232: New Season + LIVE from Up North: How to Reconnect with Yourself
Release Date: 02/10/2022
250: Just Keep Moving: Heather shares a new path for Michigan Runner Girl
Michigan Runner Girl
How exactly do you stop doing something you’ve committed so much time, mental energy, and heart to, for so many years? Do you shut it down completely? Can some parts of it remain while others are shelved indefinitely, maybe forever? Is it possible this beloved endeavor can be re-worked, re-born into something similar yet different and new … and hopefully altogether better? Or are fresh slates and starts the better answer? These are the questions Heather Durocher, founder of Michigan Runner Girl, has been grappling with in recent time. She has some answers and shares from her heart in...
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249: Sammie Bennett, mental health advocate and SHE RUNS Grand Rapids race ambassador: ‘There’s a place for everybody’
Michigan Runner Girl
“I kind of just hit this point where I was like, I am not living authentically. What do I even like? I sort of had a relationship with myself but not really. Also, I was kind of battling my own sexuality at the time as well, too. And I just hit this moment where I was like, I can’t do it any more — I can’t live the way that I am living, I am not living for myself, and I don’t feel authentic. And so, I ended up quitting running for a short little bit and then revisited the sport with a different mentality of, how can I enjoy this and still figure out these other areas of life that...
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248: Awesome Ideas for Fall Adventures at Michigan State Parks
Michigan Runner Girl
Fall ziplining along Lake Michigan. Yurt camping. September boating. Equestrian shoreline riding. These are just a few of the autumn and early-winter activities shared by Maia Turek, who returns to the show to talk all things state parks and the many ways we can explore the Great Lakes State over the next several months. Maia, who works for the parks and recreation division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, has lots of updates for us. After gushing over the gorgeous September weather we've been experiencing — Heather shares a stand-up paddling adventure she recently had with...
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247: Taking Care of Our Hearts: 3 Women Share Their Stories
Michigan Runner Girl
“I tried not to dwell on it, I tried to learn from it. And I took care of myself. I looked at it as a new beginning, with new opportunities … and I still do after all these years, try to do something positive with it. I tried to take something that was tragic — I couldn’t have any more children — not only for me, but for my family, and we’ve tried to turn it into something more positive and inspirational and helpful for other people.” — Risa Kirschner, who lives in Farmington Hills and who at age 29 and pregnant with her second child learned she had atrial myxoma, a heart...
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246: Quitting Chronic Dieting + Recentering through Running with Dietician Amelia Sherry
Michigan Runner Girl
“When my relationship with food improved and I started to heal I didn’t let go of the running. I noticed that it was crucial to me feeling more relaxed, centered, more in touch with how I actually felt inside my body. I used intuitive eating as part of my recovery from chronic dieting, which is all about listening and honoring and respecting the senses that you get from your body and I was able to use running as a way … it really calmed me, reassured me.” Amelia Sherry, dietitian, mother, runner, recovered chronic dieter. Like so many women, Amelia Sherry started her first diet in...
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245: Reading, Traveling + Moving Forward with Emma and Heather
Michigan Runner Girl
The Michigan Runner Girl show returns from its mid-summer break with Heather and her 22-year-old daughter Emma at Emma's new apartment in Grand Rapids, Mich. talking about all things books (they share their top reads this summer), traveling (a visit to Nantucket in July!), and how they're both feeling heading into fall. They record their conversation the evening before Emma starts her first day of medical school orientation and on her first official weekend in her new place. Also part of their discussion: - Their shared (newer) love of small dogs. (Heather reveals big news...
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244: Finding the Pleasure in Eating, Moving, and Living Well
Michigan Runner Girl
“My work, my passion is helping women lose unwanted weight, but from the inside out — by changing their eating behaviors from a place of deep satisfaction and pleasure, instead of focusing on diets, or counting calories, or carbs or anything like that.” Life coach Lia Pinelli joins Heather on the to talk about a lot of things — our relationship with food, how we can shift our mindset about our eating behaviors, finding the form of exercise and movement that speaks to us, and so much more. Lia’s journey includes going from teaching Spanish and serving as a school administrator...
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243: The Ripple Effects of Pursuing a Healthier Life with Stephanie Lueras
Michigan Runner Girl
“When we’re improving ourselves in one area, the rest of us comes along for the ride, as a whole person — physically, emotionally, spiritually … There is a ripple effect. When we start to change habits in one area — I started with a cup of water — and as we continue to build those habits, that ripple effect into every area of life is so significant and we discount the small things that we do every day that truly can be life changing.” Heathe talks with Stephanie Lueras, owner of Heart and Sole Fitness & Wellness, a Body Positive ACE Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Fitness...
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242: Updates from Heather + Searching for—and Finding—Ease and Flow in Life with Jem Fuller
Michigan Runner Girl
“I practice gratitude every single day. I am super grateful for my life. But 10 years ago, I was in a world of pain.” Jem Fuller has lived a colorful, global life—from barefoot backpacker to corporate leader, fire-dancer and traditional tattooist, kindergarten teacher to motorcycle courier, masseuse and reflexology to labourer and travel consultant. Now his time is as partner and father, coach, facilitator and retreat leader. Jem, who lives on a sheep farm in Australia with his partner Talia, is the author of the recently published book, , and can be seen delivering his TEDx talk...
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241: Life Can Keep Getting Better, with author Lynne Bowman
Michigan Runner Girl
Author and health advocate , a 76-year-old mom of three and grandmother of two — joins Heather for a conversation about the things we do today — our sleep, eating, and movement — and how they impact our future selves. Lynne reminds us that life doesn’t end at 60 or 70, as she says, but the quality of our last 25 or 30 years can be all over the place, depending on decisions we make now. Lynne is a self-described “snarky grandma” who fully acknowledges she doles out cooking tips and health advice despite not owning a restaurant, not being a reality TV star, and not holding a...
info_outlineThis episode marks a milestone for the show, too: this is Season One of 2022 — the first time the MRG podcast, since its start in 2015, has released episodes by season and following a particular theme. Season One’s theme is Reconnection. Over the course of the next 8-10 weeks, listeners can expect to hear inspiring stories of people and places in Michigan (and beyond) that explore what it means to reconnect — with ourselves, with nature, with friends and family, with our communities.
This first episode features Maia Turek, a familiar podcast guest, who is known for her vast knowledge of Michigan state parks (she is an innovations and engagement specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources). This time, though, she gets more personal; she bravely shares a wellness journey she’s been on over the past year with Leah Doriot, a certified health coach who has become a great friend of hers. Leah shares her insight, too, as well as her own journey to follow her passion and make a big (and scary) career change during COVID. Together with Heather, the women talk honestly about the challenges of living in a toxic diet culture, particularly for women, the importance of tapping into our inner strength and recognizing and honoring what we want for ourselves, and ultimately recognizing the power that comes when we change our mindset about what it means to be strong, able, and beautiful-just-as-we-are women.
Thanks to the amazing women who joined us for the MRG Winter Weekend Getaway and took part in the LIVE podcast recording — and asked fantastic questions, too! What a weekend it was. (Learn more about this annual event at MichiganRunnerGirl.com. Be sure to sign up for the MRG newsletter to hear about upcoming events, including the 2023 winter weekend.)