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Meet Dusty!

10/31/2016

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Dusty is the epitome of motivation. Have a brief conversation with her, and you’ll be ready to climb mountains (or join a spin class). Encouraging others to reach their potential is Dusty’s gift to Stroller Warriors® and to the world. 

Dusty has been married to her Marine since 2007 and has two beautiful daughters. She became a Stroller Warrior early in 2012 in Okinawa, Japan. However, she wasn’t highly active due to her work schedule. She had just a sampling of SW at the time, and when she moved to Monterey, CA and heard there was an SW chapter, she jumped right in. “It was in Monterey where I flourished with SW. I quickly felt like I had found my fitness peeps! And it continued to grow. I found a group of women who weren't intimidated by my passion and intensity for fitness, which can be a bit much. I attended every meet-up religiously. I participated in everything I could.” Shortly after joining, Dusty became a workout leader and was a co-captain for two Ragnar teams. “While we were in Monterey, my world revolved around SWM. I mean, where else can you go to spread your passion, workout with your kids, and be supported in every possible way?”
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Interestingly, Dusty wasn’t much for any sports growing up. She dabbled in a bit of soccer, but otherwise, tried to avoid any running, especially with having exercise-induced asthma. “I was a busy kid, but not in sports or anything fitness related. Which is funny to me because I have run three marathons, two half marathons, several 10K's and countless 5K's and all the training runs in-between, mostly in humid DC and Okinawa weather. Take that asthma!” Dusty started running after she met her husband. They were both working a water station at the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon. After realizing that many of the runners were older, they both decided to start training! This began a passion for Dusty, who went on to get her degree in Health and Physical Education from George Mason University. After graduating, “I taught in the public school system for one year and QUICKLY realized teaching little children was not for me. But I was good at teaching adults. I had been teaching bootcamp classes at 0500 in DC while I was going to school. So, I decided to dedicate myself to educating and teaching health and fitness to adults.” Dusty has since worked with MCCS teaching spin, taught Nine Corps Briefs for the active duty community, and now works with a bootcamp company in Alexandria, Virginia as personal training manager, fitness instructor, and spin instructor. “I have been lucky enough to find my calling in life and I couldn't be happier!”
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Dusty knows all to well how much a Stroller Warrior family can impact your life. While in Monterey, she dealt with two surgeries and the birth of her second daughter…all in a short 18-month span! “My friends from SWM made all that bearable. Being away from family, I was supported by my SW family. They helped with meals, car rides, shuttling my kiddo to preschool, but even more than that they helped keep my spirits high when I was restricted from working out for eight weeks post-op, the absolute worst part of recovery for me. Nothing can replace my SW Sisters!”
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A new baby and two surgeries can't stop this mother runner!
What would you consider your greatest running accomplishment?
My greatest running accomplishment is running 250 RTW miles after having a baby, and two surgeries in less than a year. I didn't start running until March 2015 post baby girl number two. Then I had surgery on my leg in June and six weeks later I had major pelvic surgery that kept me from running or working out for eight weeks. But with all that I was still able to complete 250 miles before Thanksgiving 2015. They may not have been many miles, but they were miles I struggled for every single step of the way. And I am darn proud of my 250 mile RTW shirt!
(Psst…you can earn a RTW shirt, too. Check it out here.)

What is your favorite experience or memory with SW so far?

Hands down my favorite SW experience was co-captaining SW Ragnar Napa! You ladies ROCK!!!!

​What is one piece of advice you would give to a new military spouse?

One piece of advise I would give to a new mil spouse is to do what you like in your military community. If you like sewing, find a military sewing club, or military spouses book club. It is so vital to our survival in this lifestyle to have friends who support us in our own likes as well as the lifestyle we live. Don't expect it to come to you, go out and find it, then ROCK IT!
(If running is your thing, check out this link to find a Stroller Warriors chapter near you.)
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Ragnar Napa!
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Put Your Horse Blinders On

10/25/2016

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​You know those life lessons that stick with you forever? The moments you never forget even when the rest of the world kind of melts together? I am going to share one of my such moments with you.
 
I was working out with my first trainer ever: an old guy with a hunched back who was a personal trainer at the Y. He had about 50 years of experience as a personal trainer and loved what he did. I worked midnights for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and when I got off shift in the morning I would go to the gym first and then have a half hour commute rather than going home straight from work and have a two hour commute. Usually we spent the morning with him laughing at me for yawning during our session, but one day he had something else rather important to say to me. He told me that I was too focused on what other people were doing and I needed to stop it or it would impede my progress. I needed to put 'horse blinders on' and then go on with my workout.

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​With every word he spoke, it hit home. I HAD been checking out how much weight each person was lifting. I HAD been comparing myself. I HAD been focusing more on what the people around me had been doing than on what I was doing.
 
Comparing yourself to others is not the goal and never should be. The goal should be to love yourself. The goal should be to find out what your limits are. The goal should be to push yourself to reach whatever goal you set for yourself.
 
If you're too focused on others you're going to lose track of yourself and you're going to lose sight of the goal you've set. So, do you.  Put those horse blinders on. Focus on your goal, and get to work. Your hard work WILL pay off.
 
Happy Running!
​Kelly

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Marathons are like Childbirth

10/12/2016

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​I think that marathon running is the closest a man can get to giving birth to a child. There are a lot of similarities; the pain, the determination needed to finish, the blood (hey - lots of men get chafed nipples!), the mental stress and doubt. The mental and physical fight needed to get to the finish line. I could go on. Of course in the ideal world your nutrition, hydration, clothing, weather, etcettra would be on point and you wouldn't have any of the above going on but chances are everyone running a marathon will experience most if not all of these at some point or another. Take all of that mental and physical pain and anguish and extend it for 8-10 hours (the average time it takes to give birth) and you, my husband, have just experienced childbirth. Even the fact that you usually forget how hard marathons are and want to do them again... that is just like childbirth too!
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So, all you marathoners and ultra marathoners out there,... Let me remind you that you're about to voluntarily put yourself in the throes of a pseudo childbirth! Only this time your rewards will be the thrill of accomplishment and some shiny bling to hang on your wall. You'll also be filled with the knowledge that you can always do more than you ever thought possible!

PictureMe and my sister Kathleen
​When I ran my first marathon I didn’t know I was going to tell my older sister, Kathleen, “this is worse than child birth!” When she jumped on the course to meet me at mile 20. I had envisioned us joyfully running the last 6 miles together. What really happened is I was a crying mess and she was exactly what I needed for the final push. She was a breath of fresh air for the whole crowd not just for me and cheered for everyone. She gave us all praise and encouragement. She also gave me massages and took the focus off of my own pain. She was awesome. Had I been in childbirth, I would have needed the exact same things from my birth partner. 
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Looking back, I am lucky that she had been through marathons herself and had an idea of what I might need. If she hadn’t known me well or if she hadn’t been helpful things could have turned out very differently.

PictureMe after I finished my first marathon
​I hear lots of stories about friends who want to have their husbands or friends jump in the race with them and help them finish. I love hearing of supportive husbands and friends! 

Just make sure to have serious conversations about what you think you will need in the heat of the moment when you're tired, mentally drained, possibly in pain, and not your usual cheerful self. Will you want massages? Or will you not want to be touched? Will you want them to push you to go faster? Or do they need to let you set the pace? Would yelling at you help build you up? Or not? Do you need someone to be funny to distract you? Or would that just annoy you? These kinds of talks about what you will need or will not need could save you from a bad experience.
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If you know what you're like when you're running a marathon think back and tell your husband/friend what you think you will need the day of your newest marathon. If this is your first marathon, think back to what you needed in childbirth and I bet you'll find your needs to be similar. If you've never given birth and you haven't run a marathon yet, push on and figure it out as you go :) You're about to be in the 1% of American's who complete a marathon -and that my friends, is an amazing accomplishment! 
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Happy Running!
Kelly

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