Michigan Runner Girl
by Heather Durocher
The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is where you'll find a passion for running, hiking, paddling, and cycling crosses paths with a love of nature and outdoor exploration in the beautiful state of Michigan — and beyond. A mother, writer, gigantic Great Lakes fan, and book lover Heather Durocher, creator of the running and travel site MichiganRunnerGirl.com, hosts the show. Expect to hear informative, engaging, and inspiring conversations with others also on their own health and wellness journey. The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is about finding our way, through movement.
Episodes
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250: Just Keep Moving: Heather shares a new path for 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...
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249: Sammie Bennett, mental health advocate and SHE RUNS Grand Rapids race ambassador: 'There's a place for everybody'
"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…
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248: Awesome Ideas for Fall Adventures at Michigan State Parks
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...
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247: Taking Care of Our Hearts: 3 Women Share Their Stories
"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 —...
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246: Quitting Chronic Dieting + Recentering through Running with Dietician Amelia Sherry
"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…
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245: Reading, Traveling + Moving Forward with Emma and Heather
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...
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244: Finding the Pleasure in Eating, Moving, and Living Well
"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...
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243: The Ripple Effects of Pursuing a Healthier Life with Stephanie Lueras
"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...
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242: Updates from Heather + Searching for—and Finding—Ease and Flow in Life with Jem Fuller
"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,...
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241: Life Can Keep Getting Better, with author Lynne Bowman
Author and health advocate Lynne Bowman, 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…
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240: BAYSHORE SPECIAL: Ali Feller on Celebrating Finish Lines, Making Connections + Staying True to Ourselves
This very special Bayshore 40th anniversary episode of the MRG Show features a conversation with well-known podcaster and professional race announcer Ali Feller of the Ali on the Run Show. Ali and her family, who live in New Hampshire, are making their very first visit to Michigan later this…
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239: Getting Clear on Our Core Values with Dai Manuel
"When we don't live in alignment with our core values, that's when we open up these little cracks for disappointment, for sadness, and—I'll go so far as to say—for depression and for anxiety. A lot of these negative things do creep into our lives when we've lost the focus on all the positives."…
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238: Pat Butler reminds us it's never too late to go after it
Today's conversation is going to motivate you to keep going, with whatever you're pursuing right now, whether it's training for a spring or summer race, or simply sticking with your everyday running and exercise routine. It's also going to remind you it's never too late to try something new, to...
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237: Enduring more than we think we can with author Nita Sweeney
"I realized I thought I was writing a book about a middle-aged woman who ran a marathon, and what I was actually writing about was a woman trying to save her life." Nita Sweeney, the award-winning wellness author of the running and mental health memoir, Depression Hates a Moving Target: How…
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236: Discovering our superpowers while helping our communities
We've all heard about, or even taken part in, college classes that immerse us in real-life situations — these classes teach us in an entirely different way compared to sitting in a lecture hall, taking notes, and reading thick, heavy textbooks. But this one, the professional communications class…
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235: How to be self-aware + the positive ways it changes our lives with Megan Eddinger
"A big part of managing my mental health — beyond therapy and meds — is moving my body and spending time outside. I feel my best when on our family camping trips. While some might see these trips as a lot of work, which they are, I find them to be everything I need: connection, fresh air, no...
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234: Made to Move + 'Filling our Runways' with Mel Charbonneau
"There's a difference between being depleted and empty, and being depleted and full. I am depleted and full all the time. I cannot squeeze anything else out of my day. But when my head hits the pillow, I think 'God, that was amazing.'" Mel Charbonneau — entrepreneur, writer, runner, mother and...
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233: Why We Love Our Community Races + Tulip Time Run in Holland
This episode will get you thinking about reconnecting with your community, your tribe, your people — however you define community. Heather talks with Eddie Kline, a west Michigan runner, cyclist, husband, and race director, who is overseeing one of his own community's well-known and popular…
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232: New Season + LIVE from Up North: How to Reconnect with Yourself
If there ever was an episode that packs in just about everything the MRG podcast is all about — especially now — this one would be it. The Michigan Runner Girl Show returns after a short break in a big way with this episode featuring a LIVE recording from the 4th annual Michigan Runner Girl…
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#231: Navigating life transitions
In this latest episode featuring Heather and her 21-year-old daughter, Emma, life transitions — facing them, going through them, learning from them — is the focus. And if there's ever been a time when life changes take center stage, it's these past couple of years as we've all endured so much,...
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#230: A Transformative Trip: Paige Lackey shares her Project Rustic experience
"At first it was hard because I felt like I was in this snowglobe that had been shaken up. And all of a sudden I had space, and then all the snowflakes were falling around me, and I was like, there's that thing I ignored for six months, and there's that thing I don't want to think about because…
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#229: Running + racing Mackinac Island
Heather and Jonny share the Mackinac Island running paths they explored — the 8-mile paved path around the island and the winding trails weaving through its interior — during this special bonus episode. They also talk about the island's annual races, including one coming up later this month. On…
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LIVE from Mackinac Island: Reimagining a Healthy Michigan
As we all keep moving forward during the pandemic, charting a path to recover, heal, and thrive as a state is critical, say organizers of the 2021 Mackinac Policy Conference, which served as a platform to hear from national thought-leaders on the significant issues that Michigan and the nation is...
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#227: A deeper, more personal conversation with Heather and Emma
Moving our bodies. Dealing with anxiety. Finding what inspires us. Cultivating and maintaining family relationships. Tending to our mental health. These are among the topics Heather and her 21-year-old daughter Emma touch on during this decidedly more personal episode. While Heather has had a…
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#226: Inside IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan in Frankfort
In just under two weeks, a few thousand athletes and their family and friends will travel to the quaint and beautiful Lake Michigan coastal town of Frankfort to take part in IRONMAN 70.3 Michigan — an event that's had its share of twists and turns over the past year and a half during the…
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#225: 'Nature helps us in every way': Janice Davidson on the return of the Betsie Valley Trail Run
At the start of 2021, Janice Davidson took a big leap of faith when she quit her longtime position as the director of recreation at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville, Mich. to start her own business, North Mitten Events. Eight months later, Janice describes life as full and busy — and…
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#224: Going green with runner and innovator Kristina Smithe
"The idea came to me after running a marathon—the California International Marathon—in December of 2019. I ran the marathon and the next day had a five-hour flight back home. Back home, while drinking coffee, I realized I had used six plastic cups for both coffee and water on the plane the day...
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#223: Michigan West Coast running + racing
An epic mountain backpacking trip with fellow veterans, getting back to racing in person (and snagging a podium finish), race planning during a pandemic — these are some of things west Michigan runner Eddie Kline has been up to so far this summer. Oh, and there's that new podcast he also just...
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#222: Become a trail runner this summer
Following her recent trail race — her first in-person trail race in over a year and a half, Ragnar Trail Michigan, at the end of June — Heather shares the joy (and, OK, occasional pain) of going off road and into the woods for a run (maybe even in the middle of the night, as was the case at...
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#221: Run for Cherries: Festival of Races in Traverse City returns!
It's safe to say that the Michigan race scene is really getting back on its feet, now that pandemic restrictions have been lifted. And for those of us who have greatly missed toeing start lines, cheering one another on through the miles, and triumphantly crossing finish lines, it's exciting to be...
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#220: Maria Yeager on going your own way, starting new chapters + persevering
"You're not meant to be a runner." "You don't have to run to lose weight." "You should find something else to enjoy." These are the statements that ran through Maria Yeager's mind — actual comments made to her in the past — earlier this year when, after crushing the miles on her treadmill and...
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#219: A triathlon for all of us: inside this month's Tri Goddess Tri
Five years ago this month—June 2016—Heather did something she'd never done before: she completed a triathlon. After a decade of running and adding distance to her races, up to the marathon distance, she'd decided it was time to try something new, to shake things up a bit. "I wanted to stretch...
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#218: Listening to your body, making new friends + traveling for Ragnars with Emily White
Runner, mom, fan of craft beer, wine, and traveling — this is how blogger Emily White describes herself on her Instagram account, where she shares her love of movement, racing (23 Ragnar Relays and counting!), and staying connected with the many friends she's made throughout her running journey....
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#217: Setting big race goals — to help others
"It was absolutely the best day." This is how Tony Anderson, who began a journey of completing a marathon in all 50 states to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan, an organization near and dear to his heart, describes his final 26.2 mile race. It was the culmination…
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#216: Listener Journeys: 'My first half for the second time'
"I've been making healthier choices for me and feeling better about myself ... I feel like I have a lot more mental strength now than what I had in my 20s." Petoskey, Mich. runner Spencer Tulk reflects on the past few years of her journey as a runner in this special listener running journey...
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#215: Three race directors get honest about pandemic racing + what's to come
"We just want to put on a safe event and get back to racing." ~Andrew Buikema, west Michigan race director, marathoner, recent BQ-qualifer(!). Andrew shares this sentiment — and many other heartfelt thoughts — during a candid conversation with two other experienced Michigan race directors, that...
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#214: When your running goes down a different path
"But I think there's something else at play. I feel my running evolving. I'm not exactly sure what this means, what it'll look like. Some days I feel sure my speedier and marathon days are behind me. Other days I think, 'What makes me think I don't have more in me and will be conquering some...
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#213: Project Rustic - 77 state forest campgrounds, 1 RV, 1 epic summer
If you could spend your summer exploring rustic state forest campgrounds all across Michigan — traveling to these scenic spots in both the lower and upper peninsulas by RV, your best four-legged companion joining to keep you company — would you jump at the opportunity? Would you maybe even…
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#212: Jonny and Heather get real — and go long — while answering your questions
When we put the call out for questions — the burning questions, running and otherwise — that you wanted to ask Heather and Jonny, who knew you'd ask so many? And that Heather and Jonny's conversation would go on for as long as it did?! Well, we kind of had a feeling there would be a bunch of...
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#211: Joel Gaff launches Traverse City Run Co.
"I always like to think that when you have all the freedom in the world, creativity maybe doesn't come so easily. But when you have constraints placed upon you, that's when you have to get creative. And that's what I think happened to the world, to much of the world, in 2020." ~Joel Gaff, Jr.…
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#210: Updates from Heather + sweet February deals
Upcoming virtual races and challenges, in-person events planned for this summer and fall, and special savings -- this short and sweet episode packs a punch! Tune in to hear updates from Heather, including what you can expect on upcoming episodes of the podcast (all the details for this summer and...
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#209: Maia Turek on upgrading, reframing + road biking around Michigan lakes
Maia Turek considers herself a positive person (those who know her undoubtedly would agree), but she recently realized something else about herself, thanks to working closely with a health coach: she has had a habit of talking negatively -- in a self-deprecating way -- to herself and to others,...
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#208: Fresh starts with Janice Davidson of the North Mitten
Life during a pandemic can lead us down paths we may not have gone down otherwise — some not so good, of course, but also some that ultimately change our lives in positive ways. For Janice Davidson, these past several months have been a time of big life changes, one of which was leaving her job…
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#207: How to be strong mentally + goodbye 2020!
"My mind was just not in it for some reason, and I go through that a lot — my brain just doesn't want to do it, even though my legs, and physically, I feel completely fine. Sometimes in your head, you don't want to get out there for some reason. But I love what Des Linden always says. She says,...
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#206: Holiday Special: Supporting our local athletic stores + winter gear tips
As local businesses in Michigan and across the U.S. continue to adjust and adapt to pandemic-related closures and pauses, and resulting in-store capacity restrictions, the holiday season marches on. Things just look decidedly different this year, to say the least, for shop owners and their...
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#205: Going through COVID, recovering + running again
As of today, Dec. 8, 2020, the U.S. has a rate of close to 200,000 confirmed new infections of coronavirus per day, according to the Centers for Disease Control data center, which is updating daily. Cases in the last seven days alone top one million, and all told, more than 280,000 lives have…
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#204: Janelle Haselhuhn: 'This can be a good time of our lives'
Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, when face coverings became scarce, Janelle Haselhuhn decided to put her impressive sewing skills to work. The southwest Michigan mom of two young kids, ages 5 and 3, made some 700 masks in just a few short weeks with the help of a small group of volunteers....
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#203: Moving Through It: Running, cooking, reading (and Abby Wambach) for the win
Life just keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn't it? Between the surge in COVID cases, ongoing uncertainty with how things will unfold, a turbulent and divisive political climate, and our efforts to just keep moving forward with our lives, life can feel quite overwhelming. Oh, and the...
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#202: Sasha Wolff of Still I Run on defeating the mental health stigma
"Giving myself grace throughout 2020 has helped me exponentially." The lovely and inspiring Sasha Wolff, founder of Michigan-based Still I Run, returns to the MRG Show — she last joined Heather for an honest conversation about mental health and wellness just after starting her non-profit in late...
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#201: 'Soul-centered weight loss' with Tara and Erin of Love Body
Erin Goldman, a yoga/ meditation teacher, and Tara Rybicki, a registered dietician nutritionist, return to talk about taking care of our heart, our mind, and our body. Erin and Tara are behind northern Michigan-based Love Body, a program that focuses on the practice of self-love. We all know the...
About this show
The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is where you'll find a passion for running, hiking, paddling, and cycling crosses paths with a love of nature and outdoor exploration in the beautiful state of Michigan — and beyond. A mother, writer, gigantic Great Lakes fan, and book lover Heather Durocher, creator of the running and travel site MichiganRunnerGirl.com, hosts the show. Expect to hear informative, engaging, and inspiring conversations with others also on their own health and wellness journey. The Michigan Runner Girl podcast is about finding our way, through movement.
Hosted by
Heather Durocher