sometimes they're cold, sometimes they're warm. I mean, they're all unique experiences.

Speaker 1 20:42

But love like run for the enjoyment of running and quit Focusing on the pace so much. Yeah, change it up. There's a great workout called the fart, like it's a Swedish word that run the entire run. You're supposed to change up the pace fast, slow, just yeah. It just kind of just shake it up a little bit, like confuse your body a little bit because you can get into that worn groove of Daldrum and boredom and pushing too hard where it yes, it absolutely sucks. So for runners that are yo-yoing, that's the number one root cause. They're pushing themselves too hard. They're running the same freaking route. They don't mix it up, spice it up, y'all. Yeah, absolutely, so, that's it. I mean, that's, that's really it. So the they've done a lot of research on this, the more the you're gonna have more joy with running if you just slow it down and back back it off. Yeah, so that's it. So, yeah, absolutely. Pressure on yourself.

Speaker 1 21:45

All right, slow running also leads in this number four improve recovery. So, obviously, running a lot, you're gonna have, you're gonna have cumulative Fatigue, which is ultimately going to affect your performance. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta slow it down and get some active recovery in. But you know, some of these slow runs help you facilitate recovery. Now, when I stack runs, when I have a runner like running like five days a week, there's be it, there'll be three days of running. It'll be a really slow day with some strides to kind of wake up the body. The strides are like little speed ups.

Speaker 1 22:17

Then you have your quality session. This is your hard run day. This is the design to suck a little bit and then after that, the day after that, you have your tired run lay. Tired legs run nice slow. Your legs are tired from the two back to back runs. And to kind of design to help you facilitate your body what it would feel like during like a long distance, like when your body is tired, but that helps you, helps you kind of recover. You can definitely overdo it if you're pushing too hard, but it helps you just improve your recovery. So do you do what? What is your? How often do you run like? What is your typical week?

Running Slow, Mindfulness, and Their Benefits

Speaker 2 22:57

I have not had a typical week because I've been dealing with my back injury. So I I generally get three to four days. I, when I'm on a good training cycle, three to four days and pretty close to what you just described. I mean, I usually do my long run on the weekend just because that's when I have time to do my long run and I'll get my shorter runs in during the week and I just mix it up with some speed work and you know I run intervals. Usually anything longer than four to six miles is I'm an interval runner, so I really like the Galloway method and so anything under that I try not to run intervals, just to keep my body trained up, you know.

Speaker 1 23:53

But yeah, yeah. So for those that don't know, the Galloway method is great. You actually you run like it'll be, like it could be 30 seconds of walking followed by 60 seconds of running, and you kind of split these intervals up and that's what people will do is they walk for 30 seconds, run for 60 and then kind of, and you can switch the intervals up and a lot of people train a complete marathon or ultra like that. Oh yeah, I think a lot of people don't realize that ultra runners there's a lot of walking and ultra running, and I prefer ultra runs. Even though you're going beyond the marathon distance, they're far more enjoyable. There's a lot of walking involved.

Speaker 2 24:31

Well, and even with my back injury, I started doing intervals at any distance, any distance past a mile, and that has really helped me continue running through this back pain that I'm trying to get corrected, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 24:48

And any new runner that I have coming on board. That's what we do, is we do, we do walk run intervals they get to.

Speaker 1 24:55

They can run 20 minutes steady pace and then we go from there. You know there's no shame in the walking, it's. It's great You're moving the body, it's all good. Right so, but to your point of, you know, decreased risk of injury, that's. That's number five. You know the fast running just puts a lot more strain on your body and the the easier runs can help you, you know, mitigate some of these other injuries because you're not running so hard Like every time you're. You know foot hits the ground. You're putting nine to 11 times your body weight of pressure on on. You know the whole mechanical aspect of your body, everything, and backing off just kind of helps out with with some of that strain and it's a good opportunity to work on your mechanics.

Speaker 1 25:39

You know this is where you get to work on your cadence. Cadence is the number of times like your foot hits the ground, and it's hard to do that when you're running fast. This is where you do your drill work is during the slow runs, and so, yeah, there's a lot to be said for that, so just slow it down. Work on work on form.

Speaker 2 25:59

Yes.

Speaker 1 25:59

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 26:01

If your form's not good, you know that that's going to lead. That's definitely going to impact your running and it's going to lead to injury down the road, and heavily.

Speaker 1 26:12

Absolutely. And then number six the stronger mind-body connection. I ran across a book title and I'm going to go read it because it makes a lot of sense to me and I love it. Depression hates a moving target. Depression hates a moving target. It's really talking about like you got to move the body, yeah, the body. If you suffer with depression, depression wants to keep you just in bed, like just hold you down, right. Guess what, guess what. A great antidote to that is Moving the body. That's why you got to go to the gym. You got to go run. We were designed as humans to do that. Depression hates a moving target. So you create a stronger mind-body connection by moving the body, and so alternating between your hard and easy runs will encourage you to tune into your body. Understand the. I mean, there's such a mindfulness aspect to running that I don't get with any other. I mean I ride my bike, I swim, I lift weights and people will say time and time again there's something different about running that's incredibly meditative.

Speaker 1 27:18

You can really get into your thoughts and I don't know. It's such a great release of tension and stress and I don't know.

Speaker 2 27:28

It's just fantastic. I feel the best when I'm running and even working through this back pain that I've been having, even walking. You're saying I went out and walked six miles. You know, I mean, it's just and it's. I think for me, running is definitely. I call it my meditation time and during that but I think it might have to do with if I'm not listening to music you've got that steady sound of your feet hitting the ground. And it's just like it kind of almost puts you in a trance. Yeah, maybe put it yeah.

Speaker 1 28:04

I mean I've enjoyed running in the snow here recently, I know, as long as you get the right clothing. But I mean there was that one morning it was like negative three out, but it was just like the headlamp, it was just like crunching in the snow. Yeah, once my fingers kind of warmed up, I was in a groove. I mean I felt fantastic, yes, and I just no one else was out there just felt at peace. I was really in my head. I'm like man, I'm doing this really difficult thing and I know it's just made for a great day and you can't get that in a lot of other modalities. So yeah, that's it. That's yeah. Snow running, I'm sure, yeah, so those are it. So don't beat yourself up about running slow. Running slow is a critical component to your training. You shouldn't brace it. Never feel bad about it. There's so many great benefits. It's all about moving the body and you're doing a lot more work than you realize. So knock that shit off. You're beating yourself up about running slow.

Speaker 2 28:55

Run slow, so you can run faster. Yeah, run slow, so you can run faster. One more time we're in slow, so you can run faster.

Speaker 1 29:03

Now, if you're skipping your threshold runs and things like, you need some drills, need some help with that. You know, reach out, we'll get you squared away. But you should be doing like one speed session a week. That's all you need is one solid, quality speed session and then one quality long run and then all the other runs. A lot of times that long run is going to have just be slow, so you don't need much. You don't need much, so that's it.

Speaker 2 29:27

Yeah, yeah, that's it Absolutely.

Speaker 1 29:29

All right? Well, let's tee up. It's almost 6.30. You good on time. You got snow day today, don't you?

Speaker 2 29:36

Yes, yes, I do, I do All right.

Speaker 1 29:40

Let me.

Speaker 2 29:40

All right.

Speaker 1 29:41

So, ladies and gentlemen, this is this week's winner. This is Jessica Stewart y'all. She's been doing the Do-Heart Things 28. She's been very active, very inspirational in sharing her journey. She is a runner, she is an educator at the local elementary school. So we appreciate your work, that you do, and I tell you what she had a little bit of a setback last week Something I don't want to go into details, but something that would aggravate all of us had happened to her and she took it with absolute grace and it was a very frustrating incident that had happened. But just appreciate your resilience to that scenario and your ability to bounce back and just your effort, showing up every day, inspiring others. She's become a fan of the podcast as well. So, jessica, we're going to send you a Do-Heart Things shirt and we just appreciate you being a role model in the work that you do and handling it with grace and just inspiring others through sharing your journey with the Do-Heart Things 28 with us. We appreciate you, that's right.

Speaker 2 30:41

So Congratulations, jessica, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 30:44

Keep doing hard things, Keep getting after it. So love it. So that's it. That's all we got today, Anything else that's on your mind.

Speaker 2 30:54

No, you know, I mean, as always, first make yourself smile, do something that makes you smile today and do something that makes someone else smile today. You just never know what people are going through, and sometimes all it takes is just to make eye contact, make that awkward eye contact with someone and just give them a genuine smile, and you just, you never know, you might brighten up somebody's day More than you can realize, absolutely.

Speaker 1 31:23

There's a lot of people that are suffering out there in silence and, like you said, we don't know what people are going through and you can just that magical moment and that's part of that. Do-heart Things 28 is just gratitude, doing a random act of kindness For someone, like just a kind gesture. Just if you want kindness in the world, turn on the news. We're without I mean, that's what it seems like. But if you want kindness in the world, you got to put it there. And it starts with you. Yeah, it starts with how you show up and how you engage with other people. So, love on your fellow human and be kind. Just crack a smile, hold the door open for someone, pick up that trash, put the shopping cart away.

Speaker 2 32:03

Yeah, yeah, what if that?

Speaker 1 32:04

shopping cart, hit another car and then parking lot. You don't have to do anything like money, just little things. Little things add up, it's a butterfly effect. Absolutely All right, y'all, we'll keep doing hard things. Appreciate you.

Speaker 2 32:16

Yeah.

Speaker 1 32:16

Have a fantastic day.

Speaker 2 32:18

I will, you too. You too, be safe out there in all this ice.

Speaker 1 32:21

I'm going to stay in. I'm not going to you too. I'm supposed to go back to Waynesville, but I'm going to probably wait until tomorrow. I don't blame you, I do not blame you. Kids are in. They're all in the video game. They don't need to see Dad today. So Ha ha ha. All right, lost me all. All right, keep doing hard things, we'll see you guys, next episode. See you.