Beyond the Miles: A Conversation with Valeria Rodriguez

In Episode 10 of Sneaker Impact News, host Bryan the Botanist interviews Valeria Rodriguez, an inspiring figure with a multifaceted life as a runner, mom, illustrator, teacher, and survivor. Valeria shares her journey from a physically challenging childhood to becoming a state-champion runner and securing a college scholarship. Despite pressure and injuries, her competitive spirit and resilience shine through. Post-college, she ventures into the Peace Corps, becomes a mom, and later, integrates her passion for running into teaching and environmental activism. Valeria's story is filled with lessons on perseverance, the power of community, and the intertwining of her running and environmental endeavors through initiatives like Sneaker Impact.

Connect with Valeria

Instagram - @valeriar1

Facebook - Valeria Rodriguez

Threads - https://www.threads.net/@valeriar1

Strava -  https://www.strava.com/athletes/19270956

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriarodriguez305/

Transcript

Welcome to Sneaker Impact News: Special Interview with Valeria Rodriguez

Bryan The Botanist 0:02

Alright, welcome back to Sneaker Impact News. I'm your host, Bryan the Botanist, and today I have a special interview with Valeria Rodriguez. Valeria embodies a true spirit of resilience and determination. She's a runner, a mom, an illustrator, and a survivor. And her journey through running is nothing short of inspirational. Guys, please welcome my special guest, Valeria Rodriguez.

Valeria Rodriguez 0:23

Hi, thank you.

Valeria's Early Days: The Beginning of a Runner's Journey

Bryan The Botanist 0:25

Awesome. Valeria, thanks so much for coming by Sneaker Impact today. I know we got to go walk the floor. We're so excited to have you as our second guest in our new studio and our first woman that we're featuring we've been friends for many years and today we want to get to know you better. My first couple questions are going to be to go back into your younger days and what got you started as a runner, your introduction to running.

Valeria Rodriguez 0:47

Thank you for having me thank you for inviting me to explore here because running has been a huge part of my life, but seeing a different side of the running shoe that has been so important to me, seeing that running shoe here has been really special. How did it get started? My best friend in first grade her dad was a cross country coach. And I wanted to hang out with my friend, so I went out to try out for the cross country team. And I started running with her, and I was really bad at running, because I would constantly trip. I came to the world premature, and my legs were not straight. I had casts that were put up to my hips and that were replaced often so that they would straighten out my legs. And running wasn't an easy thing, but it was something that allowed me to do like a physical therapy kind of thing, and horseback riding also allowed for that. But being able to run on the cross country team gave me the option to get started. Even though I wasn't good at it, my parents were very supportive and encouraging and I got to socialize with friends. So I liked it. And I'd get really nervous when I'd have to compete because even though I wasn't very good, I was very competitive and didn't like losing. And my dad gave me the option to quit after my last year. My first race in fourth grade. He's just do one more and then you can stop and I won that race Oh my god, and he's like you can stop now. I'm like no, I don't want to And he's oh you like the winning part you didn't like the losing part and that kind of Went growing. I ran through high school. I ran at Lords our Lady of Lords and under amazing coaches and ended up with some state titles and a college scholarship to the University of Florida for running cross country and track. And running has just always been the lane that I've been in and guided my decisions though one foot in front of the other. Mentality. You can do any thing if you just start one foot in front of the other. And I was never scared. Of any workouts or any, no, no challenges were too big or no races were too much because the people around me believed in me so much. So from a young age, I learned the power of having someone believe in you. And that's been huge.

From Childhood Challenges to Competitive Running

Bryan The Botanist 3:36

That's awesome. So I want to back up a little bit more and discuss your childhood, too. That's where we always usually start on the journey.

Valeria Rodriguez 3:42

I'm good.

Bryan The Botanist 3:44

I know you have a lot going on in your life as a teacher and a mom, so thank you for coming in. And yeah, so you were born in Miami, it sounds and did you have any brothers and sisters? Tell us about early life in Miami.

Valeria Rodriguez 3:54

Yes, I was born here in Miami Jackson, and I have one sister my parents are still here and they are the best trainers that I ever had. So supportive from the beginning. And to this point.

Bryan The Botanist 4:10

Always awesome. So you got into cross country at the age of seven.

Valeria Rodriguez 4:15

That's

Bryan The Botanist 4:15

incredible.

Valeria Rodriguez 4:16

First grade.

Bryan The Botanist 4:17

I'm a cross country coach and I didn't start. Cross country till I was in my thirties, but I saw it as a soccer player, but that's so cool. So as a seven year old. Because I coached sixth grade on up in Miami Beach and so that's a really young age seven. But you said you had some physical difficulties that you were born with that you had to overcome. Now when you got into middle school and high school, was that when you started to get faster? And was it challenging more to walk when you were younger and painful? Like when did it change, you said, like when you just stuck with it for a little bit or?

Valeria Rodriguez 4:44

I remember elementary school running was challenging. Up until like fourth grade is when I started to see a shift in running, becoming more pleasant because I was doing better. But it also is a reminder that you're never going to be good at anything right away. And, you have to be patient and middle school, the start of middle school was difficult. Actually, 5th grade, right before middle school, was when I won my first big Florida event, like Bantam Division State Champion in 1995. And I remember, I still have the shirt that says Champion, and I just remember As like a

Bryan The Botanist 5:30

5th grader?

Valeria Rodriguez 5:31

As a 5th grader, I was 10 years old, and I remember

Bryan The Botanist 5:33

competing in like a state base as soon as Yeah,

Valeria Rodriguez 5:35

I remember being in Orlando, and I remember hearing the people on the sideline saying she went out too hard, she went out too fast, and it was like the mantra.

Bryan The Botanist 5:47

How long were these races?

Valeria Rodriguez 5:48

I want to say they were a mile or a mile and a half. Yeah, so elementary was like a mile, then middle school it moved to a mile and a half in JV or varsity, and then in high school we competed in the three miles. This is my first,

Bryan The Botanist 6:05

well, three miles for the

Valeria Rodriguez 6:10

races, and then it moved up to the 5k and then in college it was 5k and it moved up to the 6k.

Bryan The Botanist 6:18

That's perfect because that brings us to our next section which is the pressures of competitive running, versus running as a kid, it's like I remember in Wisconsin the backyards, the nighttime games, and that's how I remember running. But as a competitive athlete, share your experiences of living under the pressure of the sport and how you navigated through them, especially at UF.

Valeria Rodriguez 6:37

I felt like I always put more pressure on myself to compete, better, growing up. Even before I got to UF, I know that I put a lot of pressure on myself even in high school but

Bryan The Botanist 6:54

get that scholarship or to I wanted to go to the

Valeria Rodriguez 6:57

Olympics.

Bryan The Botanist 6:58

And you went to Lourdes? I went to Our Lady of Lourdes.

Valeria Rodriguez 7:01

in

Bryan The Botanist 7:01

Miami.

Valeria Rodriguez 7:01

Yeah. And I wanted to go to the Olympics, I wanted to be a professional runner, and when I got to college, I realized that There were a lot of people that were the best in their state.

Bryan The Botanist 7:16

In a bigger pond.

Valeria Rodriguez 7:17

I don't know how to explain it, but when I was in high school and I was trying to break five in the mile and I ran a 5. 02 and I was like really excited about it. And when I got to my dorm in college, everyone in my dorm, there was four of us that lived in my apartment, everyone could run 502. I won states in the 800 twice, and the times that I ran, everyone on my team could run. So I went from being top dog to being one of Humbling,

Bryan The Botanist 7:50

yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 7:50

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist 7:50

over. And

Valeria Rodriguez 7:52

then I also got the chance to see teammates and other athletes at UF in other sports who were coming back from the Summer Olympics.

Bryan The Botanist 8:02

Oh wow.

Valeria Rodriguez 8:03

And When they were introducing the teams, like the swim team and the tennis players, some of them weren't present because they were already competing on a global level. Wow. And so that You

Bryan The Botanist 8:14

were in the premier program.

Valeria Rodriguez 8:16

But that really was like a solid life check.

Bryan The Botanist 8:20

Sure.

Valeria Rodriguez 8:20

Okay. Yeah,

Bryan The Botanist 8:21

you're not just going to walk in here and

Valeria Rodriguez 8:24

Exactly.

Bryan The Botanist 8:24

You're going to have to grow.

Valeria Rodriguez 8:25

And it was a reminder that to take the next step to that next level was going to take everything.

Bryan The Botanist 8:32

Commitment, discipline. So tell us about UF. I didn't do an NCAA, Sport I ran after college, but tell us about being a D1 athlete and some of your accomplishments,

Valeria Rodriguez 8:45

I guess Accomplishments were being able to stay on the team.

Bryan The Botanist 8:48

years it sounds

Valeria Rodriguez 8:49

yes, three and a half years.

Bryan The Botanist 8:51

track and cross country team for University of Florida.

Valeria Rodriguez 8:53

Yes. Some of my closest friends are still my teammates. UF. I think I know a

Bryan The Botanist 9:00

couple.

Valeria Rodriguez 9:00

I do. But I'm nervous to not mention all of them.

Bryan The Botanist 9:03

Yeah,

Valeria Rodriguez 9:06

but I'm. I know

Bryan The Botanist 9:06

JC Crussell.

Valeria Rodriguez 9:07

Hey JC. And now she's one of my sister's neighbors, so I still get to run with her.

Bryan The Botanist 9:14

Or she's got JCR, babe, is that her?

Valeria Rodriguez 9:16

And it's the, I guess the So UF,

Bryan The Botanist 9:18

yeah, how was the environment there? What were the pressures of being a student athlete?

Valeria Rodriguez 9:22

It was one of the pressures that I felt, was living from the sport. Is really hard because you want to compete at a certain level, you need to also realize that getting hurt is hard to be patient with your injuries because position on the team is at stake. I had a major injury at the middle of my freshman year where I almost had a toe amputated.

Bryan The Botanist 9:53

Oh my God.

Valeria Rodriguez 9:53

And so I had to relearn how to walk and I had to get on the elliptical and train like one foot up and the other one, cause I still had to maintain my fitness so that When I came back, I could be top seven. And there's a lot of talented people every year that can come on to the team. So that's where you learn that you can never settle in. To a spot, like you always have to keep pushing and trying. Stay hungry,

Bryan The Botanist 10:26

you gotta keep earning it.

Valeria Rodriguez 10:27

Yeah. And running has always, Taught me that no one is ever going to get out of your lane so you can pass them.

Bryan The Botanist 10:35

You have to fight for everything. No one is ever going to slow

Valeria Rodriguez 10:38

down so that you can catch up to the lead pack.

Bryan The Botanist 10:42

And personal yeah,

Valeria Rodriguez 10:43

yeah and your teammates my high school teammates are still some of my closest friends. My college teammates are still some of my closest friends Because you learn how to do life You and they taught me that surround yourself with people who are better than you because it'll only raise your level. So coming out, like zooming out from running I don't back down from being on teams that have stronger people. Smarter people better, more efficient. Surround yourself

Bryan The Botanist 11:24

with people that are exceptional. So that

Valeria Rodriguez 11:26

you can level up.

Bryan The Botanist 11:27

Yup, that makes sense because you see it in sports, you see it in soccer. I played soccer most of my life and you'd be a great team and if you play like a, not a very good team, you just don't play usually very well sometimes. Or if you played a great team, or same thing as when you train with people, when you train with a great group of runners, you do get more out of it than if you just don't train with anyone or with people that don't care

Valeria Rodriguez 11:48

It rubs

Bryan The Botanist 11:48

off on you, the bottom line. I remember that.

Valeria Rodriguez 11:50

rubs off on you and seeing how my teammates approached our training also rubs off on you.

Bryan The Botanist 11:58

Did you train together year round with your teammates?

Valeria Rodriguez 12:01

Yeah. Year round.

Bryan The Botanist 12:02

training program for mileage and workouts on the track.

Valeria Rodriguez 12:05

I'd come home, I would train with the high school guys teams here in Miami. So like I would train with Columbus or I'd train with Belen, whoever was training at Tropical, whatever guy teams were around, I'd jump in and train with them. And it's crazy cause now my son is going to Columbus.

Bryan The Botanist 12:22

Okay.

Valeria Rodriguez 12:23

It's like a little full circle, like now. The next generation. And I don't know if he's going to run but we'll see.

Bryan The Botanist 12:30

You're definitely rubbing off on him.

Valeria Rodriguez 12:32

I hope.

Bryan The Botanist 12:33

So after UF what's the next step in your running life and in your career?

Valeria Rodriguez 12:38

So after UF, I went to the Peace Corps for a short stint. It was an amazing experience and There, I realized that the most sustainable way to create change is through education. And while in the Peace Corps I found out I was going to be a mom and that life transition, brought me back home from overseas.

Bryan The Botanist 13:01

Where were you?

Valeria Rodriguez 13:01

was in Panama. I say overseas because I was outside of the U. S., but it's like a hop, skip, and a jump away.

Bryan The Botanist 13:08

And you can speak fluently in Spanish. Yes.

Valeria Rodriguez 13:10

And it used to be part of Columbia, which is where my family's from.

Bryan The Botanist 13:13

to Columbia last year.

Valeria Rodriguez 13:14

Cool. And after becoming a mom I lived in Austin and in LA.

Bryan The Botanist 13:21

wow. You've got, yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 13:23

around, but running was always what tied me to each of the communities. So when I moved to Miami, I met friends that I reconnected with friends from

Bryan The Botanist 13:34

UF

Valeria Rodriguez 13:34

who were runners, and so I joined the running community in Austin, which is amazing. And I started training for my first post motherhood, post pregnancy half marathon after delivering, and I was able to train. and be a minute off my time, so before my son, I ran a 1. 31 here in Miami. And when my, after my son was born, he was about 10 months old, I ran a 1. 32.

Valeria's Teaching Career and the Power of Education

Bryan The Botanist 14:08

We're talking half marathon? Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, so that's like a 6. 50 per mile pace. Yeah. That's sub 7 minutes for 13 miles. So that's great. You had a great recovery then from giving birth. And When in college, was your focus in school on education, because I want to get into your

Valeria Rodriguez 14:25

teaching life. When did

Bryan The Botanist 14:26

that come about?

Valeria Rodriguez 14:28

In college, I was a biology major, animal science, equine focus actually. I wanted to be a vet. But while I was at UF, I saw a sign that said, Life is Calling, and I followed the sign. And it was to a Peace Corps meeting, so I applied to the Peace Corps, and once I graduated they offered me an agriculture, sustainable agriculture position in Panama. And I took it, and while I was there, thinking that I would come back to Panama. To go to vet school I learned that all volunteers have to, their secondary projects are in education. And I started teaching while abroad. So when I came back and I had my son, I started teaching in Austin, I taught in LA, I taught at a language center called Berlitz.

Bryan The Botanist 15:21

Okay, did you teach in the LA Unified School District at all?

Valeria Rodriguez 15:24

No.

Bryan The Botanist 15:24

had a guest a couple weeks ago that's a teacher, Nadia, that she taught for many years in the LA. She told us that.

Valeria Rodriguez 15:30

That's the one I saw.

Bryan The Botanist 15:31

Yes. So what was teaching? Were you teaching? I was teaching

Valeria Rodriguez 15:35

languages and I taught at IBM. I taught at Netflix. I taught at Dell.

Bryan The Botanist 15:39

Really?

Valeria Rodriguez 15:40

Yeah, they had lunch and learn programs

Bryan The Botanist 15:42

Okay, so you weren't in elementary schools yet.

Valeria Rodriguez 15:45

No I actually taught FBI agents in L. A.

Bryan The Botanist 15:48

Oh my god.

Valeria Rodriguez 15:48

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist 15:49

Wow.

Valeria Rodriguez 15:49

I took their translator test as well to see if I could work for the FBI.

Bryan The Botanist 15:56

Oh wow, this is the part of you I didn't know about.

Valeria Rodriguez 15:57

dabbling in things. And then when After living in L. A. for about a year and a half, my family split up, so my son's dad and I separated, and that's when I moved back to Miami. And when I came back to Miami, I came back to the running community.

Bryan The Botanist 16:22

In

Valeria Rodriguez 16:22

2012.

Bryan The Botanist 16:24

Okay. So then I would actually a few

Valeria Rodriguez 16:26

days ago. I told my son because we moved back April 1st.

Bryan The Botanist 16:30

Oh wow. Yeah of 2012.

Valeria Rodriguez 16:32

reason I remember it is because right before leaving I Published My first children's book and we had the book release party on April 1st And then that night after the book release party we flew home.

Bryan The Botanist 16:46

That is a perfect transition to writing about running

Valeria Rodriguez 16:49

Yeah

Bryan The Botanist 16:50

Talk about your journey as a writer in the running community and how it has allowed you to connect with others who share a similar passion As an illustrator and some of the cool projects you've been a part of.

Valeria Rodriguez 17:00

So coming back to Miami, I came back to the running community that I knew, which included Frankie and RunClubs and in that RunClub network, I met Nada and she was opening an online news magazine, called Run South Florida. And I started featuring one to two articles on runners in our community and their journeys. And it worked hand in hand because I did write and publish my own book. I blogged.

Bryan The Botanist 17:35

What type of books have you published? Children's books. Do you want to give any of the names out? People,

Valeria Rodriguez 17:39

How'd they get in there is my first book. And now I work for other authors and I illustrate their

Bryan The Botanist 17:46

freelance illustrator. Cool.

Valeria Rodriguez 17:49

Yeah. And so I enjoyed writing,

Bryan The Botanist 17:51

interviewing some of South Florida's best runners, and also just people that were very interesting in the community.

Valeria Rodriguez 17:56

Yeah. And to share the life behind the people that we see running around us in the community because I realized that story matters. Like the story that you bring to your training and the story that you bring in your head matters to keeping you going.

Bryan The Botanist 18:14

Your why. Who you are and what you do.

Valeria Rodriguez 18:16

Yeah, and why you get up to keep training. Because it's really hard.

Bryan The Botanist 18:20

has a different, somewhat different. There's a lot of categories, but it's very interesting.

Valeria Rodriguez 18:24

So there are a ton of reasons to stop doing everything. So I wanted to know why some people. Kept doing it. I didn't think I was going to be separating. I didn't think I was going to be moving back to Miami. I didn't think I needed to adjust how I was going to be raising my son. So I went to what I knew, what was familiar to me.

Bryan The Botanist 18:44

to

Valeria Rodriguez 18:45

my roots

Bryan The Botanist 18:47

and

Valeria Rodriguez 18:47

the running community that saw me grow up open their arms to different opportunities. And there is where. An opportunity as well in teaching open to teach science. So I taught at Belen for three years, and then I transitioned to teaching at Gulliver for four years, and this is my fifth year at St. Stephen's teaching science. And all of them, I've been a life science teacher, earth and space science, and now elementary science.

Bryan The Botanist 19:16

I got Three science degrees at the University of Wisconsin. So I love teachers and I am surrounded by them. And yeah, I, earth sciences are my jam. So that's

Embracing the Running Community: Miami and Beyond

Valeria Rodriguez 19:25

awesome.

Bryan The Botanist 19:26

I wanted to talk about the Miami running scene when you came back from California and Austin. What was it like? This was 2012. I know I was going to the Nike Run Club and that's where I met you, I believe. Tell us about your pace of your life. Your And the early days of what now has become a big scene.

Valeria Rodriguez 19:42

That's, the funny thing about running is that I've done it my whole life.

Bryan The Botanist 19:46

Since you were seven? Since I was seven.

Valeria Rodriguez 19:49

But I've always known that running is a more mature sport. You don't see kids saying, hey, let's get together to go run.

Bryan The Botanist 19:56

Yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 19:57

Adults getting together to go for a run. I was like, Oh, now I have more people to do it with.

Bryan The Botanist 20:03

Made a lot of friends.

Valeria Rodriguez 20:04

Exactly. And you could see that running is a very neutralizing sport in terms of you need sneakers and you go. You need a watch and you go, you don't need, but all these

Bryan The Botanist 20:15

different backgrounds. Exactly. Exactly. One person's a roofer, one person's a singer, one person's a,

Valeria Rodriguez 20:19

When you're running, you get to hear about people's lives. They share, they open up because you are in a very vulnerable place when you wanna give up and somebody is come on, let's go a little bit more.

Bryan The Botanist 20:33

You develop a lot of trust and a bond

Valeria Rodriguez 20:35

and Frankie gave me the chance to continue working with. The run clubs in different areas, cause that they were expanding before I left to the Peace Corps. When run clubs started, it was just a few of us Pacers and maybe two or three community members that would come to join. But over the past few years, it's, or decades now The running community has really grown and there's multiple run clubs.

Bryan The Botanist 21:06

Yeah. You, I met you at South Beach, right? At Mr. R's where I work on Lincoln road for the South Beach, Nike South Beach run club, where we got the socks every five times and the shirt

Valeria Rodriguez 21:15

every X

Bryan The Botanist 21:16

amount, and we met all of our best friends and then Brickle Run Club, which started and now it's. 500 plus people a week. And it started out with a couple people though. I remember back in, this was 2012 when Brickle started, I think, and South Beach a little before that.

Valeria Rodriguez 21:31

South Beach started in 2009.

Bryan The Botanist 21:33

here in 2008, but I lived in Coral Gables for one year. And then I moved to Miami Beach, and I think that was 2009, and that's right.

Valeria Rodriguez 21:39

they're huge. And, but it's one of those things that you see how You Running organically connects people and people want to they gravitate. towards movement and they gravitate towards movement that is encouraging. It's also a social connection.

Bryan The Botanist 21:59

Yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 22:00

But there's people that need that social encouragement, and that accountability from somebody else saying, come, let's go together.

Bryan The Botanist 22:08

group that's safe, or that is regular, and they can blend in if they want to, they don't have to just show up and So I've

Valeria Rodriguez 22:14

Being able to reconnect with the running community when I came back to Miami and in reconnecting with the running community, it's led to other sports. I started doing triathlons, I started cycling, started swimming, I met another group of people. really close friends that I have now through the triathlon community and With those friends then I go do other projects that now connect with life projects And it's just really nice how it all came from running

Bryan The Botanist 22:50

Yeah, I mean running is a big part of a lot of people's identities, but not everyone, but it's interesting how running can help build such a strong community, and that actually is another topic I wanted to cover is the importance of community reflecting on the support and camaraderie, how it has helped you through tough times, and the gratitude and reflection you have I think you've talked a little bit about, but how have you, How is the running journey? What are some of the valuable lessons you've learned that you might want to share too on the journey?

Valeria Rodriguez 23:18

I guess to start with gratitude. I'm really grateful. to my body for all the miles

Bryan The Botanist 23:29

it's been

Valeria Rodriguez 23:30

able to do.

Bryan The Botanist 23:31

Challenges too, a little bit.

Valeria Rodriguez 23:32

You're

Bryan The Botanist 23:32

grateful to your body.

Valeria Rodriguez 23:33

Your body can do incredible things and recover from

Bryan The Botanist 23:38

a

Valeria Rodriguez 23:38

plethora of injuries. But the idea that you can always get back up and keep going, that is not a given. you have to be grateful. That you can do that. And in the running community I'm grateful for the getting up and keep going, like personally, the getting up and keep going as an athlete, the getting up and keep going as a professional. It's

Bryan The Botanist 24:04

Setting bigger goals too, like from going to the 5k in college and 10k to the half marathon and then the triathlon.

The Ironman Journey: Training, Teamwork, and Triumph

Valeria Rodriguez 24:10

Yeah. What

Bryan The Botanist 24:11

it entails.

Valeria Rodriguez 24:12

It I would have never signed up for it because I knew all the training that goes into it. But I was surrounded by the right group of people. I had a great team of, from nutritionists and training partners to friends who helped me. level up to think that I could do it. And it ended up being an incredible race. I smiled for 10 hours and 55 minutes because I was so impressed with everything coming together that day. I was so thankful for getting to the starting line that. I felt in my gut that it was going to be an amazing day. And it was, I think I, I suffered maybe the last four miles of the run. But I still had a smile stamped on my face.

Bryan The Botanist 25:07

2 miles of running, right? And then the first, a 2. 5 mile swim, 112 mile bike?

Valeria Rodriguez 25:13

Yes.

Bryan The Botanist 25:14

And then a 26. 2 mile run. Correct, in

Valeria Rodriguez 25:16

November.

Bryan The Botanist 25:17

Okay.

Valeria Rodriguez 25:17

And so again, it goes back to who you surround yourself with. I would have never done it if I wasn't around people who were committing, to doing it. If I wasn't around people who believed that I could do it.

Adventures and Altitude Training in Guatemala

Bryan The Botanist 25:30

Yeah, that's a very scary thing. I've never signed up for a half or full Ironman, but if all my roommates and neighbors and best friends were doing it too, that's awesome. I know we got to go on a trip to Guatemala together, right?

Valeria Rodriguez 25:41

did.

Bryan The Botanist 25:42

Kobe, Casa Adriana, this was in Tech Pond before Casa Adriana.

Valeria Rodriguez 25:47

That's right.

Bryan The Botanist 25:48

You want to tell a couple of funny adventures from that at all?

Valeria Rodriguez 25:50

That was another time where my training was doing, was really strong. And I, we got to go do the altitude training. We were surrounded by people who were like, yes.

Bryan The Botanist 26:01

serious group of 10 to 15 runners from Miami, right? That all went together.

Achievements and Aspirations: From Racing PRs to Kona Dreams

Valeria Rodriguez 26:05

Yeah, let's take this more seriously. I remember coming back from that training trip. And going into a season of prs of racing the A 5K. In college I ran 1752, 5K, but when I came back I hadn't been able to get close to that and I ran an 1812. Wow. After that, I prd in the six K, and then I ended up running a 1 27 in the Miami half. during that training season. It reminded me that college didn't have to be the peak of my training career and especially as distance runners we have a longer time to continue to stay competitive if you have the time to train. What I realized with Ironman Cozumel, I got 7th in my age group and when I got 7th I realized that. The top few slots went to Kona. I ended up getting an invitation to Kona because they split the males and the females. So there were more slots afforded for the race, but still, it made me think, man, if I wanted to, get more serious about this. I could lower my times. The drive that some people will do it to finish it. And when I was doing it, I was happy and grateful to be doing it. But I was also very cognizant of my time, what I could do where I could potentially finish, and when I finished, I also knew that if I allotted more time to training, if I shifted a few things, I could potentially shave off more time.

Bryan The Botanist 27:57

people just think about it as just staying in shape, and that's great too, or just socializing. I know many runners that don't care about anything about the time.

Valeria Rodriguez 28:05

And it's hard to explain to people that I don't do it because I care about a specific Spot. It's part of your personality.

Bryan The Botanist 28:14

It could be that you're very focused and very hardworking.

Valeria Rodriguez 28:16

goal driven and I look for a goal to help me go in a direction. And whenever there's a project or even just in life, I'm always. It's asking what's the goal, what's the direction, where are we running to? And I'll head there. I don't mind putting in the hard work that it takes to get to places, but I need to know where I'm going. It's really hard for me to be go with the flow, because I need to know where we're flowing to.

Bryan The Botanist 28:46

Okay, so yeah you want to analyze it and you want to Break it down, I'm sure, too, and that's part of your competitive spirit.

Valeria Rodriguez 28:51

also comes down to, we knew how many seconds it would take to, to be able to break five minutes in the mile, which I finally did in college.

Bryan The Botanist 29:01

Going each lap on the track.

Valeria Rodriguez 29:02

and you knew that if you were going to hit it or not because of the splits. Benchmark

Bryan The Botanist 29:07

splits, yeah, exactly, the 400. And

Valeria Rodriguez 29:10

In life, too It helps me to know where we're going and how close what's the objective? What time do we need to be running? How do we get there?

Overcoming Adversity: Lessons in Resilience and Recovery

Bryan The Botanist 29:19

Having a plan. That's cool. Another two topics I really want to talk about, are challenges in life that you've overcome, injuries, adversity, how has that affected you? Tell us about some of the adversities you've overcome. I

Valeria Rodriguez 29:32

guess people who know me know that I've had a, like a series of incidents, accidents situations that require that most people are like, why do you get back up? Why do you keep getting back up? I, it doesn't matter what the challenge is. I've had a lot of the challenges. I think the challenge has been continuing to stay positive that I can overcome them because it's tiring to get back up and get back out. But, it's also like the persona, but people around you you level up. To the expectation of people around you as well. And I've been fortunate to be around people that have always told me, oh, but you're a survivor. You're strong. You can get through this. If anyone better than you to navigate this? So that's the story That I assumed to whenever something happens What's the lesson here? How do I get up? What's the recovery like? How am I going to

Bryan The Botanist 30:39

learn from it?

Valeria Rodriguez 30:39

what can I learn from it? But now what I'm trying to do is shift That mindset, not that I don't want to recover from things, I want, I'm very grateful that I have, but I want to shift to I want to shift from survivor And from recover to I am healthy, I am strong my body can do this I'm going to Thriving,

Bryan The Botanist 31:05

right?

Valeria Rodriguez 31:05

I want to be more in abundance and thriving.

Sneaker Impact: Merging Environmentalism with Running

Bryan The Botanist 31:08

You have a beautiful son you're a teacher at St. Stephen's Episcopal school, where I went to do a sneaker impact event a couple weeks ago. That brings us to, The Sneaker Impact section, and it's a big section because you have a really incredible story with Sneaker Impact. How did you find out about Sneaker Impact and get involved?

Valeria Rodriguez 31:26

I found out through Nada about Sneaker Impact a few years ago. Who's Nada? she's Moe's cousin.

Bryan The Botanist 31:33

Moe the founder.

Valeria Rodriguez 31:34

Moe the founder.

Bryan The Botanist 31:35

Nada, how do you say her last name? Sater. And I know her too through the running community.

Valeria Rodriguez 31:39

And she was the one who founded RunSouth Florida, the magazine that I would write for.

Bryan The Botanist 31:45

you to Moe.

Valeria Rodriguez 31:46

Yeah, and so they asked me to help them at the Chicago Half Marathon in 2000 21?

Bryan The Botanist 31:53

Yep. That was like the first year of the company, I want to say.

Valeria Rodriguez 31:57

And I learned about what they were doing with What a lot of people thought was trash, right? Like things that people were throwing out, shoes. as a runner growing up, I, what I always had was. Hundreds of shoes And I started thinking about the shoes in a different way after I went to their event. And as a teacher, I started seeing the opportunity for my students because they're growing, outgrowing them, and instead of them going to landfills, they could be collected outside of my classroom, and having Moe come to My school to be able to talk to my students about how they're recycling them was also really special Because it connected my teacher life with my running life. And It gave teaching environmental topics a way for the kids to be able to do something to contribute to the environment with, in a low in an easy way.

Bryan The Botanist 33:03

there's no cost and it's something everyone can do. Everyone's got shoes or you can go collect shoes. I'm sure in your neighborhood or from your family that they're not using them.

Valeria Rodriguez 33:10

Exactly, or the closet, like underneath the bed and there's shoes that they don't use anymore. They can just, a place to be able to it was through NADA who told me about Sneaker Impact. And then when I went to the event and learned about what they did, then I was able to connect more with Moe and his team about how, projects like with schools could work. I also saw how Moe was working within the race community and the running community. they were able to collect them at races. Peek Bowl could bring their shoes and leave them. Run

Bryan The Botanist 33:46

club,

Valeria Rodriguez 33:46

Max Cycle also. Yep. Has a bin. There's a lot of places in the community that have bins to recycle the shoes. To upcycle the shoes. To repurpose the shoes. And it makes you realize this shoe brought me so much peace. It was a part of my journey. And now that shoe can continue on its own journey. And it could be a part of somebody else's life, it could be a tool for somebody else to use it in a third world country, to create their own businesses

Bryan The Botanist 34:15

it

Valeria Rodriguez 34:16

could be a way to reduce waste in landfills, which is one of the issues that we have. I bike by the landfill down south. and, I look at all that trash when I bike by there, and I am mesmerized by our impact on the environment.

Bryan The Botanist 34:38

the problem. And what are we

Valeria Rodriguez 34:38

doing about it? Yeah. And so the fact that Sneaker Impact and the team here is taking that on as, Let's not complain about it, but let's do something about it.

Sustainable Running: Balancing Training, Family, and Work

Bryan The Botanist 34:50

That's awesome. It was fun giving you a tour today because I've been here for about two years now and started in 2022 but you were here even before me and I didn't realize that until maybe last week or a couple weeks ago at the Miami Expo, Miami Marathon, Fort Lauderdale and heard you worked one of our expos and you've been helping with the social media and you've been helping with Moe and then I got to go to your school recently so it's really fun to, and we've reconnected after being friends for 12 years now. But you see that's what the running community does. And I love the environmental and running coming together. it's a great marriage. And for you, and I can tell for me too. How do you live and run sustainably? This is a question I ask every guest.

Valeria Rodriguez 35:28

I guess in terms of how is running, how do I stay running?

Bryan The Botanist 35:33

Yeah, it can be loose in the sense of it's sustainable. It can be Environmental, it can be mental, it can be physical.

Valeria Rodriguez 35:40

Sometimes I don't know how I made so much time to train before when I look around now because some training cycles require a lot more time. And so it's more like. Running has always been playing chess because you have to move the pieces in life around strategically to be able to do what you want to do. And I've been able to continue to run and it's, running has always been part of the playing board. I've just learned to move the pieces differently depending on what stage.

Bryan The Botanist 36:24

time

Valeria Rodriguez 36:24

management, and also writing out my schedule in the morning of what I'm going to do.

Bryan The Botanist 36:30

I try

Valeria Rodriguez 36:30

to put in a time to run. That's

Bryan The Botanist 36:32

important. Sometimes It's an appointment, like it's a, with yourself, or it's a very important meeting in a sense.

Valeria Rodriguez 36:37

And when you swim and you bike you're adding more to the mix. So that you have to make more time for things. But family takes time so my son growing up would run with me in his in the stroller. Then when he got a little bit bigger, he would run with me on as my bike pacer. Then he even started running a little bit about a year or two years ago. He started running a little bit to where we were able to do a 5K together. He doesn't like running as much as cycling, so now we ride together more, In order to be able to keep running a part of my life, I had to make it a part the fabric of what makes it. So my family in school, I had to make sure to take time to run before school or after school.

Bryan The Botanist 37:30

For your mental health and for my mental

Valeria Rodriguez 37:31

health whenever I'm this last injury. I have a herniated disc in my neck and three tears and I had a brain bleed in October. So this last injury has been a little bit more challenging because I had to like really slow down life.

Bryan The Botanist 37:51

Me too. I've had some humbling in the last couple of years.

Valeria Rodriguez 37:54

I went for a 3. 5 mile run the other day.

Bryan The Botanist 37:56

respect our bodies.

Valeria Rodriguez 37:57

And I stopped. At the end of that run, and I was like, wow I've never appreciated these steps so much because it was a gift. And yesterday I tried to go for a run and it didn't work out. I was able to do seven minutes and I was starting to get upset and then I'm like, you've got seven minutes. Walk the rest of it, but you've got seven minutes,

Bryan The Botanist 38:20

committed to sticking to the plan and not looking at excuses.

Valeria Rodriguez 38:23

even going to delete it off of Strava because I was like, I didn't finish the run.

Bryan The Botanist 38:28

mile this morning, and I'm like, that's all I had time for. And some days I do, and I don't care what people think about what time of day I run or when I run, because we all live busy lives, and if you can fit running in, it doesn't matter if it's 10 p. m. Ideally, I like to run in the early morning, but if it doesn't work out, I'll run at noon.

Valeria Rodriguez 38:44

so to make it sustainable, it has to be a part of everything. And how it fits is like where the magic happens. Everyone has 24 hours in a day and some people are just more efficient and more intentional about making sure to fit certain things in and that's what it comes down to me. What choices am I making to make sure that what I say is a priority?

Bryan The Botanist 39:16

Sure, otherwise you get anxiety during the day because you didn't get it done, or at night you're like, Oh my God, I know, because we're so used to running. That's the thing is most people aren't that committed, but you want to stay fit and you want to stay strong and

Valeria Rodriguez 39:29

be a roller coaster.

Future Goals and Environmental Missions

Bryan The Botanist 39:31

Yes, not a straight line. The Hero's Journey, as we talked about earlier, is about patience and about overcoming challenges. So what are your goals for the future. So

Valeria Rodriguez 39:43

My son is going to high school. And goals in terms of racing this year, because of the brain injury in October I told myself that I was going to take a step back from racing for this year and be more open to different types of physical training and different types of activities.

Bryan The Botanist 40:08

Okay.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:09

Where are you guys

Bryan The Botanist 40:09

going?

Valeria Rodriguez 40:09

We're going to Pico Duarte.

Bryan The Botanist 40:12

Oh, where's that?

Valeria Rodriguez 40:13

Dominican Republic.

Bryan The Botanist 40:14

Wow.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:14

It's the highest peak in the Caribbean, and it's going to be, I believe, it's a 27 mile hike with elevation. Obviously the highest peak in the Caribbean.

Bryan The Botanist 40:26

mile hike, you said?

Valeria Rodriguez 40:27

27 mile hike, over a few days.

Bryan The Botanist 40:29

mountain or a volcano of sorts.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:32

And we'll get to see the water projects that the organization does, which is Blue Missions.

Bryan The Botanist 40:37

Oh, I know Blue Mission. I met them at your school.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:39

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist 40:39

Yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:40

And they

Bryan The Botanist 40:40

Sybil's group? Or was she I think I met someone else.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:43

Okay.

Bryan The Botanist 40:44

Blue Mission. I met them at St. Stephen's sustainability event.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:47

No, that was Blue Scholars.

Bryan The Botanist 40:49

Okay.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:50

So does

Bryan The Botanist 40:50

Yes. I think I might have met them at Coral Gable's sustainability event last weekend.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:54

Probably.

Bryan The Botanist 40:55

Yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 40:56

So my son and I are going with Blue Missions and Oka Aquatics, the swim school. We are going in December.

Bryan The Botanist 41:05

I think actually Swim School is a partner of Sneaker Impact, Oak Aquatics, yep, they're one of our partners.

Valeria Rodriguez 41:11

They're an amazing B Corp organization, and actually the owner, Miriam Oka, she just sold her company to her employees.

Bryan The Botanist 41:25

Wow.

Valeria Rodriguez 41:26

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist 41:27

Cool.

Valeria Rodriguez 41:27

And so now they're all co owners. Not all the employees. It's employees that have been there a certain amount of time. And they've worked a certain amount of hours. But we're going together with them and that's going to be the goal for this year.

Bryan The Botanist 41:42

Plumbing, in the sense that these people are carrying what I heard And it's the Dominican Republic, they're carrying water for miles to get their water.

Valeria Rodriguez 41:49

To their communities. And our trek is not going to be a specific water project. We will see a community that has benefited from a water project, but part of our goal is to raise funds as we prepare.

Bryan The Botanist 42:05

doing the plumbing, you're doing the fundraising and the adventure Seeing it with your own eyes.

Valeria Rodriguez 42:12

Exactly. And participating, learning a little bit about the country, doing a physical challenge with my son.

Bryan The Botanist 42:20

Yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 42:20

don't know, but I could look it up

Bryan The Botanist 42:24

That's okay. I'll just cut this part out.

Valeria Rodriguez 42:25

I can't remember if I can look it up.

Bryan The Botanist 42:27

000, but it's not a

Valeria Rodriguez 42:29

big deal. We can look it up after.

Bryan The Botanist 42:31

Dominican Republic is coming up and what else does 2024 hold for you? What other exciting things are you looking forward to?

Valeria Rodriguez 42:37

Working on a few book projects as an illustrator. I am excited to help my son start high school, make that transition and just be more patient with the recovery journey for this year and see if, the future may hold more finish lines. My goal is to do, eventually, one day Kona, but if I have to wait until it's the 80 to 83 division, then so be it.

Bryan The Botanist 43:12

So you're always going to be an athlete your whole life.

Valeria Rodriguez 43:15

I think so. Even when I was seven, I would see the Masters. competing. And my goal was to win Masters. So from when I started, I knew that my goal was to be in a long term relationship with this sport. And so that's part of having long term relationships is knowing that they continuously evolve. And change and you grow and your partner grows. And running is my longest relationship.

Bryan The Botanist 43:48

Yeah. And there's ups and downs.

Valeria Rodriguez 43:51

And sometimes I feel like breaking up with running and then I'm like, just kidding, I love you.

Bryan The Botanist 43:56

On the hottest days in Miami.

Valeria Rodriguez 43:57

Yeah. And some days I'm like, why do you like, Make this so challenging.

Bryan The Botanist 44:03

Or just go enjoy the beach. That's what a lot of people want to do. Or stay at home and eat some popcorn and watch a movie.

Valeria Rodriguez 44:08

Exactly.

Bryan The Botanist 44:09

something about runners. And you always go back. Yes. We always get back together. Type A maybe, or we're just very focused, very driven people that want to always be there.

Valeria Rodriguez 44:20

One day I'm going to figure out why I continue to push these limits, but for now I am extremely grateful for the path or the trail that life has cut out for me.

Bryan The Botanist 44:40

And I

Valeria Rodriguez 44:41

wouldn't change any of them because all of them have brought me incredible people to my life. A lot of them have brought me curveballs that have taught me something new. And I've fortunately been able to continue to put my shoes back on, lace them, and get out the door to do something. else. So I can't complain about the journey. And I wish if it's not running, I hope that everyone gets to the chance to find something that keeps propelling them to learn more or grow more or do more or explore more.

Bryan The Botanist 45:22

Falling in love with something.

Valeria Rodriguez 45:23

Yeah. I hope that everyone falls in love with something because that is like. That is the most beautiful way to I feel like it's the most beautiful to impress

Bryan The Botanist 45:36

anyone, you're doing it because you love it.

Valeria Rodriguez 45:38

Yeah.

Bryan The Botanist 45:39

We're just having fun.

Valeria Rodriguez 45:40

And when you're in love with something, you're willing to do a lot of hard things to be able to do it.

Bryan The Botanist 45:47

Sacrifice.

Valeria Rodriguez 45:48

because you fell. I fell going down

Bryan The Botanist 45:50

a rocky trail before sunrise in the dark, Kobe chasing me in a car. And yeah, and I got, I was out there, but I got shredded and you and I think someone else, had some first aid skills and help pick rocks out of my body. And I was in really bad shape. You guys went to Atitlan that day, but I couldn't go in the water due to risk of infection because I was just covered. It was bad. I could have gone to a hospital and since I came home after only taking a day off, I hurt myself very badly in my ankles and hips. So it's, but that was cool that we all were in the vehicle together, driving to Atitlan. Bumping over the mountains and going up to and going to Antigua and going to all these cool places. And there's a lot of cool stories I think that we've had over the years. And now we get to connect again in the podcast studio. We're going to have you back a hundred percent.

Valeria Rodriguez 46:40

about a hundred topics. Cause my brain is always, Oh, there's more questions. I had a million directions. But I guess it always comes down to, I'm thankful.

Bryan The Botanist 46:50

leave us with a last thought though for the Sneaker Impact community.

Valeria Rodriguez 46:55

Fall in love with what you do.

Bryan The Botanist 46:59

Just yeah, find something in life that gives you purpose. That gets

Valeria Rodriguez 47:03

you out of bed and helps you to do something Purpose, like the Blue Missions is on my mind right now because of this trip that we're taking, but their thing is find your drop, that's their slogan, because find your drop of water, find your way to contribute to a cause, to a purpose.

Bryan The Botanist 47:28

Find your why.

Valeria Rodriguez 47:29

Yeah, find your why and go do it. Because with all the challenges that we overcome constantly, like you realize it's not a given that you get a chance to push for something.

Bryan The Botanist 47:42

true. Life is full of curveballs. Yeah, I'm hoping I can come back to the running scene soon too. And

Valeria Rodriguez 47:48

you will in some way, like the running scene has a space for everyone.

Bryan The Botanist 47:52

doing podcasts, I go to a lot of events for Sneaker Impact. We're so excited to partner with St. Stephens and all the other, Brickle Run Club. And so please think of us for more opportunities and keep spreading the word guys about Sneaker Impact. I know Valeria is going to be helping us at stuff in the future too. Valeria, thank you so much for your time today. Valeria, how can people connect with you? What's

Valeria Rodriguez 48:11

the easiest way? ValeriaR1 or ValeriaSketches on Instagram.

Bryan The Botanist 48:15

Okay. Are you on LinkedIn or any other Strava? I

Valeria Rodriguez 48:18

am on LinkedIn, Valeria Rodriguez, but I don't know.

Bryan The Botanist 48:22

If it's appropriate, yeah.

Valeria Rodriguez 48:23

No, I don't know. I don't know the handle. Oh, don't worry. I'll share your links

Bryan The Botanist 48:27

and we'll clean this part up. Thanks for your time and good luck with all of your future goals and projects.

Valeria Rodriguez 48:34

Thank you.

Bryan The Botanist 48:34

All right. Have a great day. Bye, guys.

Valeria Rodriguez 48:36

Bye.