Two years ago as I was preparing my house for our PCS move from Okinawa, Japan to Monterey, CA I had the hard task of deciding what would go into each shipment (express, household goods, or suitcase). As I came upon my stack of workout clothes I sat down and stared. Well over half of my workout clothes say Stroller Warriors® on them. In fact, several years prior I had convinced my husband to take my regular athletic clothes budget and let me spend it solely on Stroller Warriors gear. Why? I was realizing that every chance I got when I had to pick between wearing regular workout clothes or a SW workout clothes, I was wearing my SW workout clothes and my regular gear was sitting in my drawers unused.
 
So it was a no brainer for me to throw some of my Stroller Warriors apparel into the suitcase. What was hard for me was picking my FAVORITES. After much deliberation about half of my SW gear went into the suitcase.  Why? I LOVE my Stroller Warriors gear! It’s so comfy and reminds me of fun times, friendships and hard work. I took it as a comfort for me. A reminder that I can do anything I set my mind to. I fully admit I took my gear for ME, but I was about to find out that wearing SW gear can help others too. 

​After about a month of travel that included seeing family we hadn’t seen in a long time, buying cell phones and a car and driving across the Country we arrived in Monterey, CA. As we pulled into the hotel I saw on a STROLLER WARRIORS STICKER on a nearby car! My heart lept with excitement! I checked out the car and sticker and saw they were coming from Camp Lejeune, NC. I was so excited I pointed it out to my husband. He thought it was awesome too.
 
The next afternoon my family and I were sitting on the patio of the hotel when the car now named “the Stroller Warrior car” pulled up! I was so excited but incredibly nervous. Should I say anything? Should I introduce myself? A couple got out of the car and walked towards the hotel entrance and us. My heart raced and my nervousness reached a new level. As they walked by the female’s eyes met mine and SHE SPOKE FIRST! She said, “Is that a Stroller Warriors shirt you’re wearing?” I looked down and YES! I was wearing my Stroller Warriors tank top! I said, “Yes it is!” And she said, “I thought so. I had to do a double take when we pulled up because you look so much like Stephanie Geraghty.”  I laughed and we started chatting away. Her name was Angel. They were PCSing from Camp Lejeune. We had an instant connection because of Stroller Warriors. We decided to go for a run the next morning leaving from the hotel. 

​At 6:00am Angel and I took off from the hotel. Angel had done some recon via Google maps and our plan was to try to find the beach. As we were running along I noticed a penny and stopped to pick it up. That turned into me telling Angel about how at one point in time I would only pick up pennies (or lose change) if they were heads up. Seeing the movie Grease as a child had made me decide that Pennies with the tails up were bad luck and I had never been willing to risk it until I met my mother-in-law. She has an expert eye and can spot money before anyone. She would pick up all money whether it was heads up or down and I’d never seen any bad luck come to her; only the good luck of finding even more money! So I changed my tune and started picking up all money. 

This particular penny I found was heads up so Angel and I joked about it being our lucky penny. We did find the beach, had a great run and on the way back we stopped to cross a road. What do you think I saw fluttering in the breeze at our feet? More money! What a lucky day! 
 
That one run turned into many more. My PCS prayers were answered and I was gifted with the best gift you can get when you’re getting settled into a new area; a running friend!
 
I bet you’re going to start looking on the ground more when you run now, right? Well, you should also be sure to pack your Stroller Warrior gear for vacations and PCSs. You never know when your new best friend might be looking for you.
 
Happy Running!
Kelly
 
 
Do you have a funny, memorable, or inspirational story or event that has happened to you while in your Stroller Warrior gear? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Please comment here or email me at [email protected]
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The last couple of years were great in terms of increasing my mileage. I discovered new distances, new terrains, and new challenges. It was exciting to see how far my body could go. The problem I ran in to was a large and sole focus on distance…logging miles. Because I had neglected all other aspects of fitness, this quickly turned into slogging miles. After completing the Marine Corps Marathon in October (one check on the bucket list), I decided to step back on the mileage focus with a new goal of rebuilding EVERYTHING.

When I say everything, I’m talking about all of the fundamentals…basic strength, stability, running form, finding that core I hear so much about. I wanted to pick up some speed from all of this, so I signed up for a 5K with the hope of a drastic PR (personal record). Having a race to look forward to provides motivation and a method to measure progress. The idea is that with correct form and added strength, my running would be more efficient, therefore, naturally faster. With the guidance of a running coach and personal trainer at my local gym, I had a training plan suited to accomplish my return to basics. 
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Correcting form involved doing a proper warm-up and stability exercises, which we often neglect when we lace up and head out the door. It's easy to forget about this critical component until injuries start to creep into our lives. The warm up included walking drills, core work, leg swings, etc. If you played sports in school, think back to high school track or cross country (or any other sport) and recall that you never just showed up and started running. There was a preparatory phase prior to the actual running to activate muscles and prepare your body to handle the workload effectively. 

Per my training plan, I began to incorporate speed work as 20 percent of my training (as I should have been doing all along, but neglected). The speed work was based on my 5K time goal and current ability, so I knew what paces to train at…gradually increasing time spent at that pace. (For example, in my first set I did a workout with intervals of two minutes at goal pace, one minute recovery pace, repeat five times. Every ten days, the interval time increased by about 30 seconds). My long runs were spaced further apart, every ten days instead of every week. I really enjoyed this spacing, and felt less burnt out by the end of training. 
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Things I learned in this process:
-I have a sleeping glute. Progress is being made to correct this.
-I greatly lack stability in my hips…again, progress being made.
-I’m starting to find my core and learn less boring variations on the famous plank.
-Core means more than just abs. There are a lot of muscles working together in the whole trunk of your body…back, sides, hip flexors, and glutes. Yes, still work the abs, but they need their neighbors to be just as strong.
-Don't race every time you run. Scheduled easy days are equal in importance to all other workouts. 
-Increasing overall strength is awesome! It makes everyday tasks so much easier.
-It’s a slow but worthwhile process.
-Overall, I am beginning to feel stronger in my daily routines and in running.
-I actually ended up maintaining moderate mileage training for a 5K, but I felt the miles were better quality, and I stayed injury free.
-I nailed my PR!
-I can’t wait to do it all over again and become even stronger. 
-Correcting form will be a continuous process. 

​I’d love to chat with you about how you incorporate fundamentals into your running goals. What are some your favorite warm-up and stability exercises?

Run Strong!
​Angel